Juliana over at Urban Simplicity posted a survey about reading habits. I couldn't resist.
Do you snack while you read? If so, what is your favorite reading snack?
I don't really eat while I read, but I do read while I eat. Let me explain. It all comes down to what the main activity is. Breakfast almost requires a book. But would I get up for a snack while reading? Probably not. Unless the book in question requires one. I can't read
The Importance of Being Earnest without jumping up to bake muffins.
What is your favourite drink while reading?
Water. I guzzle it endlessly.
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Yes, of course. I feel compelled to. I was listening to
A Room with a View for the first time on a bus and was suddenly overcome with a need to underline absolutely every line. Luckily, I spotted a used bookstore out the window. I leaped off the bus and found a tattered copy of it almost immediately, then spent an hour waiting for the next bus and marking it up happily.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Bookmarks. Can't abide to see a book splayed open by anyone else and will snatch it up and stick a scrap of paper in it.
Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
Fiction, mainly, with a healthy dose of knitting, sewing, birthing, and cook books, especially if they read like memoirs or poetry. See
Elizabeth Zimmermann,
Ina May Gaskin, and
Tamar Adler.
Are you the kind of person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
If left to my own devices, I'll finish the chapter. But I have a two-year-old, so…
Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
I'm sure I've done it once or twice, but am more likely to start ranting and raving to Pete. Poor man.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Yes, which is one of my favorite things about e-readers.
What are you currently reading?
A Dance with Dragons, The Importance of Being Earnest, A Midwife's Story, and
Women and Men in the Early Church: the Full Views of St. John Chrysostom.
What is the last book you bought?
The e-book version of
A Dance with Dragons. I try as much as possible to borrow e-books from the library, especially if I don't intend to reread them, but this one is so ginormous that I'd never be able to finish it before the loan expired.
Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
Now more than ever, I find I need a little variety. Something lighthearted, perhaps an ongoing series, and maybe an inspiring craft book to peruse at odd moments. I'm trying hard to add something spiritual to the mix.
Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
Lucy's nap time and before falling asleep. Almost always lying down. Oh, and I got tons of reading done while nursing. It kept me patient.
Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?
There is something so reassuring about knowing what I'll be reading next. It cuts out that terrible mourning period after finishing a really great book, where I aimlessly wander around wondering what to do with myself. Once I'm done with
A Song of Ice and Fire, I'll probably let
Outlander fill the void.
Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
I worked at a used bookstore for a while and found myself snapping up copies of
An English Patient and
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe to give away to anyone who would listen. I've enabled a few close friends by getting them copies of various works by Jane Austen after converting them with the miniseries. And to anyone craving more Austen after reading it all, I suggest Elizabeth Gaskell after someone did the same for me. Oh, and everyone knows
The Brothers Karamazov is a must-read, but they all seem to get stuck in the middle. I just encourage them to power through the interrogation scene and reassure them that it will be worth it to get to the bit about the children.
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
Of all things, by nationality of the author. Of course there are the plays, the poetry, the knitting/sewing/spinning books. But all the Russians seem to just belong together--there are quite a lot of them, after all. And
Reading Lolita in Tehran bridges the gap between Nabokov and
Persepolis so tidily. Austen and the Brontes rub shoulders. You get the idea.
Images are of my soft sculpture
bookbed, which features the
poem "Variation on the Word Sleep" by Margaret Atwood.
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