Books I Won't Read

This post intrigued me: "Ten Books We'd Probably Never Read," over on The Broke and Bookish.

So, here are 10 books I haven't read and have no plans to ever read, in no particular order.

1. Fifty Shades of Grey. It's fine that there are people who love it, but it's not for me, and not just because of the subject. I've read that it's poorly written, too. Not something I plan to spend time on when there are plenty of other books to read, including plenty of erotic ones. 
2. Gone with the Wind. Yeah, I know. It's a classic. But I never did read it and I think the ship has sailed on this one for me.
3. The Vampire Lestat and other books by Anne Rice. I had the series for years before I decided to take a look at them. I can usually get hooked on a book that interests me by skimming it. It didn't work for me with these.
4. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I barely heard of them when I was growing up, preferring science fiction to fantasy. Now that I've seen the movies, unlike with "Game of Thrones" that led me to devour "The Song of Ice and Fire" books, I have no interest in Tolkien's books. The movies were fine.
5. Harry Potter series. What I said about Tolkien's books above applies to these, too. Watching the movies was sufficient.
6. Outlander series. I watched the first half of the first season of the series but lost interest after the second half of the season started. Which tells me I probably shouldn't bother with the books.
7. Anything by Joyce Carol Oates. I tried one of her books, didn't get past page 2. So boring.
8. Anything by Hemingway. I had to read one of his books in high school. I got up to page 7 or 8 before I quit and faked my way through the classwork.
9. The Great Gatsby. Yeah, another classic. People love it. It never interested me, and it was never assigned in my classes, so I lucked out. 
10. Vanity Fair. This classic was assigned in other classes, but not in mine. I always meant to read it on my own, the way I did with so many classics, but in the past, many decades, I've never gotten around to it. I think this is another case of too late.

Bookish Memes and Things

Reading's been slow this winter. One would think a winter when I spend so much time indoors due to frigid temps and lots of snow would translate to lots of reading, but I've mostly played online, and taken care of little projects, including my Library Thing library.

I just found this book meme: Top Ten Tuesday. I might try doing this if only to have something to post here between reviews. I do miss doing my Booked by 3 meme, but I ran out of ideas after a while. Memes are like that; easier to let other folks come up with the questions. ;)

Meme I Found on LiveJournal

I actually finished reading A Game of Thrones and started the second book in the series. I just haven't gotten around to writing a review of it yet. Meanwhile, I thought I'd do this meme, and this is the place to put it. The questions are pretty good for this sort of thing.

