We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought,”I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on The List that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just haven’t gotten around to them yet. What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet? I’ve got some doozies, for as well-read…
If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No … it’s because you want to know what happens next? Oh yeah, this is totally me. Story trumps all. I wouldn’t give two figs for diamond sharp prose and stellar ideas without a…
Yay–my question got picked!! If you’re coming here from Booking Through Thursday, please note that my url is superfastreader.com, with no “wordpress.” I’d be ever so grateful if you update this if you are linking to me. And thanks for the link love! Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie? So many great…
Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do?? And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and…
Pick up the nearest book. (I’m sure you must have one nearby.) Turn to page 123. What is the first sentence on the page? The last sentence on the page?
When somebody mentions literature what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?) Do you read literature (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must? Honestly? I think of books I don’t want to read, not because they’re bad, per se, but because they’re written to do something other than tell a captivating story. I put Joyce and Pynchon in this category. They’re about as “high art” as novels go, and while I appreciate what…
My pastor has four kids, all of whom are great readers. His second son in particular is a real book lover, and though he is 13 I feel like he is a kindred spirit to me, because we like a lot of the same books. So I posed him the question I raised in the latest Booking Through Thursday post–namely, would he read a book like Anne of Green Gables? His answer at first was, yes, of course, if it’s a good book, I’ll read…
You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why? I don’t connect with male protagonists the way I do with female, so I can’t really come up with an absolute favorite. And this reminds me of a conversation I’ve been having with my pastor’s wife, who is a huge reader, raising a family of readers. I said that I think that girls will read boy books, but boys won’t read girl books. I was a huge fan…
All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why? I prefer trade edition paperbacks, for the most part, because I do a lot of my reading on the subway, and hardcovers get really heavy and unwieldy. They’re also better for reading in bed, especially when they have to rest on a pregnant belly! I also tend to prefer the way that trade paperbacks look, mainly…
Here’s something for Valentine’s Day. Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back? In college and for a time afterwards, I was obsessed with Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. I must have read it at least 8 times. I read Eco’s other works, including his semiotics, and would have considered him a favorite author. A…