Linkage

Read How You Want is a nifty site.

Book Stack

Stack of Books

Book List

I love lists. This one is interesting: 100 Must-Read Books of the '90s. I dismiss the poetry collections, because I don't enjoy poetry and have read it only under duress: school assignments way back when. I don't read short story collections, anymore, either because there are too many novels I want to read. And having comics on the list was interesting, but that was the one decade where I read hardly any comics, and while I read novels years after publication, I rarely do that with comics. So, my tally (I re-alphabetized because I can't abide having books alphabetized by "The" or "A" as the first word, and I interfiled the comics with the books), with commentary:

Books I've Read (6)

• Astro City, Vol. 1: Life in the Big City by Kurt Busiek, art by Brent Anderson... I've read all but 2 of the rest of the volumes, plus the ongoing comic. One of the best graphic novels ever published.
• The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson... Since I've read all the Calvin and Hobbes strips, I'm counting this as read.
• Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (novel, historical fiction)... Not the first Atkinson I read (That was Case Histories), but one of my favorites.
• The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (novel, historical/literary fiction)... Wonderful book.
• Holes by Louis Sachar (YA novel, Newberry Award-winner)... A delight, and I saw the movie, too.
• Supergirl by Peter David, art by Gary Frank, Cam Smith, Karl Story, Terry Dodson... I believe this is the Supergirl as angel inhabiting Linda Danvers version, which I didn't like at all. It got better when a version of the original Supergirl, Kara Zor-El, showed up. Peter David has always struck me as a decent writer who other people tend to like more than I do.

Books I Own, Waiting to be Read (4)

• Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (novel, historical fiction)
• The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead (novel, speculative fiction)
• My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (novel, historical fiction)
• White Teeth by Zadie Smith (novel, literary fiction)

Book I Couldn't Finish

• Possession by A. S. Byatt (novel, historiographic metafiction)... I think I got as far as page 3, maybe 4. Didn't like the writing style, at all. By the way, I have no idea what "historiographic metafiction means.

Books I Saw the Movie/TV Show Instead (3)

• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (novel, historical/contemporary fiction)... Good movie, though I don't know how true it was to the book
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (novel, speculative fiction/historical romance)... I watched the first season, but lost interest before the season finale.
• Preacher, Vol. 1: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis, art by Steve Dillon... I'm loving the TV show. I just read that Steve Dillon died. So sad. His talent will be missed.

Time for Reading

I always make time for reading, but the issue is what I'm reading. Often, I'm reading articles online. Anyway, I don't want to ignore this blog between reviews, so this post on making time for reading gave me fodder for a post of my own.

1. Forget breakfast TV

I don't watch TV in the morning. I read my email, catch up on Facebook (that includes news articles from sites I follow on FB like the Daily News and HuffPo), check the blogs I follow, and read daily comics online.

2. Read at work

I did this when I was working, sometimes during lunch (when I wasn't going for walks -- need to get some exercise!) and if it was quiet at the reference desk at the library.

3. Listen to an audiobook at the gym

Audiobooks put me to sleep. I read paperbacks at the gym, and yes, it's a bit of a juggling act on the treadmill.

4. Chill at home with a novel

I sometimes read novels at home, but usually, I catch up with graphic novels and comics at home.

5. Keep a book in the glove compartment

The idea with this one is to have a book with you. I always have a book with me, in my bag, or an ebook on my phone's Kindle app.

6. Put reading on the menu

This suggests reading with cooking. Since I don't read audiobooks, this means a hardcopy and I'm no way coordinated to do that.

7. Dive into a story during dinner

I sometimes read while eating, but I'm usually eating at the computer, working on posts and scrolling through my Facebook feed.

8. There’s always the evening

I read after the night's TV viewing and sometimes, during commercials, though I often check Facebook during commercials, too. That's a form of reading, right?

There were some other suggestions on the post that linked to this. It's a graphic, so I have to type the suggestions, along with my thoughts about them.

1. Throw your phone in the ocean or use on airplane mode.

Aside from reading ebooks on my phone, I'm not addicted to the thing. I spend a lot of time at home on my computer, though.

