The Book Meme

Seen round the blogosphere ... officially stolen from Snapshot.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Hardback is probably my first-choice ... I feel very literary and scholarly when I read them. LOL! But budgetarily, I like trade paperbacks if I have to pay for it.

Amazon or brick and mortar?
Amazon all the way, baby. We even splurged last year around tax time and signed up for the prime shipping deal. (Something like for a flat fee we get free two-day shipping on most thing). Pretty fabulous. I love that I can look at lots of different books, throw them on my wishlist, and then when I can actually afford to buy, I have several to choose from already drooled over.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Probably Borders because it's closer to our house, but I don't really care. My favorite is one called Davis Kidd, but it's a good distance from my house now and I don't get to that part of town very often.

Bookmark or dogear?
Shhh .... I am the world's WORST about dog-earing. Shame, shame, shame. I even have a very cool bookmark that my friend bought me and I forget to use it most of the time. Does it count if it is sitting next to the book instead of in it?

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
Non-fiction is alphabatized by author. Fiction is grouped by author, and then books are shelved in the order that they were written (especially if it's a series). I try to group by subject and probably by size within that grouping.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
I try to only buy books that I want to keep (and use the library for others). When it's time to pass them on I usually start with them on Paperbackswap.com ... if they don't get snagged in a reasonable amount of time, they go to Goodwill or in the trash.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Depends on the book ... if it's a cool hardback underneath I pitch it.

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
I use the flap as a bookmark so I usually leave it on (the only time I don't dog-ear)! But usually it just annoys me so I may start taking it off...

Short story or novel?
Novel. Short stories are just too .... short!

Short story collection (short stories by the same author) or anthology (short stories by a different author?
Neither.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Harry Potter! I read a couple of the LS books last year but they are too depressing for me. :-) (However, I did enjoy the movie - it was worth getting it from Netflix).

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
I generally try to make it to the end of the chapter, but hey, I'm pregnant. I've been known to nod off in mid-sentence lately. :-)

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
Either works for me if the story is good. :-)

Buy or Borrow?
Borrow from the library or from a friend? I rarely seem to borrow from friends, but yes to the library. But I definitely like to buy books, especially after I've thought long and hard about whether it's worth it to add it to my library ... or it's a favorite author and I know I will waer out the book reading it.

New or used?
Either is fine.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
All of the above!

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Generally, tidy ending unless it's part of a series and I know that I'm not going to be left hanging indefinitely!

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Mostly evening, but if I can get the both girls to rest in the afternoon then I might read a bit then.

Standalone or series?
Both.

Favorite series?
Jan Karon's Mitford. Anne of Green Gables series. Little House series. Lake Emily series by Tracy Dupree. The O'Malley series by Dee Henderson. (I hope I wasn't supposed to pick just one).

Favorite books read last year?
SAHM I Am by Meredith Efkin. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austin). The Yada Yada Prayer Group Series by Neta Jackson (I think I read 3-4 of them last year). Ambassador Families by Mitali Perkins. Created to Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl.

Favorite books of all time?
Anne of Green Gables!!! Also, L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon series. Mitford series by Jan Karon comes a close second. Pretense by Lori Wick (most of Lori Wick, in my opinion, is general Christian fluff reading, but Pretense is fairly intense and I think it's her best work). Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express ... brilliant.