Archive for the ‘Reading is fundamental’ Category
December 27, 2007 in the early afternoon | 
Reading is fundamental
It’s an old question, but a good one . . . What were your favorite books this year?
List as many as you like … fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science-fiction, business, travel, cookbooks … whatever the category. But, really, we’re all dying to know. What books were the highlight of your reading year in 2007?
Well, according to Library Thing, I’ve read 24 books this year. That’s not even counting that I re-read Harry Potter 1-6 and I read 7 twice. I also re-read my two favorite Nick Hornby books, High Fidelity and About a Boy. And I’m in the middle of a book now that I will hopefully finish before next Monday. So that actually puts me at 35. That’s about 3 books a month, which is a pretty good average for me since I’m a fairly slow reader.
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December 13, 2007 late at night | Reading is fundamental
I thought I’d do today’s Booking Through Thursday meme. It is still Thursday…barely.
Do you use any of the online book-cataloging sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? (Or . . . do you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking to?? (grin))
If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?
I use Library Thing, which I like. I was reading in other places that some people don’t like it. Like, it’s too meticulous or something? I don’t know. I’ve looked at Shelfari and a few other similar places and they seem more social network-y. I don’t really care about that aspect of it. I just like to have a place to list all the books I’ve read. Plus since I took the time to add almost every single book I’ve read in the past 15 years, I don’t really want to have to do that again at another place.
Before I started using Library Thing (probably about a year ago?), I just wrote down all the books I read and the date I finished them on, in a little notebook. I started keeping it around 7th grade, I think. I was totally OCD even back then. Though I know I’m missing quite a few books from my Library Thing list because I would forget to write books down sometimes. But I’d say I have a record of about 85-90% of the books I’ve read since I was about 12.
Now, does that matter? Does anyone care? Probably not, but sometimes I just like to look over my list and I feel somewhat accomplished that I’ve read those books and that I still read regularly. Plus I just love the list aspect of it. It warms my OCD-riddled heart.
November 29, 2007 around lunchtime | Reading is fundamental
Here’s the little (and I mean little) blurb on the back of this book:
Thanks to “Ugly Betty”, we’re finally ready to read a love story about a couple that isn’t sleek, slick, tucked, pulled or plastic.
That made me want to read the book. I like Ugly Betty, so that made me think that this book was going to have the same tone: quirky fun with a lot of heart.
Well, it didn’t really turn out that way. Quirky? Check. Heart? Double Check. Fun? Not so much. It’s actually a pretty darn depressing book. But the good thing is that it’s short, about 200 pages, so it goes by fast and you don’t really want to put it down. If it had been long and depressing I would have hated this book, but short and depressing is ok with me, so I liked it.
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November 19, 2007 in the early afternoon | Reading is fundamental
I’m very glad I finished this book, but, man, was it hard to get started. I bought this book earlier this summer because of a recommendation from one of my favorite sites. I think I read about 3 pages and gave up on it. I consider myself quite the anglophile, and am mostly hip to the British slang these days, but British slang from the early ’80s? Not so much. Ace doss, indeed. (After reading the whole book, I think that translates to “cool shit” or something like that. Ace definitely means cool, but doss is used in a few different ways, so I’m not sure about it.) Some other snippets that threw me in the first three pages:
“Moron, grinny-zitty as ever. His bumfluff’s getting thicker, mind.”
“Moron’s my height and he’s okay but Jesus he pongs of gravy.”
Pongs of gravy? I still don’t know what the hell that means.