2. Carry a book at all times.

This goes with #5 above. I always have a book with me.

3. Have another book ready before you finish the one you're reading.

I'm iffy on this one. Sometimes, I know what I want to read next, either the next book in the series I'm reading, or something completely different, and if the latter, I tend to wait til I finish a book so I can see what I'm in the mood for. I have a few hundred unread books at home, so finding something isn't a problem.

4. If you aren't enjoying a book, stop reading it immediately.

I try to give a book a fair chance to engage me, but unlike in my youth when I finished a book even if I didn't like it -- something I got from my mother -- I now will stop reading after a chapter or two if the book isn't doing it for me. There are too many books waiting for me to waste time on one not suited for me.

5. Schedule one hour a day for reading on your calendar like you would for an important meeting.

I can see this working for some people, but not for me. I read whenever I can but I'm not always in the mood to concentrate (which is why playing on Facebook is a good time filler or watching TV). Sometimes, my eyes are too tired. I don't like thinking of reading as a chore, which scheduling it could wind up making me feel.

6. Keep a reading log and share it.

I've had a reading journal since 1965 and now I have Library Thing and this blog for sharing my adventures in reading. 

Read Harder

For folks who enjoy this sort of thing, here's the 2016 Read Harder Challenge.

Reading Hacks

I suppose these Reading Hacks might be useful to some folks. Here are my thoughts on them.

1. When You Can’t Read… Listen!
Well, no. I've tried it. I fall asleep. If I try to move around and do things while listening, I miss too much of the book as my attention wanders. Audiobooks are not for me. Also, since audiobooks have been around for decades, this isn't exactly a new concept.

2. Read Big Books In Tiny Pieces
This had me scratching my head a bit. It mostly discusses an app that will send you snippets of a book at a time, the size of the snippet up to you. Which could mean not being able to read more if it's compelling. And why can't you decide how much to read at a time. I actually prefer to slot my reading according to my own schedule, and I can usually find my own stopping point, thanks.

3. Read While You Wait
Yeah, a good idea. I read when I'm on the subway, and thanks to the Kindle app on my phone, I can easily read while waiting on long lines.

4. Lock Yourself Out of Your Phone
heh heh. Actually, I use my phone for a few things, and READING is the top of that list. I also use it to quickly check Facebook and email, and I have a pedometer app for when I'm walking. That's 90 per cent of what I use my smartphone for.

5. Spare Yourself the Reader’s Cramps With a See-Through Book Weight
Yeah, I guess keeping a fat book open this way is a good idea. I, however, read thick books on my Kindle app or my Kindle. I also own those books in hardcopy so they can grace my physical bookshelves, which makes me happy.

6. Make A Book/E-Reader Stand Out Of A Coat Hanger
Um, okay, if you need to prop it up. I just rest it on the table or hold it in one hand. Works fine for me.

7. Choose Your Next Read With A Little Creativity
This is a hack? Really? Read what you're in the mood for. Sure, trying something new is a great idea, but I'd hardly call it a hack. I have a wide variety of books, so the hard part, for me, is narrowing it down to what to read next.

8. Make a DIY Book Haven
This could be nice, I guess. "Setting up a special place for reading is a recommendation to make reading feel like a special thing for children, but we grown-ups are just taller children." Okay, if you have kids who are reluctant readers, sure. And if as an adult, you need extra incentive to read, sure. But I grew up thinking reading was nothing more special than eating or breathing, so I read anywhere and everywhere, quite often at night, in bed, under the covers by light of a flashlight when I was supposed to be sleeping. If it weren't so uncomfortable now, I'd still do it. ;) But really, anywhere is my "book haven."

9. Turn Your Physical Books Into Ebooks… For Free
This mentions an interesting app Shelfie to help you find free ebooks based on your hardcopy collection. I just Google for the books, and I don't mind spending a few dollars for them.

10. Get A Box of Books Every Month
Again, the site makes some suggestions for where to get books, mainly The Book Drop. I buy them when I see them and I have, literally, for real, a thousand or so here to be read. At the slow rate I read, I'll never get through them all, but I keep buying 'em!

