Book survey
Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Depends on the book. For novels and most books: High-quality trade paperbacks with clean, sleek pages and a smooth or soft cover.
Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Barnes & Noble for almost everything (Borders for, say, CD cases)
Bookmark or dog-ear?
Bookmark
Amazon or brick and mortar?
Probably the latter, but Amazon is ridiculously useful in gauging what sort of books I'd like (and bookstores not as reliably)
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
My shelves are organized by subjects/eras/overall feels (I reorganize them all of the time). For example, at current I have a depressing Russian section, Victorian feminist novel section, obnoxiously existentialist section, pretentious modern section, ....
Keep, throw away, or sell?
Keep, almost always (I've donated a good portion of my children's books back in the day--but I wouldn't now)
Keep dust jacket or toss it?
It all too often gets lost, tossed, and/or beaten up...
Read with dust jacket or remove it?
Remove it
Short story or novel?
I'd rather read a novel (which isn't to say they're better, by any means)
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
I've never read Lemony Snicket, so I'm going to have to go with Harry.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
When I'm tired, but I usually try to make it to a chapter break
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?
Once upon a time
Buy or borrow?
Buy
New or used?
New, hands down
Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse?
Book reviews and browsing (OK, admittedly, I'm often just "browsing" book reviews)--there are only a few people whose recommendations I take into consideration
Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy ending, duh. Unless the cliffhanger has some sort of important symbolic meaning
Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Morning--I think best
Stand-alone or series?
Stand alone
Favorite series?
Harry Potter (as a child: A Wrinkle in Time, Nancy Drew)
Favorite children's book?
See the above... I was a BIG fan of mysteries, which I consumed all too regularly. And, if you consider it a children's book, Le Petit Prince
Favorite YA book?
Harry Potter, I suppose? I also really liked Star Girl; Holes; and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging back in the day.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
The Sea, The Sea
Favorite books read last year?
I don't even remember what I read in 2006... I wish I kept a better record. I really liked Siddhartha, though, which we read in high school World Lit.
Favorite books of all time?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Love in the Time of Cholera
Life of Pi
The Sea, The Sea
The Power of One
A Passage to India
Wide Sargasso Sea
...
Bear in mind that this list is by no means definitive.
What are you reading right now?
I'm still trying to finish Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (I'm about 500 pages in). For Religion class: The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
What are you reading next?
It depends on how much time I have (which I'm assuming not much)... I know I have to read the new Harry Potter book when it comes out, but I might not have any time before then
Favorite book to recommend to an eleven-year-old?
Depends on how mature the eleven-year-old is.
Favorite book to reread?
Harry Potter, some of the deeper books I've read... I've read Jane Eyre four times. I also absolutely need to reread Life of Pi
Do you ever smell books?
Not so much
Do you ever read primary source documents?
YES. My dad got into a Studs Terkel phase, and his interviews are admittedly really fascinating. Also, I used to ALWAYS read essays by artists and art critics (e.g. Ruskin). There are tons of other primary source documents I absolutely love
Depends on the book. For novels and most books: High-quality trade paperbacks with clean, sleek pages and a smooth or soft cover.
Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Barnes & Noble for almost everything (Borders for, say, CD cases)
Bookmark or dog-ear?
Bookmark
Amazon or brick and mortar?
Probably the latter, but Amazon is ridiculously useful in gauging what sort of books I'd like (and bookstores not as reliably)
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
My shelves are organized by subjects/eras/overall feels (I reorganize them all of the time). For example, at current I have a depressing Russian section, Victorian feminist novel section, obnoxiously existentialist section, pretentious modern section, ....
Keep, throw away, or sell?
Keep, almost always (I've donated a good portion of my children's books back in the day--but I wouldn't now)
Keep dust jacket or toss it?
It all too often gets lost, tossed, and/or beaten up...
Read with dust jacket or remove it?
Remove it
Short story or novel?
I'd rather read a novel (which isn't to say they're better, by any means)
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
I've never read Lemony Snicket, so I'm going to have to go with Harry.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
When I'm tired, but I usually try to make it to a chapter break
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?
Once upon a time
Buy or borrow?
Buy
New or used?
New, hands down
Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse?
Book reviews and browsing (OK, admittedly, I'm often just "browsing" book reviews)--there are only a few people whose recommendations I take into consideration
Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Tidy ending, duh. Unless the cliffhanger has some sort of important symbolic meaning
Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Morning--I think best
Stand-alone or series?
Stand alone
Favorite series?
Harry Potter (as a child: A Wrinkle in Time, Nancy Drew)
Favorite children's book?
See the above... I was a BIG fan of mysteries, which I consumed all too regularly. And, if you consider it a children's book, Le Petit Prince
Favorite YA book?
Harry Potter, I suppose? I also really liked Star Girl; Holes; and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging back in the day.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
The Sea, The Sea
Favorite books read last year?
I don't even remember what I read in 2006... I wish I kept a better record. I really liked Siddhartha, though, which we read in high school World Lit.
Favorite books of all time?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Love in the Time of Cholera
Life of Pi
The Sea, The Sea
The Power of One
A Passage to India
Wide Sargasso Sea
...
Bear in mind that this list is by no means definitive.
What are you reading right now?
I'm still trying to finish Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (I'm about 500 pages in). For Religion class: The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
What are you reading next?
It depends on how much time I have (which I'm assuming not much)... I know I have to read the new Harry Potter book when it comes out, but I might not have any time before then
Favorite book to recommend to an eleven-year-old?
Depends on how mature the eleven-year-old is.
Favorite book to reread?
Harry Potter, some of the deeper books I've read... I've read Jane Eyre four times. I also absolutely need to reread Life of Pi
Do you ever smell books?
Not so much
Do you ever read primary source documents?
YES. My dad got into a Studs Terkel phase, and his interviews are admittedly really fascinating. Also, I used to ALWAYS read essays by artists and art critics (e.g. Ruskin). There are tons of other primary source documents I absolutely love