Some Bookish Questions

Adapted from "How to Be a Perfect Reader" by Adam @ Roof Beam Reader

I love these reading questionnaires!  Feel free to post your own responses.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Typically, no, but a nibble of chocolate while reading is a great treat :)

What is your favorite drink while reading?
A steaming hot cup of coffee.  Mm-mm!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I used to mark up books for my English courses to find key ideas & discussion points, and I probably still would if I was in a book club, but not recently.  If I want to re-read a book just for fun, I don't want a lot of highlights & margin notes to distract me.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I have several bookmarks (all too short!) and always place it at the exact point where I left off.  I hate dog-earring pages--it makes the book look beaten up.  I sometimes lay the book down cover side up if I'm going away from it for just a short while but I sure don't like cracking the spines, especially on cheaper paperbacks where the pages fall out!

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
Definitely both!  I'm open to reading most anything.  If I had to break it down, I'd say I read about 1 nonfiction for every 3-4 fiction.  I tend to go in spurts, depending on my mood.  I rarely read more than 1 nonfiction before flipping back to fiction, usually because a nonfiction book's page count is long.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
It depends on the book, but more often than not, I feel my time spent reading is more valuable in the end if I make it to the end of a chapter.  Or two.  Or three.  Or...you get the picture :)

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
Oh, no!  Well, maybe in my mind :D  I simply close it & file it in the closet for donation to amity, and dive into a new book pronto so that I'm not discouraged.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
Only if the word sounds intriguing & I must know or I can't understand the sentence without knowing its definition.  Most of the time, the word's meaning comes through in the context.

What are you currently reading?
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (just a couple of days ago--really liking it!) and My Life by Bill Clinton (started back in August 2010, still plugging away at it).

What is the last book you bought?
A few challenge books:  Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Gunslinger (Dark Tower series book #1) by Stephen King, and A is For Alibi by Sue Grafton.

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
I like concentrating on one book at a time, but sometimes I'll jump back and forth between them if one is not quite jiving with me at the moment but I don't want to give up on it.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
Time:  Any time I can squeeze it in!  Place:  My couch or bed, where the seating is comfy :)  If I'm bussing to work (like I did as a student), I'll read en route.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Interesting question!  I think I prefer stand-alone books because a series, when prolonged to near infinity, can run its course and peter out in quality as the books continue to be churned out.  Or you might just burn out on them yourself.  It's a rare series (like Harry Potter) that stays fresh from beginning to end, and at least that series reached its end when the time was right.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Do I really need to recommend Stephen King?  Doesn't he get enough press? :D  I tend to read a variety of authors, but I will read & highly recommend anything by him, Jane Hamilton, Audrey Niffenegger, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood...almost anyone I've given an A or A+ to in my reviews.

How do you organize your books?
I have a bookcase with 3 long shelves that are almost full to brimming.  I keep my favourites on the middle shelf organized randomly but with like authors together (all fiction).  Nonfiction, classics, postcolonial fiction & Stephen King books on the top shelf (no particular order within those categories).  Bottom shelf has a small TBR stack, my Folger Shakespeare editions, a Webster's dictionary, a Roget's thesaurus, and my wish list (books from the TBR list I want to read next) for my next shopping excursion.  My TBR list is too long & ever-changing to have a hard copy anymore, but I keep a copy on my computer & the blog.  I also have a row of TBR books on the top shelf of my desk unit with my silver READ bookends, and a couple of small yellow candles.  On my nightstand, I keep my current reads, though they don't stay there long as I lug them around with me to work or to a comfy reading spot in the house :)  I also have about 5 boxes of children's books in the guest bedroom closet for a future classroom of students to enjoy.

There you have it!