11. Get Free Books
More sources suggested, such as Paperback Swap and Project Gutenberg.

Seriously, I'd hardly call ideas like this "hacks." I think the word "hack" is getting so generic and ubiquitous that it's nearly meaningless now. Most of these are just common sense ideas you could probably have figured out on your own. Or maybe you've found some ideas that work for you. If so, and if anyone is actually reading this, why not leave your "hack" in the comments.

Read Harder

I wonder if you can count your past reading as part of the Read Harder Book Challenge. I'd do it, but I don't read that many books in a typical year, plus it means researching authors or getting reading lists, and I have hundreds of books here at home I have yet to read. And then there's the Read a Poetry Collection part of the challenge and that tends to put me to sleep. But it is an interesting challenge, one I just might have accomplished when I look at my life of reading.

Reader Quiz

BuzzFeed thinks it can guess where you live based on your reading preferences. I got New England as a result, which isn't bad, though NY is a Mid-Atlantic State. But so many of the question choices were not the ones I would have preferred, especially my favorite type of protagonist. "Quirky and dysfunctional" wasn't an option.

Deal Makers

The Broke and the Bookish asked what books are deal makers. Aside from reviews in Publishers Weekly or Entertainment Weekly that make a book sound intriguing, I'm a sucker by books by an author I already like. I'm also intrigued by historical fiction, especially historical mysteries set in places and/or time periods I don't know much about. Science fiction is pretty much a guarantee I'll be interested, but if a book also has an alternate reality or time travel element, I usually can't buy it fast enough. I'm also a sucker for dysfunctional or emotionally damaged protagonists.

So, what are your bookish weaknesses?

Book Shaming

So, someone on Slate named Ruth Graham tried to shame adults for reading YA novels. It's editorials like that that make me think Slate is overrated. I tried to read the article, but it goes on and on, mostly about "The Fault in Our Stars," book and movie. There was too much about the story than I wanted to know -- I don't like spoilers -- and because the author was irritating me. How dare someone tell anyone what they should be ashamed of. Well, if someone was telling someone he or she should be ashamed of mugging old people, or otherwise doing nasty things to others, yeah, that's fine. But to try to shame people over their choice of reading material? In the word of a native New Yorker: Fuhgeddaboutit.

I left a comment on the io9.com article about it that was written in opposition to the Slate editorial. I said:

"I was a YA librarian for 8 years. And for those 8 years, part of my job was to read and review and booktalk books geared toward a teen audience. Some of my favorite books are among those YA novels. 

It's not just a marketing term. It's also irrelevant. People should read what they want to read. It doesn't matter what age level the books are written for or marketed to. The Harry Potter series is a children's series, yet people from 6 or 7 to 100 or so read them. Superhero comics have traditionally been marketed to boys but that didn't stop me from reading them, starting in 1960. I read adult books when I was a kid, adult and kid books in my teens, and as an adult, I read every age level book I want. One of the best books I've ever read was a children's book: Holes by Louis Sachar. I read it as a middle-aged adult. Other than authors and publishers wanting people to read their books, no one should care what other people are reading. As a retired librarian, I'm just happy people are reading." 

I really was bothered by the author of the article defending adults reading YA novels by calling YA lit a marketing term. Which it is, of course, along with genre labels and even the decision to dispense with genre labels when they think an author can break out to a wider audience. But YA novels are written in a certain way. They focus on teen characters, with strong pov that keeps the focus on the particular issues teens deal with, like puberty and acceptance, even while dealing with the larger realm they live in. Sometimes, it's the conflict of trying to be an adult as their realm requires vs their struggle to mature, deal with hormones, and so on. You'd be more likely to find adults eager to read about characters ranging from childhood to old age. Teens are more likely to want to read about characters their age and a few years older. It's the rare YA novel that would be focused on an 80-year-old. Or an 8-year-old.