1. Favorite childhood book: I've never been good at favorites, as in picking just one, so let's just say the Nancy Drew series. Or maybe the Trixie Beldon books. Or, hmmm.... The Dana Girls mysteries. See what I mean? 
2. What are you reading right now? A Clash of Kings by G.R.R. Martin
3. What books do you have on request at the library? Uh, nothing. I don't borrow library books. I really haven't borrowed much since I was a kid, not even when I was working in libraries. I much prefer to buy.
4. Bad book habit? Not sure what this means. Reading books isn't a bad habit and I don't have any bad habits re: books/reading.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Nothing. See above.
6. Do you have an e-reader? I have a Kindle and usually use the Kindle app on my phone rather than the actual Kindle device. I like it for heavy books or books I don't know if I want to buy or for books not out in paperback yet that I really can't wait to read.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? These days, one at a time, though when I was younger, I would be reading 2-3 books. If I get back to going to the gym, I'll be back reading two books at a time. And of course, I'm reading graphic novels and comics while reading non-graphic books, if that counts.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Other than blogging about them, no.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?): Well, I read only the one, and loved it.
10. Favorite book you've read this year? The one I did read, A Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? My comfort zone is rather large and I don't read fast, so I don't read a lot, but I do try new things based on good reviews. That's why I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series as I don't read much fantasy, but I loved the show, which I watched out of curiosity.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? Science fiction, mysteries, literary fiction, historical fiction, historical mysteries, suspense, thrillers, some fantasy, biographies, science, history mostly.
13. Can you read on the bus? Haven't been on a bus more than a few times in the last decade, was with someone so was busy chatting, but I'd think not. Buses are too noisy. I do read on the subway.
14. Favorite place to read? The den, the subway, the kitchen, the bathroom...
15. What is your policy on book lending? I don't borrow books and I hate lending them because they tend to come back worse for wear and I end up just replacing them, anyway.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books? No. I would never willingly damage a book.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? No. I did do that with textbooks I owned, uh, a few decades ago.
18. Not even with text books? See above.
19. What is your favorite language to read in? The only language I really know is English.
20. What makes you love a book? First thing, I have to love the characters. After that, it's all about what happens to them, what they do, the story, itself. After that, it helps for the book to be well written, a nice flowing style, that sort of thing, but I'm not fussy. I don't like finding too many errors or poor syntax. That can throw me out of a story.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If I like it, for the blog. If I like it and think the other person would like it, if recommending to an individual I know in real life.
22. Favorite genre? Science Fiction, literary mysteries
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?): Hmmmm..... Typically, I don't read genres because they don't appeal to me, ie romance and horror.
24. Favorite biography? Hmmmm.... If memoirs count, then The Liar's Club by Mary Karr. If not, then nothing comes to mind right now.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book? I don't think so, based on the usual definition of Self-Help.
26. Favorite cookbook? The only one I really use is The Joy of Cooking, and mostly for its chocolate chip cookies recipe.
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? Only read the one book so far, and I'd hardly call it inspirational, unless you're trying to win the Iron Throne. ;) But seriously, I don't really find books inspirational, just thought-provoking or entertaining, that sort of thing.
28. Favorite reading snack? I tend to not eat when I'm reading. Don't want to get the book or e-reader dirty.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: I rarely pay attention to hype, but I did try John Grisham's The Firm because of all the hype and what a disappointment. After that, I read what I wanted and ignored hype.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? I have no idea as I don't read many book reviews. I do choose some books because of positive reviews in "Publishers Weekly" or occasionally, "Entertainment Weekly," and tend to enjoy them, so I guess I agree most of the time.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? Since I'm fussy about what I read, to the point of skimming in the middle of a book by an author I'm not familiar with, which is why I love bookstores, I tend to enjoy most of what I read. If not, I either don't review the book or write a short review that says the book didn't do it for me and why.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? None I can think of.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read? Books don't intimidate me.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin? Again, I'm not intimidated by books. I might not start a book that's really long until I know I have the time to devote to it, but that's about it.
35. Favorite poet? Not much of a poetry lover, so I'll go with Poe.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? Again, I'm not a library user.
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread? I once returned a book I hadn't gotten far into because I wasn't enjoying it and it was due. I can't read in the required borrowing time, which is another reason I don't borrow library books now.
38. Favorite fictional character? Mostly, from comic books. I've had a lifelong crush on Roy (Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow/Arsenal again) Harper. From books, I'm partial to Joan Vinge's Cat and Sarah Monette's Mildmay.
39. Favorite fictional villain? hmmmmmm..... I tend to not think of villains in that way.
40. Books I'm most likely to take on holiday? Whatever I'm currently reading.
41. The longest I've gone without reading: I dunno. A few days, maybe.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish: Caleb Carr's Angel of Darkness. Which was a surprise, since I loved his The Alienist. There were a couple of deadly dull science fiction books, too, but I don't remember the titles, or authors.
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading? TV, loud noises.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? Hands down, To Kill a Mockingbird. More recently, I'll go with Hunger Games. And Game of Thrones is doing justice to the novels, too.
45. Most disappointing film adaptation? Probably something I haven't seen because I knew I'd be disappointed. ;)
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time? I don't remember. Over $100, probably. I tend to not buy more than I can carry, so it likely was a bunch of graphic novels I got in Forbidden Planet.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? I skim a bit in the middle of books whose authors I'm not familiar with to see if I like their style. Can't say how often that is.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Complete boredom with it.
49. Do you like to keep your books organised? Yes. Mostly my books are in library order, but not quite as I have to fit them in wherever I can fit the right size shelves.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them? I keep them, but I do week occasionally to make room for more. Those get donated or tossed.
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding? I don't actively avoid books. I actively seek out books I think I'd enjoy.
52. Name a book that made you angry: None. I'm fussy and am good at choosing what to read. There have been some non-fiction books about shameful events, or fiction based on shameful reality, that made me angry about the experiences of the people, but not angry at the book, if that's what you mean. Of course, no one title is coming to mind.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did? None. I don't read books I don't think I'd like.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't? Can't think of any. There were a couple of science fiction books about colonizing Mars, written by scientists, that turned out to be rather dull for fiction, but I can't remember the titles or authors.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? I mostly read for pleasure. Authors I can count on are Minette Walters for mysteries, Kate Atkinson.... Y'know, I'll just go with comic books for this. They're my go-to reading when I just want to relax.

