Friday, July 12, 2013

15-Day Book Blogging Challenge: Day 1

I saw this meme on Magical Doorways, a new-to-me book blog written by the very cool blogger and all-around book person Helen. She's great and I love her blog, so I decided to crib this meme which originally came from GoodBooksandGoodWine.com
It's a 15-day series but I will do them on a now-and-then basis.  Here's the full list:
(1) Make 15 book related confessions
(2) What's your bedtime reading ritual?
(3) Who are your blogging BFFS?
(4) What's the last book you flung across the room?
(5) Recommend a tear-jerker.
(6) Describe how you shop for books
(7) Talk about your blogging quirks.
(8) Quick! Write 15 bullet points of things that appeal to you on blogs.
(9) Why do you blog about books?
(10) How do you choose which book to read next?
(11) Show off! 5 of your best blog posts.
(12) How do you fight blogger fatigue?
(13) Describe one underappreciated book EVERYONE should read
(14) Tell us your deal breakers.
(15) Who are your book blogging mentors?

  1. I own an e-reader and hardly ever use it. I'm a print lady. Even if it means my house is overflowing with books, I can't really get into e-books. I do use my e-reader sometimes when I travel, but rarely, and basically I don't know where my e-reader is right now it's been so long since I've had any desire to use it. I tried, but... nah.
  2. I'm a border-line book hoarder.  I do weed sometimes, but only so I can clear a path from my door to my furniture.
  3. I use my books as coasters and tables sometimes. I have a couple of paperbacks that have been ruined by spaghetti sauce and tea. I ruined a book by spilling yogurt on it once. Ewww.
  4. I dog-ear. I'm trying to be more consistent about using bookmarks but I don't always. Even though I make and sell fabric bookmarks, and make some for myself too, I still dog-ear. My husband and I have had semi-fights about my poor reading habits in this regard.
  5. I'm a collector. I collect first editions of Booker Prize winners, hardcover illustrated copies of Jane Eyre and other first editions, particularly of my favorite authors Margaret Atwood and A.S.Byatt. I own nothing particularly valuable but many that are valuable to me.
  6. I never had enough books growing up. I think that's why I have so many now. My parents would seldom buy me books and I relied on the library, yard sales and when I was lucky enough to have a little money, the used bookstore. Now that I review, work for a bookstore and live in a used-bookstore-rich community, I can have all the books.
  7. I've collected over 100 books published by Europa Editions, between review copies and what I buy new or used. I've read about 50.
  8. Crime novels have been my guilty pleasure for a long time. I read The Silence of the Lambs in high school after seeing the movie and loved it. Before I discovered classy crime novels by publishers like Melville House and Soho and Europa, I read James Patterson. I... don't do that anymore though.
  9. When I was a kid and spent a lot of time in libraries, I would procrastinate so much on returning books that I had my library card revoked twice. This is part of the reason I'm a buyer and not a borrower now.
  10. I can agree that sometimes people in independent bookstores can be snobs. I work really hard to treat all my customers with respect and to be thankful for them, regardless of what they ask me for or what they're buying. I can't stop myself from thinking things sometimes though!
  11. Sometimes I get tired of trying to be open-minded about genre fiction and just want to read my snooty little Euro books. Sue me.
  12. I prefer paperbacks to hardbacks. This is one reason I like galleys. I can have a new book and it's a softcover. If I can't get a galley of a book I want, I will usually wait for the paperback. When I buy hardbacks I almost never read them right away. Usually because of the size of my TBR piles I don't get to it till the paperback comes out anyway and then I feel like an idiot.
  13. I sometimes daydream about better ways to organize my books, but seldom follow through and change anything.
  14. I hate double-stacking books on the shelves but I have to do it because there is simply not enough room.
  15. I used to be really fussy about arranging my books in descending order of height, but I have too many to be that particular anymore.

6 comments:

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Your confessions were fun to read Marie (some are similar to mine)LOL.

Anonymous said...

Love your confessions. I recognize one or two of those as my own!

bermudaonion said...

I'm not much of an eReader either.

ImageNations said...

I don't read e-books. I don't dog-ear my books. I stack books in my shelf. My unread list, is shrinking because I read more from the shelf than I read from outside. I buy/own every book I've read. Not much libraries for borrowing. Have never borrowed a novel from a library before. Not even sure there is one in my neighbourhood. Hardcover not my thing, too heavy to hold to read. Etc.

I enjoyed your list.

Ted said...

I enjoyed reading your responses. Wish I had the time to do this!

ChaosIsAFriendOfMine said...

What a neat meme! I don't use my e-reader much either. I think it's b/c the books on my shelves are staring at me, longing to be read. I can't see the books on my e-reader so out of sight, out of mind.