YA novels tend to not have digressions into rhetoric or authorial editorializing. And since they cover readers from 12 through 19, they vary in their vocabulary. They also don't feel the need to toss in an obligatory sex scene, though they might cover sexual experiences. I'd say they tend to be shorter than adult literature, but there are so many exceptions these days, starting with the Harry Potter books, which were written for children, covering a lot of YA fantasy and science fiction. One reason I love YA fiction is how, when good, it tends to get to the heart of a story and not meander. Character development tends to be strong and the writing clear.

Bottom line: read what you want. And don't let anyone make you feel bad about it.

What I'm Reading

Yup, I'm still around. Since January, I've been reading George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. It's gotten a bit tough reading this first book in his series while watching the TV version of the first half of the third book this spring.

Typically, I read books, then watch the adaptations, but the HBO series has been so good, it inspired me to seek out the books, which is working out nicely as the book is filling in a lot of backstory and character pov that's missing in the excellent series.

So, since I'm a slow reader and this is a looong book, it'll still be a while before I post another review here.

Which hasn't stopped comment spam on this blog, at all. ;)

The Speed to Read

Source: Staples eReader Department

I'm a slow reader, taking my time, savoring the words, reading sentences twice if I particularly like them. My results on this were 6 per cent below average, which wasn't as bad as I'd feared.

Choosing the Next Book

Choosing the next book to read is one of the hardest things for me to do. I dread finishing a book because it means I'll need to make a decision on the next one. I like variety in my reading, but somehow, as often as not, end up reading a book similar to the previous one. Historical fiction after science fiction? Both had an eerily similar mystery at its heart. A humorous book following a literary classic? Characters with the same or similar names. So often, a book echoes the previous one read.

And still, what to read? Which genre? Which time period? How deeply should I consider the plot? What mood am I in? Long or short or something in between? And then, what's the font like? Easy to read on the subway? Or on the treadmill at the gym (should I ever get back in that habit)?

I have hundreds of books at home to choose from and my list of books to buy, maybe, someday, is now 15 typed pages long. I keep buying. I keep weeding what I lose interest in reading. And still, it can take hours to decide on something.

I've finished reading The White Russian by Tom Bradby. Review to follow later this week. I've selected its successor: Chasing the Devil's Tail by David Fulmer. It has a lot to live up to, both in comparison to its predecessor and in its need to engage me. It's set in New Orleans. In 1907. There's a killer. Hmmm.... not all that much different than The White Russian, set in St. Petersburg in 1917, which places a series of killings in the center of a Russia on the brink of revolution. So similar. So different.

Does anyone else have trouble picking their next book to read?

Reading Equals Culture

My comments in answer to this post on reading.

I haven't read Moby Dick, either, nor do I plan to ever read it. Reading it doesn't interest me. Neither does reading Hemingway (not after managing to read only 3 pages of one of his books in high school). I can always find information about those books should I feel the need to have that knowledge.

As a librarian, I want people to read. Anything. I don't care what. After all, Charles Dickens was once the pulp writer of his time. Classics aren't written as classics. That happens decades later. They're books that stand the test of time. Who knows how Danielle Steel and Stephen King will be viewed 50 years from now.

A society that reads will retain knowledge. I'm much more concerned about retaining scientific knowledge in society than a taste in "classic" literature.

Lists of Books Everyone Should Read are nice if you're looking for recommendations. But to consider them required reading once you're out of school and not getting them as assignments is to be bullied by people you give authority over you for your "cultural" well being.

Read what you enjoy. As long as you're reading, you can't go wrong. And yes, that goes for porn, too. Or perhaps, just erotica. ;)

A Couple of Things

Thing the First
I seem to have, without thinking about it, managed to choose 2 similar books to read. I rarely have done this. I usually have worked hard to pick different genres, different plots, so I can keep things straight in my head. But somehow, I've managed to select 2 books dealing with men who have lost their wives violently and who throw themselves into a project to hide from their grief. The books are different, too, of course, but the similarities have me forgetting every so often which book has the wife who fell to her death (The Dogs of Babel) and which has the wife and two sons who died in a plane crash (Book of Illusions). I might not review them til I have them both read and can do a comparison.

Thing the Second
The monthly meme. Not so monthly, lately. So, I'm forgetting about April, and will post something by the weekend for May.

