Today’s suggestion is from Cereal Box Reader

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I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?

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Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Of course, I give myself a break from books once in a while. I am yet to finish a book till now, since February started. Somehow I do not feel upto it.

That gives me time to listen to music..I am exploring new music. I have bought myself a Yamaha keyboard player and learning to play it. I am nowhere near perfection as yet!

I have been looking up into art. I am visiting museums, monuments and trying to learn the history sans books.

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?

How can one even think of comparing books and movies? Both are entirely different mediums. I am not much of a movie person. I seldom even watch a movie. I prefer reading anyday. When a book is made into movie, no doubt it gets better publicity, lot more people watch it then reading the book. However, I find most of the movies that have been adapted from a book, leave me wanting more. In a book, everything is happening inside your mind. You form certain opinions about certain characters. I would rather escape the world reading a book than watching a movie. Most of the times, I get distracted from a movie but not while reading a book.

• 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?
• Now . . . connect them together….
  (And no, you may not transcribe the entire page of the book–that’s cheating!)

I am currently reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk

I finished six books for RIP II Autumn Challenge.

Here are my reviews:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowlings

How many of us write notes in our books. Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

What new books are you looking forward to most in 2008? Something new being published this year? Something you got as a gift for the holidays? Anything in particular that you’re planning to read in 2008 that you’re looking forward to? A classic, or maybe a best-seller from 2007 that you’re waiting to appear in paperback?

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?

I can name many authors. I used to read a lot of Ludlums. But I have not done it for a long time now. His latter books seems boring and repetitive. Same is the case with Alistair Maclean. Grisham too I cannot read now. In classics, I cannot read Jane Austen now. I fall asleep although I have committed to read at least two Austens for a challenge!

Instead of authors, I would say I can't read certain genres like run of the mills mysteries bore me. Romances without stories too cannot hold my interest. I cannot read too much of sex scenes with vampires, werewolves, monsters. That puts me off completely.

I thing it depends a lot on mood and time too. What we loved in our younger days might bore us to death now. And vice versa. In a way , one can suppose that our reading changes with age.

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?
Do you ever read manuals?
How-to books?
Self-help guides?
Anything at all?

Anything I get, I do read the accompanying manuals. Very thoroughly. That really makes me understand the workings of it better. I even look at the circuits too. (*I have to as I do not have a husband to help me through!)

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?

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?

As with most reading bloggers, I think, we all feel so elated after finishing it. Then a bit sad, if it was a really good book. I close the book and savour the book in my mind. Nowadays, I get into writing a review right away as instant recall works best for me. Next is, looking for another book to read. I read two-three books per week. So I do not keep much gaps between the books I read. I try to keep the genres different between reading. However, as most readers do, I too am reading at least three different books at any given point of time. So the end of a book does not affect me that much. And we must not forget all those reading challenges! So where is the time to give a gap?

And being single with no kids and neither pets helps me read as much as I want at any time!!

1. How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend? Stumbled across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift?

2. Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquaintance?

* 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?

"Literature" means classics, in most cases. Those books which are timeless and are full of substance. Most tend to think of literature as heavy reading. Not necessarily so. Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland qualifies as a classic and IS a great piece of literature. And no one can call it as serious! I do not think classics are difficult to read unless one gets the gist of those. They do tell us about an era otherwise forgotten. Isn't that what literature is supposed to do?

I have taken this negative meme from Dewey's blog. I thought I would give it a shot. My answers are not as good as hers! Feel free to do this meme and credit it to Dewey!

1. When you dislike a book, do you say so in your blog? Why or why not?

I do say so. As I spend a lot of time reading and analysing it, I do think I should mention the negative aspects too. However, I mention it why I did not like that particular book. There might be cultural reasons too. Some books simply do not work for me.

2. Do you temper your feelings about books you didn’t like, so as not to completely slam them? Why or why not?

Booking Through Thursday

Suggested by John :

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I'm in a cranky mood, so I hope that doesn't effect my answer.

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

Kristin Gorski of "Write now is good" has tagged me for this.

10 signs that I have written a book:

1). It is set in, of all places, Australia. Frankly I don't know, why. I have never been there. However, I would like to write a book set in Australia.

2). It is about a man lost in the forests trying to find his way out. He can talk to animals and commune with trees. He is not your macho man.

3). No fairy tale like endings. Our man will cry when he is hurt.

4). There is lot of internal dialogues. Symbolism is must.

5). It would be a third person account. I cannot write in first person.

While acknowledging that we can’t judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment?Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc?

For me the cover is not much of a concern. I do not like loud, garish covers though. Those that hit you in betwween the eyes. Fonts too affect me. Very big or very small fonts put me off. Then there are some fonts which are quite unreadable. I do not pick those up.

I prefer trade paperbacks as those are easy to read and lighter in weight with readable fonts. The illustrations are geared to attract too. I truly do not like revealing covers or those that have a movie star.

Having said that - if a book is written by one of my favourite authors, none of the above matter to me. I just pick it up with the virtue of the author's name.

I have listed the Nobel Laureates and their books I have read so far. I have not reviewed all of those on my blog as I read a few, long time back. If I do, I will link those here. I am in the process of reading another book by Steinbeck, three by Marquez and one by Orhan Pamuk.

1907 - Rudyard Kipling
Jungle Book

Do you use any of the online book-cataloguing sites, like Library Thing or Shelfari? Why or why not? If not an online catalog, do you use any other method to catalog your book collection? Excel spreadsheets, index cards, a notebook, anything?