Bookwormin' it! ---Unfinished business
Well, this may be my last Bookworm for a while---Brandi is taking a break because things are getting overwhelming with school and work and everything. It's actually a couple weeks old but still fresh!
1. We've all heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Have you ever picked up a book based solely on the title or the picture on the cover?
I used to when I was heavy into reading sci-fi and fantasy back in my teens. Some of that cover art was just the coolest. But I stopped doing that after I got burned a couple of times. I got a couple of books that were so bad that it was obvious that's why they had the most excellent cover art---it wouldn't have sold otherwise.
Once, in Jr. High, I did actually check a book out from the library because I thought the girl on the cover was cute. It wasn't a "hottie" picture or anything like that. Just an illustration of a girl about the same age I was back then, who was digging in the top shelf of her hall locker at school. But I was kind of crushing on her---even though I knew she was just a painting probably not even based on a real person. I don't even remember the title of the book, but I checked it out because I wanted to get to know her.
It was a good read, but it was kind of weird too. It was one of those "almost romance" books. You know, the kind where the two people are so attracted to each other but they just can't get together and so at the end they never do. I hate those. I also hate the "I-love-you-but-I'm-dying" movies and stories. I need the payoff with romantic things. My real love life has a history of enough tragedy.
2. Along the same lines, do you ever look at whichever book someone else is reading in public or whatnot, and based on that make a snap judgment about their character or literary taste?
I don't really make over all judgments, but I am baffled by people who read cheap romance novels and stuff like that. I know, I know. . . people have tried to explain it to me. I guess I've just gotten so busy that I can't just do something that feels like I'm blowing my time. I want to have some richness to the experience or I feel like I should be doing something else all the while I'm reading it.
I did used to read books like that myself when I was younger. I read a large part of the Conan the Barbarian series at one point. I just don't think I could read stuff like that now without feeling like I was wasting moments of my life that I'd never get back.
3. Do you buy books online? If so, where is your favorite place to find them?
Amazon and eBay. I bought a book once from Overstock.com. I also book online with mail order book clubs: Quality Paperback Bookclub (QPB) and Book Planet Book Club. I love doing the book clubs online---no sending back the cards in the mail. Just reply online.
I don't know why but I'm just not interested in using the websites from brick-and-mortar book stores, although I love the stores, like for Barnes and Noble and Borders. But it looks like Borders is in bed with Amazon right now, so it's kind of hard to see where one ends and the other begins there.
4. From someone who's had more than her fair share of library fines... what is the largest late fee you've ever incurred at a library for returning a book past the due date? Have you ever borrowed a book from a library and never returned it?
Not really sure--about $5.00 or $6.00 probably. Most recently I had fines for books on tape that I was using when I was teaching a class. I've done that three years in a row now with these same tapes. I probably should have just bought them. But other than that, the late fees I pay now are mostly for my kids' fines. We're working on that. I want them to love to use the library but I don't want to go broke either.
I've never had a library book that I never returned (that I know of). It would be like the Tell Tale Heart, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
5. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
I don't remember what the first book that I could read by myself was, but the first book I had a passion about was a book I discovered in our basement in a box of old books. Thinking back, it must have been an outdated school reader type book, but I was fascinated that here was a book that didn't just have one story---it had lots of stories. And illustrations by different artists so the styles changed with each chapter. It was just mesmerizing.
I have a vivid memory of going over to spend the night with some cousins but I didn't even want to play with them or interact on the drive over. I just wanted to look at that book. Their folks were generous on the drive and kept the back dome light on so I could read while we traveled in the dark. The world just became a little bigger for me that night because of that book.
1. We've all heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Have you ever picked up a book based solely on the title or the picture on the cover?
I used to when I was heavy into reading sci-fi and fantasy back in my teens. Some of that cover art was just the coolest. But I stopped doing that after I got burned a couple of times. I got a couple of books that were so bad that it was obvious that's why they had the most excellent cover art---it wouldn't have sold otherwise.
Once, in Jr. High, I did actually check a book out from the library because I thought the girl on the cover was cute. It wasn't a "hottie" picture or anything like that. Just an illustration of a girl about the same age I was back then, who was digging in the top shelf of her hall locker at school. But I was kind of crushing on her---even though I knew she was just a painting probably not even based on a real person. I don't even remember the title of the book, but I checked it out because I wanted to get to know her.
It was a good read, but it was kind of weird too. It was one of those "almost romance" books. You know, the kind where the two people are so attracted to each other but they just can't get together and so at the end they never do. I hate those. I also hate the "I-love-you-but-I'm-dying" movies and stories. I need the payoff with romantic things. My real love life has a history of enough tragedy.
2. Along the same lines, do you ever look at whichever book someone else is reading in public or whatnot, and based on that make a snap judgment about their character or literary taste?
I don't really make over all judgments, but I am baffled by people who read cheap romance novels and stuff like that. I know, I know. . . people have tried to explain it to me. I guess I've just gotten so busy that I can't just do something that feels like I'm blowing my time. I want to have some richness to the experience or I feel like I should be doing something else all the while I'm reading it.
I did used to read books like that myself when I was younger. I read a large part of the Conan the Barbarian series at one point. I just don't think I could read stuff like that now without feeling like I was wasting moments of my life that I'd never get back.
3. Do you buy books online? If so, where is your favorite place to find them?
Amazon and eBay. I bought a book once from Overstock.com. I also book online with mail order book clubs: Quality Paperback Bookclub (QPB) and Book Planet Book Club. I love doing the book clubs online---no sending back the cards in the mail. Just reply online.
I don't know why but I'm just not interested in using the websites from brick-and-mortar book stores, although I love the stores, like for Barnes and Noble and Borders. But it looks like Borders is in bed with Amazon right now, so it's kind of hard to see where one ends and the other begins there.
4. From someone who's had more than her fair share of library fines... what is the largest late fee you've ever incurred at a library for returning a book past the due date? Have you ever borrowed a book from a library and never returned it?
Not really sure--about $5.00 or $6.00 probably. Most recently I had fines for books on tape that I was using when I was teaching a class. I've done that three years in a row now with these same tapes. I probably should have just bought them. But other than that, the late fees I pay now are mostly for my kids' fines. We're working on that. I want them to love to use the library but I don't want to go broke either.
I've never had a library book that I never returned (that I know of). It would be like the Tell Tale Heart, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
5. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
I don't remember what the first book that I could read by myself was, but the first book I had a passion about was a book I discovered in our basement in a box of old books. Thinking back, it must have been an outdated school reader type book, but I was fascinated that here was a book that didn't just have one story---it had lots of stories. And illustrations by different artists so the styles changed with each chapter. It was just mesmerizing.
I have a vivid memory of going over to spend the night with some cousins but I didn't even want to play with them or interact on the drive over. I just wanted to look at that book. Their folks were generous on the drive and kept the back dome light on so I could read while we traveled in the dark. The world just became a little bigger for me that night because of that book.
posted by Will at 4:33 PM
1 Comments:
Loved your answers.
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