America Reads

Campaign for the American Reader is a very cool blog. Go take a look.

Feeling Guilty

This is a book blog and this entry is about books, although not a review or meme. It's about books we don't read and feel guilty about not reading them. I suppose I could make that a question for a future Booked by 3, but it's in my head now, so here it is, something to ponder.

I got this stuck in my mind because I've come to know (in that familiar yet not quite knowing way of the internet) many pro writers from writers message boards, mostly on AOL, but a few other places, too. For many, I'm reading their blogs. Some have been published for years, while others are newly published. And to confuse the issue, there are people I know from my fan fic days, who also wrote fan fic, who are now pro writers.

See, I get a thrill when I see books from one of these folks in a bookstore. I get the "gee, I've conversed with So-and-So online and here's their book. Wow" feeling. And in a display of support, I chose to read some of their books. I tried a couple of mystery writers from AOL's boards. Mostly, I enjoyed the books. Not among my favs, but solid writing and decent mysteries. I read the SF written by a former fan fic writer. She won an award for her first book, and while I liked it, I felt it was overwritten. When I saw her at a fan con a couple of years later, all I said was "Good book." And no, I'm not naming names here. :)

Then, more recently, I read a SF, a first published book by someone I know from message boards. It wasn't for me and I ended up skimming it just to see how it ended. This book got wonderful reviews. I haven't posted comments about the book on the message board because I can't say anything glowing about it. And while I've reviewed it here (now, everyone will scurry off to search the blog), I can't bring myself to tell him, sorry, but I thought it was dull and uninvolving. Plus, I couldn't follow the science, which I suppose, isn't his concern. Plenty of people more savvy than I am loved it.

So today, I saw the pb of a SF book, a reprint, I believe, of a hardcover that, you guessed it, was very well received and had wonderful reviews. I read this woman's blog. I think the book was the first, or maybe second of hers, to get published. I wanted to read it. I read the blurb. Okay, nothing that jumped out and grabbed me by saying You must read me! but nothing I would hate on sight. So I skimmed a bit inside, as I tend to do with new authors, to see if the writing style appealed to me (this is a good test, but not infallable; I got faked out with this for the book mentioned in the previous paragraph), and discovered that it didn't jump out at me, either. Nothing horrible about it, but it just didn't involve me. So I let it go, thinking I could change my mind (the cover is very nice), but I doubt I'll go back for it. And now I'm feeling guilty about it.

But then, I think of the 2 or 3 other books here by people I've "met" online and figure, I'm paying my dues. I try to read as many first novels and books by authors I "know." I just have to hope if I ever get published, someone will give my book a chance. Or, if not, that they don't feel guilty about it. That sucks.

So, do you have any books you feel guilty for not buying/reading?

Love of Reading

Good question posed over on Book Lust. I thought I'd post my comments here and expand on them a bit: "And so my question this time is ... is there anyone in your life who had a strong influence on you and your love of books?"

I can't say I was influenced, exactly. I just seemed to grow up thinking reading was akin to breathing or eating, something you did. I don't remember not being around books. My mother was a big reader and my father is a big reader and they didn't really care what I read. My mother took me to the library and picked books for me that she'd liked when she was a kid. And I read the books we had in the house. I was reading adult books by the time I was 10, James Bond at 11. They didn't even mind that I read comics. They'd been comic book fans, too, back in the '30s. :)

I was a quiet kid, the kind who could amuse herself with toys or a book, a comic, anything with words. I read the cereal boxes during breakfast. We always had magazines in the bathroom (when I'd finish with those and no new ones appeared, I'd read the toothpaste tube): National Geographic and Reader's Digest, usually. Now I keep Newsweek in the bathroom. The best light for reading is in there.

Books were places to go, stories about things and people so unlike me, though sometimes similar. But I came to prefer the ones that were different, the stories that took me out of my life. As long as reading could take me places, show me the wonders of the universe, make me feel sad or happy, enrich my life, then by golly, I was going to read. The love affair is still going strong, even though now I write my own stories, too.