What's your favorite book?
Your favorite author?
Fiction or non-fiction?
Romance novels or biographies?
Historical novels?
The great classics?
What was your favorite book when you were growing up?
Do you read one book at a time or do you flit from one book to another?
Any autographed books?
Have you written a book?
Tell us how you feel about books.
Please.
And I thought I had a lot of books.
ReplyDeleteI give away books regularly. If I'm sure I won't read something a second time, then it can go to another home.
DeleteOh, dear ~ those questions are a tall order! May I get back to you in a day or so?
ReplyDeleteTake your time.
DeleteDo you buy books or borrow them from the library? I buy them.I like to own books. I rarely get rid of them.
ReplyDeleteWhat's your favorite book? I don't know if I have a favorite, because I like, and love, them all for different reasons.
You favorite author? I was a Stephen King fan for a long time until, for me, the books became all about words and gore and not a lot of really interesting or scary stories. And, again, I have so many favorites .... lots of gay authors I truly like.
Do you read on a kindle or is a book you can hold in your hands absolutely required? I tried a kindle, but there's something about reading a real book and turning real pages that I love.
Fiction or non-fiction? Both. I think I may bend more toward fiction, but there's a lot of non-fiction, political or historical, books that I love.
Romance novels or biographies? I'd read a biography over romance any day. I am not a romance novel fan.
Historical novels? I am reading The Alienist by Caleb Carr now, which is about a serial killer in NYC at the turn of the last century. And there are a great many historical references about New York in the book.
The great classics? Some I've read; I find many a bit dry. But I try to read some of the all-time classics when I can. I have a list on the computer that I'm trying to get through.
How do you organize your books? By genre and topic, with subsets by author's names.
Do you have books you got as a child? I don't and I don't know why. Possibly boxed up in a move and then forgotten along the way.
What was your favorite book when you were growing up? I loved history books as a kid, and loved reading short stories about real people.
What are you reading now? I am a three-der, in that I am reading three books right now; The Alienist by Caleb Carr, Truth by Pete Buttigieg, and I Have Something To Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg; all very different, and all very good.
Do you read one book at a time or do you flit from one book to another? I go between all three I'm on now; which ever one grabs me as I reach for one of them.
Do you pause to look up unfamiliar words or do you guess at meanings from context? I do both, though looking up a word helps the most.
Any autographed books? I have several in The Vampire Lestat series signed by Anne Rice.
Have you written a book? I have, as yet unpublished; I have shared bits on my blog and I call it a feel-good story of suicide, alcoholism, and child abuse. It's sad and funny and hope-filled, I think.
I LOVELOVELOVE books because I have a vivid visual imagination and a love for words. I thank my parents for encouraging their children to read, by example.
I LOVELOVELOVE your answers. Now I know you better. My parents, especially my mother, encouraged reading.
DeleteBooks are like air to me. Absolutely necessary to live.
ReplyDeleteYou have the same condition, I see :)
My favourite book changes as time passes. Same with favourite author. I seem to go through phases.
I buy books but almost always buy used. So I am at the mercy of the donations of other people to the second-hand stores. I've never tried a Kindle so I don't know if I'd like it, but I find it hard to imagine liking it. I like the feel and the smell of books, even old ones. It's that paper and ink smell.
Are you going to tell us your answers to these questions? Please do!
I like your bookends and your bookshelves. I do see a little problem, though. There are empty shelves there :D
The empty spots result from rearranging books and removing some books/items I no longer want. Never fear: The spaces will be filled in with more books. I have a fire tablet I got several years ago for $30. I didn't know if I'd use the kindle, but I do. It's easy to carry to appointments where I'll need a book while I wait, and it's also nice in bed, with its own light. I didn't plan on answering the questions myself, but maybe I should.
DeleteI have been terrible with reading lately. But then I have never been a huge reader as I'm a very visual person. It comes and goes. I may read like tow or three books, then nothing for months. I maybe have only 40 books, ones that I know I will re-read...cross between fiction and autobios. Most are on my nightstand in the cubby below.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that you have books close by your bed. You might need one at 2 a.m. And I'm not joking.
DeleteWhen we downsized, we got rid of all our books except a few on art. I confess, I don't read books anymore for the simple reason that I fall asleep every time I pick one up. It's an age/attention thing I guess. When I was a kid, I had a set of books by Childcraft, (1964.You can actually find them on Ebay!), that were filled with stories, poems and craft ideas. I pretty much had my face in those all the time. There are a few little poems I still remember. I had a set of encyclopedias too and I used to read those when I was bored. My favorite classics are "The Great Gatsby" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
ReplyDeleteWe had Childcraft books. I love that you love Gatsby.