Life in Books Meme

Here's a really old draft I've discovered while deleting spam comments. (Actually, I was turning off comments from an old post that seems to be attracting them like maggots to a dead body.) I really need to not start blog posts and not finish them right away. I'm too forgetful to keep drafts. And I think I've kept this one sitting around because I was having a hard time coming up with answers. So, I've decided to post it undone, so folks who haven't seen this can give it a try. And maybe one of these days, I'll get around to trying it, too.
-----

How I found this meme is a bit involved. I saw a tweet about it from AAKnopf that led me to a blog called Reactions to Reading where I saw:

A fun meme doing the rounds that I first spotted at Petrona is
Using only books you have read this year (2009), cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title.

Now, I haven't read nearly enough books this year to do this, so I'm doing it for the decade so far, 2000-2013. And I have to add, I wish I'd come up with this idea. It's very cool.

Describe Yourself:
How do you feel:
Describe where you currently live:
If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Your favorite form of transport:
Your best friend is:
You and your friends are:
What’s the weather like:
Favourite time of day:
If your life was a:
What is life to you:
Your fear:
What is the best advice you have to give:
Thought for the Day:
How I would like to die:
My soul’s present condition:

Another Book Quiz I Had to Do

You Are a Book

You are a very intellectual and logical person. You like to think, and a lot of your thinking is quite deep. You are both philosophical and idealistic. You think it's interesting to imagine how the world could be. You enjoy spending a good deal of time alone. In fact, you tend to go sort of crazy if you don't get your space. While you may seem distant, you care very deeply for humanity. You're trying to figure out how to save the world.

Are You a Book, Magazine, or Newspaper?

Blogthings: Free Quizzes for Everyone

Action Packed

Had to post this here. And it sorta fits. Except it's more what I'd write, rather than reflect my life.

You Are Action Adventure

You are lively and spirited. You like to be in the middle of the action, and you have a ton of energy. You are very driven, and not just with your career. You like to play hard as well! You are bold and brave. You're always looking for the next great adrenaline rush. It's likely that you are athletic or at least pretty physically active. It's hard for you to sit still.

What Kind of Book Are You?

Memorable Books Meme

I need to write a review or two, but I've been lazy and still recovering from the nasty bacterial infection that I caught back in November. So, until I get those reviews up, someone posted this meme over on LiveJournal and I liked it a lot, so here are my answers, here, because it's a book meme.

"This can be a quick one. Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes."

