Bookish Musings
DebR on Oct 21 2007 at 10:34 am | Filed under: On the Page, It's a Meme Thing
I’m in meme-ish mood today so I thought I’d share some bookish musings, courtesy of jenclair.
1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
In most ways I prefer hardcover. I love the feel of a hardcover book in my hand. I like the better quality of the paper. I like the larger print, which is easier on my less-than-stellar eyesight. On the downside, however, they’re expensive, heavy, take up a lot of room on the shelf, and aren’t very portable.
So I love mass market paperbacks too, for the opposite reasons - because they are small, light-weight, portable, and (relatively!!) inexpensive. That means I can always have a book tucked into my purse and never be bored. (I dislike trade paperbacks however, because I think combine the worst traits of hardcovers and mass market papterbacks! I only buy trades when a story isn’t available any other way, and I bitch about it the whole time.)
2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
“Book ‘em, Danno!” (Actually, I bet I wouldn’t be allowed to call it that. I bet there’d be some legal mumbo-jumbo that would stop me. But wouldn’t it be fun? At least for those of us old enough to remember the reference.)
3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…
“In the real world
as in dreams,
nothing is quite
what it seems”
~~~from “The Book of Counted Sorrows” by Dean Koontz
4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be …
Oh, let’s choose one of each, shall we? (Yes, let’s!)
Living - Joshilyn Jackson, because I bet she’d be fun to talk to.
Deceased - Jane Austen, because I bet she’d be fun to talk to…assuming, that is, that she’d be alive again for the course of this theoretical lunch. If she was still deceased and I was having lunch with her moldering corpse, that sounds, well…unpleasant.
5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
This one. But what an awful thought to only have one book indefinitely, no matter what it is! (shudder)
6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that…..
Magically changed the size of books. Think how great to take any book, hardcover or paperback, and be able to shrink it to, oh…say the size of a deck of playing cards, and tuck it into your pocket or a corner of a purse, and then pop it back to full-size when you’re ready to read! Not only would it be great in terms of making books portable, but think of the book storage issues it would solve in the typical bibliophile’s home! If anyone invents this thing, please let me be one of your testers!!! 
7. The smell of an old book reminds me of…
home.
8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be…
Trixie Belden, from that whole series of children’s/ YA books. I loved those books and grew up desperately wanting to be Trixie. I never quite stopped wanting to be Trixie. 
9. The most overestimated book of all time is…
Ok, first of all, my inner pedant isn’t at all happy with the word “overestimated” in this line. I don’t think that’s quite the right word, because you estimate something before you experience it, right? And I figure this is asking me to choose a book most people have read and loved that made me go “WTF???” when I finally read it, which would be more like, what…”most overhyped” or something? Oh well, anyway…good grief, I don’t know. There are loads of books out there that people rave about, past and present, that I don’t like and don’t see why they’re so popular. I really despise Othello, so how about that one.
(I have issues with most of Shakespeare’s tragedies because so much of the tragedy of those stories is based not on insurmountable circumstances outside the various characters’ control, but on the fact that none of the characters freakin’ talk to each other in any meaningful way! It’s as bad as an old Harlequin romance story, where 90% of the problems could be solved by a few minutes of frank conversation and some trust on all sides. Makes me nuts!!! That’s why I love his comedies, detest the tragedies…and Othello is the one I dislike the most. I just want to whomp those characters’ dense little heads together.)
10. I hate it when a book….
has characters that don’t stay in character (if that makes sense). For me, a cardinal sin for a writer is to make me believe a character is one person and then have that character turn around and do something that the character you’ve just created and made me believe in would never do, simply because you need something to happen to advance the plot and can’t figure out another way to make it happen. I think that’s lazy writing and it will pretty much turn me off an author’s books forever.
Th-th-th-that’s all folks! If you like this meme and want to do it too, please let me know in comments so I can come read your answers!
Here’s today’s Daily Art Thang.
“Early Morning, Oct. 20″ (Clickable if you want to see it larger in a new window.)
12 Responses to “Bookish Musings”
ah yes reading, I wish I had more time for that… I find that books are hard for me to read if I cannot devote a nice chunk of time to them, like an hour at least. and these days that hour is hard to find, of course I could stop reading blogs… hee hee
On a side note, I am sorry to report that I tagged you, I hope you don’t mind too much… Please check my blog when you have time. Thank you!
#3 is so very, very true!
When I was a kid (like 3 or 4) my parents would watch Hawaii-Five-O on their black and white TV. The theme song got me all fired up. It was one of those old tube TVs where the picture would shrink down to a little dot when you turned the TV off. Good times.
I thought what you said about Shakespeare was interesting. People not talking to each other is one of the complaints that I hear about the characters on “Lost”! It also seems to be a staple in lots of sitcoms. I guess they figure if it was good enough for Shakespeare…
I, too, am a big Trixie Belden fan. Alas, I don’t have any copies of those books to read to Kendra when she’s old enough. My 3 hardcover Nancy Drews will have to do…(number 3, 11 and 41 in case you were wondering!)
I wanted to be Trixie too, and I wanted Honey to be my best friend.
The first thing I do when I buy a book is smell it - I guess, like you, it’s to feel at home!
Wow, Deb, I totally agree with so many of these answers - particularly 1, 4 (the deceased part), 5, 6, and 7. I feel I could almost have written this post. I LOVE your bookstore name, and while I didn’t read many Trixie Belden books, I did really like her (I read more Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton). In the one I remember, she had horses, which really appealed to me as a girl.
I had to do this meme as well. Thanks for de-lurkifying.
This was so great! I’m so happy that pther people love book smell too. I loved your insight into Othello, it is rather annoying come to think of it. I had to do this meme, it was just too great to pass up. Thanks Deb
[…] 23rd, 2007 at 12:02 am (the writing life) These bookish questions were at Red Shoe Ramblings (I couldn’t resist that name) and I’ve decided to carry them on. If you decide to take […]
Just wanted to say that I’ve taken your questions to my blog, but I’m rather confused to see the beginning of my post up above this one…is that some automatic thingy? (I’m new to blogging, you see). Anyway, I enjoy the blog and I liked the questions and answered them!
Happy rambling…
I don’t mind tags, Natalya (at least not usually!) so I’ll do that one soon.
I agree, Janet!
I can still hear that theme song in my head, JC, and picture that big wave running across the screen. I hadn’t thought about that aspect of LOST, but that’s probably true.
I bet you could find some copies at used book stores, Andi. I have volumes 1 - 21, but realized when I did some digging online that there were a dozen+ more published after I pretty much outgrew the series and now I kind of want to track those down and read them! Maybe it’s a second childhood sort of thing.
Who wouldn’t want Honey for a best friend, Mrs. G!
I love new book smell the way some people love new car smell, CB.
Hi Julie! I liked Nancy Drew too, although not as much as Trixie. I don’t think I ever even heard of Judy Bolton.
I’m glad you did this one bhavana, it was fun to read your answers!
Hi Marta. I had fun reading your answers! I think it’s because you’re also on a WP blog, it creates a trackback thingy (<–technical term) in the comments section when you link to a specific post.
I just did this meme and you’ll laugh when you read it find out why I say - I told you. Or rather, I told my readers. It’s true. Although we did have differences as well.