DeleteSo many questions! Haven’t been to the library in a long time. I like both REAL books and ebooks (but don’t use my kindle anymore). My interests vary. Books are organized by subject/genre. Don’t hold on to one-time reads anymore after leaving most of our books like that behind when we left the States.
ReplyDeleteI've only gone to the neighborhood library to vote.
DeleteI have books in every corner of my house. If I go into someone's home and they don't have a book anywhere in sight I don't trust them! I have never written a book but I have edited three regional bird reports, all published.
ReplyDeleteBird reports? I never would have guessed you're interested in birds.
DeleteLove this post, love your photos and love your questions! They'd make great blog posts to answer them all. These days, alas, I must read using a Kindle app on my computer for a large-size font so I can see the words. Any physical book is now too hard for me to see, unless it is a special "Large Print" format. I just finished reading my first such "Large Print" book -- "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles. A great read, highly recommended!
ReplyDeleteAh, I like recommendations, but I'm sorry reading has become difficult for you.
DeleteThat's a lot of questions! (And a lot of books!) I see you have "Infinite Jest." Have you read it yet? I keep thinking I'm going to try it but I still haven't.
ReplyDeleteI prefer a paper book. I don't read any books electronically. Right now I'm trying to get back on my Newbery treadmill in order to finish reading them all by December, but I'm lacking motivation. :/
Infinite Jest is my son's. He loved it. I don't know if I'll read it, but it's here if I want it.
DeleteI am generally a buyer of books, but I do all my reading digitally now and find free books all the time.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book ever is A Confederacy of Dunces
I don't really have a favorite author
I will read just about any genre except romance novels. I read one once and don't have to read another.
Now that I am digital I don't really organize them, but my hard copy books are shelved by genre, then alphabetized by author.
I have an anthology or nursery rhymes, poems, fables, fairy tales, and short stories for children that was given to me as a newborn. Occasionally I still read from it.
As a young elementary school kid I read Little Women over and over, By mid elementary I switched to Nancy Drew and read all of them.
Right now I am reading "The Light of Days" ,"The Last of the Moon Girls", and "The Private Lives of the Tudors"
I am a book juggler
Unless it is some obtuse word I can generally figure it out from the context. Occasionally I run across a word I have never heard of before (generally a noun for an object I have no clue about) and I will check out the meaning (not hard to do with digital books and an online dictionary)
I do have a couple of autographed books, but nothing I had autographed intentionally. I worked at a bookstore briefly and any time there was an author there they would give copies to the staff.
I do write and have some ideas floating around in my laptop but nothing published.
I love to read and I think books are close to breathing and music as a necessity for life.
I love your attitude toward romance novels. I agree that books are a necessity.
DeleteHi Janie - books, books, books ... I have too many - which I'm now taking down to the good 2nd-hand bookshop down the road - all I seem to have done during lock-down is buy books.
ReplyDeleteI'm not good with novels ... I like/need to be educated - but will read all sorts ... and if I stopped to look up everything I didn't know I'd not be able to finish any book. So I do look up the odd thing - thankfully some books are so well referenced - with glossaries and with maps ...
It's great to see your books set out so delightfully ... just enjoy them - thank goodness for libraries ... I must use them more. Cheers Hilary
I like non-fiction as much as I like fiction, so I understand the desire for learning from books.
DeleteMy eys have changed so much on me that I haven't been able to read like I used to. I had always absolutely preferred a real book, but now I'm leaning ebooks (because I can enlarge the print) and audio books. I think I am still resisting those just because I miss turning paper pages...and admitting my body is failing as I age. ;)
ReplyDeleteMy sight is becoming a concern for me, too. Even with my heavy duty glasses, my eyes tire easily and words blue.
DeleteI'm not a big Reader, but I have a shit ton of Books, mostly Decor Books since I'm all about the Visuals in Books. I own a lot of Cookbooks too even tho' I don't Cook per se, which puzzles The Man why I even want them then? *LOL* I always Imagine I might just try some of those fabulous recipes and the Visuals are quite Inspirational and Stunning, Food Art if you will! *Winks* I have a vast Library in the RV Garage on a huge Bookshelf with a Ladder, like in Old Libraries. The overspill from that is in stacked Vintage Milk Crates. I probably have more Decor Books than the Big Chain Bookstores, no kidding! I Sell Books at my Antique Mall Space and am glad that Books made a comeback. *Whew* I couldn't get into Kindle and such, or having a Book just Read to me without holding it in my own Hands. I'm not a very Sophisticated Book Person, I like Fun Books, unless I really want to Learn something and get information I wouldn't buy a Serious Book. I Love Libraries but rarely check Books out, I just peruse them while there, too Lazy to bring them back or perhaps lose them at Home and forget they belonged to the Library! *LOL* I bought a Book about improving Brain Function recently and forgot where I put it! Ain't that Ironic!?