In no particular order, and in longer than 15 minutes because I couldn't remember titles and drew a blank on one author's name and had to Google it:

1. Watership Down by Richard Adams
2. The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
3. Cat trilogy by Joan Vinge (Psion, Catspaw, Dreamfall -- I think of them as one long book)
4. Spares by Michael Marshall Smith (the first of his I read and it spurred me to read everything by him)
5. The Shape of Snakes by Minette Walters (the first of hers I read and I've devoured every other book she's written that I can get my hands on)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
7. Shardik by Richard Adams
8. The Church of Dead Girls by Stephen Dobyns
9. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
10. A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller
11. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
12. Nancy Drew, The Dana Girls, and Trixie Belden books. Some of them are among my all-time favorite books, especially The Clue in the Crumbling Wall and The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (Nancy Drew) and The Secret at the Hermitage (Dana Girls).
13. Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (assigned in school, my fave of Hardy's books)
14. Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski (A comic book maxi-series, it came out in trade as a graphic novel, so I'm counting this awesome work.)
15. Under the Skin by Michel Faber

There are so many more, but this is a nice, eclectic mix. I keep thinking there are 3 or 4 others that should come before these, but their titles are just beyond my reach for the moment, so this list will suffice. Good books all.

Book Meme

Because I'm long overdue for a post here, I thought I'd do this. I saw it on Pai, a comic blog,

Instructions:

1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read.

2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE.

3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte X +

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X +

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte X +

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell X +

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (an abridged version for children)

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy  X +

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller X +

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (just a few plays: "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar," and "Hamlet.")

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier X +

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger *

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck X +

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 

41 Animal Farm - George OrwellX +

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy X +

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood *

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding X +

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan *

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel *

52 Dune - Frank Herbert X

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley X +

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon X +

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez *

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck X +

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt *

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White X

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery X

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams X +

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole X +

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare X

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Booking through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Christine wants to know...

1. Do you make notes in books as you read them? No.
   


2. Why or why not? I was raised that writing in books was BAD. The only exceptions I've made were to write in textbooks I owned when I was in college and grad school.
   


3. If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them? Textbooks, as per my answer above. I used highlighter in textbooks, too.
   

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you own any bookends? If so, how many sets? If not, do you need or want any? I have a few, mostly decorative. I do have some to hold up books on shelves with mostly large softcovers to keep them from flopping around. I put them in in various places on the shelves, not just the ends, as they're flat and take up little space.
   


2. Which are your favorites? How long have you had them? My favorites are my NYPL lion bookends, but I don't use them as such. I use them as decoration. And I have no idea when I got them. Years ago.
   

Booking through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

But, enough about books. . . what else do you read?? Magazines? Newspapers? Professional journals? Cereal boxes? Phone books? Purchase invoices? Homework? (Please be specific. There may be a test later.)

I read pretty much anything: magazines and journals (Newsweek, Dollhouse Miniatures, Miniature Collector, American Libraries, Publishers Weekly, Wizard -- mostly for comics and comics-related media -- Locus, various science fiction media magazines like Starlog.
Newspapers: NY Daily News
Cereal Boxes: Yes. Also on occasion, I've read toothpaste boxes and tubes.
I also read comic books and graphic novels.

Book Meme Link

Stumbled across another book meme: Booking Through Thursdays. I gave it a quick glance and it looks like fun. I didn't want to look too closely and probably won't play because I might subconsciously "borrow" the questions for Booked by 3. Coming up with meme questions, especially on a singular topic such as books and reading, can be difficult. And after a moment's reluctance to pimp the "competition," I decided to share the link in case anyone reading here doesn't know it and would like to play over there, too.

A Quirky Meme

...for which we blog about our 5 quirky habits, then tag 5 others after putting the instructions here. I got tagged by Kate at Reading Frenzy to do this.

1. I like filling out questionnaries and quizzes. I don't always send them in or post the results or whatever, but I like filling them out, especially if they're yes/no, true/false, or multiple choice. I really can't resist those.

2. In a bit of OCD behavior, and the fear of not locking my front door, I turn the key sufficiently that it makes my fingers hurt. Then, if I can't remember if I locked the door, I feel the pain in my fingers and remember that I did lock the door.

