Category: Booking through Thursday

Which Niche Books Do You Read?

Published on by Margaret20 Comments

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There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

I think a lot of people probably read the same “niche” books as me – on cookery, gardening, health, nutrition, travel and crafts, such as knitting, cross stitch and so on. I also have quite a lot of books on yoga, religion and philosophy and also on creative writing. Looking on my bookshelves I see I also have books on photography, which I’d forgotten about – Digital Photography Handbook and Learn Photography in a Weekend, now those sound useful.

I’m much better at reading these books than I am at putting them into practice.

Books That Stick – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret28 Comments

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Today’s question is from Shelley:

‘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.’

  1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  2. Heidi by Joanna Spyri
  3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (& Good Wives, Little Men and Jo’s Boys)
  4. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  5. Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
  6. What Katy Did and What Katy Did Next by Susan Coolidge
  7. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  8. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  9. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
  10. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
  11. One Fine Day by Mollie Panter Downes
  12. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
  13. Atonement by Ian McEwan
  14. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
  15. Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee

I did this is just about 15 minutes and couldn’t actually restrict it to 15 books. Numbers one to nine are all books are ones I read when was a child/teenager, so that means they really have stuck with me. Some of the others are more recent reads and I’m quite surprised by the ones that came to my mind straight away, but yes I think they’ll all stay with me for quite a while – there are more, of course!

Unread – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

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Today’s question is suggested by C in DC:

Is there a book that you wish you could ‘unread’? One that  you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?

If there is I’ve forgotten it!

Seriously, if I really dislike a book that much I don’t read much of it beyond a few pages and usually I can tell from browsing whether I’d like a book or not. There are so many books I want to read that I just can’t waste time reading books I dislike.

A Second First Time? – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret20 Comments

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What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?

This is like asking what is your favourite book – I can’t decide! There are many books I’ve read that I wish I could read again as though it were the first time, just as there are many books that improve on second readings.

Off the top of my head here are a few I wish I read for the first time again (ask me again tomorrow and I’d probably tell you different books). These are all books that took my breath away the first time round:

Gluttony – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret32 Comments

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Mariel suggested this week’s question:

Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

This is an easy question to answer! I am a Book Glutton, not only are my eyes bigger than my book belly, they are bigger than my house. Of course I buy books far quicker than I could possibly read them – I’m a Bookaholic,  a Bookworm, irrideemably hooked, no hope for me until I’m penniless and then I’ll have to live at the library. I can hear my husband saying “You already do”!  He twittered one day that he was overrun by books – they were taking over the world!  They are in this house.

Actually all is not lost – yesterday I went into Waterstones and came out without one single book! And I returned three books to the library and didn’t borrow any more! What has come over me? It don’t suppose it will last very long and I was able to resist because I’d received two books in the post in the morning from newbooks magazine and felt it was just too over the top to buy or borrow any more.

I’m full of good intentions to read the books I own that are in piles waiting to be read and every now and then resolve not to buy any more until I’ve read them. So now seems a good day to make that a real resolution – I WILL NOT BUY ANY BOOKS FOR AT LEAST THREE MONTHS.

Maybe I should take it one day at a time and resolve …

NOT TO BUY ANY BOOKS TODAY.

Graphic – Booking Through Thursday

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

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Suggested by Vega:

Last Saturday (May 2nd) is Free Comic Book Day! In celebration of comics and graphic novels, some suggestions:

– Do you read graphic novels/comics? Why do/don’t you enjoy them?
– How would you describe the difference between ‘graphic novel’ and ‘comic’? Is there a difference at all?
– Say you have a friend who’s never encountered graphic novels. Recommend some titles you consider landmark/’canonical’.

I haven’t read any graphic novels. There are a few in my local library, but none of them appealed to me. What I enjoy most about books is the words and the pictures they paint in my mind. So graphic novels have little appeal.

As far as I can tell there is little difference between comics and graphic novels, apart from the obvious one of their format – comics are magazines and graphic novels are bound volumes. I love cartoons and I used to read comics and comic strips in newspapers and enjoyed their humour, so maybe I should do more than take  a graphic novel off the library shelf and look at it, maybe I should borrow one and read it.

Obviously I cannot recommend any titles, although I’ve read that Neil Gaiman’s work is excellent.