Monday, August 27, 2012

Top Ten Bookish Confessions

I am so excited about the theme for this week's Top Ten Tuesday that I had to post it early. It's Tuesday in England by now, and that's close enough for me. 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish blog with a different top ten list theme (all related to books) every Tuesday (see the full list here).


My confessions! (I should tint the background of this post pink, because I'm blushing): 

10. I still dog ear my books if I'm desperate.

I know this is supposedly book abuse of the highest kind (except maybe for flattening a book's spine by leaving it open face-down - my gosh just writing that sounds like medieval torture!)  Fortunately I have discovered Post-It book tags. But sometimes I pick up a book without first grabbing my book tags. And if it's a really good book, sometimes I simply can't take the effort to pause and search for my book tags. And if I can't find a piece of paper/receipt/child's birth certificate to rip up and place in between my favorite pages so I can go back and read the deliciousness again, yes! I admit! I will dog-ear a page. Even if it's a library book. I hang my head in shame. 

(I flip the dog-ears back up though as soon as possible). 

The book that has received the most dog-ears from me (I mean book tags!): 21 tags to Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman. I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! The most original dragon book since... well... ever. 



9. I love Amazon sample chapters.

I never buy a book without reading the first chapter. Since I'm a writer, I also love to download free first chapters and analyze them, see what makes them work - or not work. Today I read the free first chapter for Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and it hooked me.  


A debut YA fantasy with a flavor of tsarist Russia; just released this June and already on the NYT bestseller list! I must have it this moment!!!!  (see #3). Alas... it's neither at the local library or bookstore. Deciding whether I want to pay the extra money to get two-day shipping from Amazon... ah, the hard decisions in life...

8. I'm a Goodreads junkie. 

Sometimes I re-read my reviews just for the fun of it. I love to add my favorite quotes from books to Goodreads Quotes. I love to browse and vote on Goodreads Lists. My Goodreads To-Read list is out of control. I try to beef up my Read list by obsessively listing every book I've ever read, short of college textbooks. Sadly, Goodreads reviews do frustrate me sometimes. I don't mind negative rants, but when reviewers go out of their way to mock a book (or worse, the author) and raise controversy JUST TO UP their "likes" and get comments (which results in their reviews getting listed higher) - that troubles me. But then again, even negative attention is good attention for books. 


7. I could not finish the Book Thief. 

I know!!!! Shame on me! Every time someone raves about this book, I cringe and promise myself someday when I'm more mature I'll give it another try.



6. I love Twilight and I re-read parts of it when I'm blue or bored. 

Okay, I realize that if you combine #6 and #7 most people will assume I am a real airhead reader. I quickly cry out that To Kill A Mockingbird is in my top ten all time favorites along with Lord of the Rings and some of my favorite authors include Madeleine L'Engle and Ursula LeGuin. I love books with substance! But, yes, I also apparently love dangerous vampire love. Forgive me. 


5. I get frustrated taking my kids to the library.

I have read hundreds of wonderful children's books and I am brimful of recommendations. Which they invariably ignore. They usually pick something that makes me roll my eyes, but then I tell myself, do NOT be a book snob. Sure, the back cover blurb is cringe-worthy, but it might be a great discovery. To be fair, my just-turned-11-year-old has found a few excellent books that I ended up reading after her (I discovered the wonderful Pam Munoz Ryan books from my daughter.)

4. I'm dismayed by book covers that don't appear to have anything to do with the story.

Or if I can't figure out what what their connection is to the story. The cover for The Help by Katheryn Stockett has three plain little birds sitting on a branch. They must  correspond to the three main characters, I'm sure, but I keep thinking there should be something more? 


3. I love it when the book I SIMPLY MUST HAVE THIS VERY MOMENT is ready waiting for me at the library. 

I live in a small town and therefore we have a small library (we also have a small bookstore). More often than not, the book I'm craving is not available. As a result, getting an email that my inter-library-loan request is ready to be picked up is almost as wonderful as getting a new book in the mail. And yes, I realize I can have instant gratification with e-books. I do resort to that on occasion. I like my e-reader and I think e-books are a wonderful thing but in general it's just not the same warm fuzzy as getting the exact book I want in MY HANDS right when I want it. This might be because it's just not as easy to sip your tea with an e-reader as it is with a real book.  Speaking of which....

2. My largest Pinterest board is the one called "Books and Tea"


I would dearly love to post some of those pictures here, but I'd rather be reading than checking copyrights. But I'll quote a few of my favorites: 


You could never get a cup of tea large enough or book long enough to suit me. - C.S. Lewis 
Book Hangover: inability to start a new book because you're still living in the last book's world. 
You still get upset thinking about the lost library of Alexandria.
Nerd Girl Confession #21. A new movie comes out that everyone loves and you think "Screw everyone! I read the book first!"
Comic of young girl questioning her teacher: "If reading books is so important, how come you never see people on television doing it?" 
And oh the book artwork! Bookshelves that make me drool. And laugh - like "The Bookworm" by Norman Rockwell, or a similar one by Carl Spitzweg. 

1.5  I may be a binge reader. 

Welcome to Book-aholics Anonymous. My name is Margo, and I am a binge reader. For more tongue-in-cheek details about this amusing but possibly serious disease, see Corrine Jackson's wonderful post, "Binge reading: an addiction"

1. My most favorite thing in the world (besides reading a good book) is talking about a good book.

If I'm in a coffee shop chatting with a friend about whatever, and I catch someone else's conversation about a book they just read, I want to switch places over to the book conversation (no offense to my friends. I realize you do have to talk about something other than books once in a while). One of my favorite opener questions with friends or even with strangers is "read any good books lately?" 

Please share your worst (or best) bookish confession! 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Follow on Bloglovin
Follow on Bloglovin

Followers

My Blog List