3. I hate reading library books or books other people have read. I like my books fresh and when I buy books or magazines, I never take the ones in front or that look pawed over. I take something pristine from behind. Finding what looked like a fossilized bug in a book at the library yesterday just reinforces this feeling. Needless to say, that book was removed from the shelf. Ick.

4. I eat my M&Ms by color. Ever since I was a kid, I'd separate them into colors, or matching pairs. For the pairs, I'd assign "boy" colors and "girl" colors for proper pairings.

5. I have a weird need for symmetry. If I bump my left foot, I have to then bump my right. I can't wear a side part in my hair. It has to be either a middle part or no part.

I'm going to cross post this to Cyber Chocolate, because it fits better there, but I've done it here, because this is where I've been tagged.

I don't usually tag folks, just let readers do these if they want to and haven't yet.

Book Stick

Passed to me by The Cataloguer at Sweet Memes.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Well, I've been more likely to have crushes on TV characters and actors, but I did have a thing for Ned Nickerson in the Nancy Drew books. And I'm madly in love and have been for 40 years now, with 2 comic book characters: Dick "Robin/Nightwing" Grayson and Roy "Speedy/Arsenal" Harper.

The last book you bought is:
Mentioned these over on Cyber Chocoalate. I bought 2 the other day:

• Nightcrawlers by Bill Pronzini
• Hot and Sweaty Rex by Eric Garcia

The last book you read:
Just finished Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. Review below.

What are you currently reading?
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. I just started it and am enjoying it so far.

Five books you would take to a deserted island.
I think Neal Stephenson's books (Crytponomicron, the 3 books of the Baroque Cycle) would keep me busy. Maybe Robert Littell's The Company. That sucker is about 1,000 pages, so I'll have plenty to read. I'd prefer to take books I haven't read to ones I did.

Who are you going to pass this stick to and why?
Uh, I have no idea. I don't know who hasn't done this yet. It's so hard to keep track. Anyone want to step up and run with these questions?

An Author Meme

Found this on Catalogue Blog.

Which authors have you read more than ten books by?

Agatha Christie
Ian Fleming
Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov
Uh..... do children's series count? :)

Music Meme

I got tagged to do this, and even though I don't do music memes (which will become clear as soon as you see my answers), I'm doing this one.

Total amount of music files on your computer:
None. I don't download music. I listen to music on CD or the radio, including internet radio.

The last CD you bought was:
Uh, hmmm..... hubby gave me Brian Wilson's Smile for Chanukah. I don't recall the last one I actually bought. It was uh, a while ago. I spend my money on books and craft supplies, mostly, not music.

What is the song you last listened to before reading this message:
Something on our oldies station, WCBS-FM 101.1. I don't recall what. They're playing commercials right now. ... Ah, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" just went on.

5 songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you:
Whatever comes up on the radio. I don't listen to my CDs much. Usually, just after I buy them. A lot of my CDs and cassettes are filks (which are rewritten songs, the sort of thing Alan Sherman did and Weird Al Yankovic does, where a known tune is used for new lyrics). Filk is popular in the science fiction and fantasy community. The rest are mostly oldies. My records include a lot of Broadway show albums and some movie scores. Among the newer CDs I have are some Bon Jovi. I like him, thanks to a friend who recommended him to me.

Aside from listening to WCBS-FM, I'm fond of the Russian Internet Radio station. The thing is, I'm so bad at choosing what to listen to, I could spend hours picking CDs, that it's easier to let the radio programmers decide for me, provided I pick the "genre." Oldies stations provide the biggest variety. And except for when I'm watching TV, I always have the radio on.

And for memorable songs, Dave Clark 5's "Because" was hubby and my wedding song.

Who am I going to pass this onto and why?
Um, how about anyone who hasn't done it yet. :)

Thursday Bookworm: Poetry

1. What is your opinion of poetry? Do you love it, hate it, can't live without it, or wish all poets would be stranded on a desert isle?
I tolerate poetry.