ReplyDeleteI have quite a few cookbooks and like to imagine myself preparing the food and having it turn out exactly the way it's pictured. I think the brain function book is hiding from you because it thinks it's funny.
DeleteHave a very beautiful day friend
ReplyDeleteThank you! I wish the same to you.
DeleteWow! I had a library like that once, but I downsized considerably a few years ago on the books I knew I would never read again. My most favorite book was Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, a beautiful book in a slipcover that my grandmother gave me. I read it so many times as a child that the slipcover fell apart. I still have the book.
ReplyDeleteIn grade school my mother would give me money to buy new books the library sold. They were mostly animal stories. In my twenties I read mostly the lesser classics of fiction, too many authors to mention, and I think the last book I ever read all the way through was Les Misérables, a huge book that somehow was my last.
Then I married my current husband, worked a fulltime job that bled over into my home time, with a house to run and pets to manage, the entire yard to take care of including the mowing and trimming; and my reading turned to magazines, because they were shorter reads.
My magazines included Scientific American, Discovery, Smithsonian Institution, and anything on gardening and nature. Now I just read Bird Watchers Digest and articles on philosophy and psychology on the internet and anything else that interest me. I think I've had a good life of reading considering my old age.
I still love to visit a good book store, which is rare these days to find, and sometimes buy an artfully illustrated children's book to add to my collection. I'm sentimental about those things. I seem to have written a book here myself, so I'll finish. I don't even know if I answered any of your questions :)
Take care. Enjoyed this post.
When I was in 4th - 6th grades we could order Scholastic books. My mom quite often gave me money for that. I still have some of those books.
DeleteI'm an avid reader, and I've always loved a book in my hands more than anything else. When I started traveling for work, I got into audiobooks and haven't stopped since. I even listen to them in the shower. I prefer historical fiction based on true stories or a juicy nonfiction. When I'm done with a book, I want to have learned something while being sucked into the story. I read one book at a time and I will not move on until it's finished, no matter how much I'm disliking it. Right now I'm in the middle of To Capture What We Cannot Keep.
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful that you can enjoy books that way.
DeleteI love reading have done all my life, I use to read 2 or 3 books at once having one in the car one in the house at least. I like audiobooks now as I am no longer able to read a book. I have a few authors I like such as Dick Francis, Robert B Parker, Kerry Greenwood to name a few. I get my books from the library have done since my teenage years. Growing up I loved the Trixie Beldon books, right now I am listening to Kerry Greenwood's Queen of the Flowers
ReplyDeleteTrixie seems to have been similar to Nancy Drew and I can tell from the names of the authors you like that you are a fan of mysteries/detective stories.
DeleteI buy and have many favorite authors:)
ReplyDeleteI read paper and E.
I was a bookworm. FROG THE HORSE THAT KNEW NO MASTER.
I'm reading a D. Wallace Peach book. Sometimes I flit, sometimes I read one at a time;)
I do pause to look up unfamiliar words.
Most of my autographed books are books by writer buds.
Fun post.
Frog The Horse--that's great.
DeleteI only read non fiction, and not that often, but I do have a bookcase full of books about music and art, my two passions. I don't own a kindle.
ReplyDeleteMusic and art are two excellent passions to have.
DeleteYou're my type of person, Janie! Books, books, books... I could not imagine my life without books. I haven't stopped reading since I was a young child. When I was growing up, I visited the library regularly because we couldn't afford to buy them. When I was able to afford them, I never stopped buying. I read a lot of books each year and I also give away many of them, as well. A book in hand for me is a must. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThe love of reading was a great gift from my mother. I asked to have it mentioned in her eulogy, and it was.
DeleteBooks are great friends.
ReplyDeleteI feel lonely after finishing a very good book, somehow I want to know the whole book and still don't want it to end, Do i make any sense,?
Yes, you make sense because I often feel the same way about books.
DeleteGreat book questions, Janie! I buy books, and I read almost every genre. I've given away thousands of books, and I keep buying more. I couldn't possibly pick one favorite author or book. I loved "Bambi" when I was little and "The Just So Stories." I loved the photos of all your books!
ReplyDeleteI give away books regularly and get more. I treasure my books.
Delete