2. What is your favorite poem? Copy and paste it here in your answer (and yes, if your favorite poem happens to be a dirty limerick, so be it- share away).
My favorite poem is a bit long to post here, but I can provide a link. It's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service.

3. Do you have a favorite poet or a favorite collection of poetry? Along the same vein, is there a particular poet that you don't really care for? Why?
I'm fond of Edgar Allen Poe's poetry and Robert Frost was okay.

4. Do you consider songs to be a form of poetry? Why or why not?
Most probably are, or at least a form of poetry, just set to music.

5. Do you write poetry? If so: 1) would you consider posting one of your poems with your answer so we may all read it; and 2) what inspires you to write your poetry?
I wrote bad poetry when I was in school. I posted one from college last year sometime, but it's not worth repeating here. Yeah, it's that bad. I don't think I have any other of my poems anymore.

Thursday Bookworm

1. We've all heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Have you ever picked up a book based solely on the title or the picture on the cover?
A few times. One book that caught my eye with its title was The Starlite Drive-In by Marjorie Reynolds. Most recently, I found Shadow Baby by Allison McGhee that way.

2. Along the same lines, do you ever look at whichever book someone else is reading in public or whatnot, and based on that make a snap judgment about their character or literary taste? (I realize this might not seem all that clear, so let me give an example- for instance, whenever I see someone reading War and Peace, the first word that pops into my mind is "pretentious." Most of the people I've known who carry that book around just do it to get attention and demonstrate how "smart" they are, when they actually never get past page 10).
I always try to see what people are reading, out of professional curiosity, since I'm a librarian, but I don't make judgments.

3. Do you buy books online? If so, where is your favorite place to find them?
No. I'm a brick and mortar bookstore lover.

4. From someone who's had more than her fair share of library fines... what is the largest late fee you've ever incurred at a library for returning a book past the due date? Have you ever borrowed a book from a library and never returned it?
I never returned a book late. And I never failed to return a library book. But it's been years since I've borrowed a book. I prefer to buy my own.

5. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
I can't remember back that far. :)

Thursday Bookworm

1. How many books do you own (and if you're not a nerd like me and don't know the exact number, guess-timate)?
Uh, I lost count a few hundred ago. Okay, many hundreds ago. I probably have a few thousand books, more if I count comic books.

2. Do you keep books to add to your personal library, or do you trade them/give them away?
I keep all the books I enjoyed reading. The ones I didn't like or don't think I'll ever read, I give to library book sales.

3. If you keep books, what makes you keep them? What kind of books do you keep?
I keep books I enjoyed. They're like old friends and I can't part with them. I also keep a lot of reference books to help with my writing.

4. Do you have a guilty pleasure book- something you would never want to admit to reading?
Well, I don't feel guilty about it, but I do pull out my Nancy Drews, Dana Girls, and Trixie Beldon mysteries every now and then. :)

5. Have you ever gone without something you needed to buy a book instead?
I don't think so. If I couldn't afford a book right away, I waited til I did, which was rare. Books were a lot cheaper when I didn't have enough money to buy both books and food.

Thursday Bookworm: A Meme

I found this neat meme on Catalogue Blog and since it's book related, I'll be doing it here. I added a link for it to the sidebar.

1. What would you consider to be the best play ever written, and why?
I'm very partial to Kaufman and Hart's "The Still Alarm," which is about as perfect a one-act play can get.

2. Who would you say is the most prolific American playwright/dramatist of all time? And from any other country?
Aside from Shakespeare, maybe Neil Simon.

3. Are there any plays or playwrights that you don't particularly care for?
I will be happy to never read or see an Ibsen play again.

4. Have you ever performed in a play? Which one(s), and which role(s) did you play?
In school plays, if I wasn't behind the scenes, I had such great parts as "Girl Number 3." Egads. I never even got to be "Girl Number 1."

5. Have you ever written, or attempted to write, a play of your own?
No. It's not my form. I'm a novelist at heart. Now to just get one published. :)