Some questions about reading, answered.

Image via Pretty Books

Red tagged me in this blogger meme and even though I'm not really going to follow all the rules, I wanted to take a minute to answer the questions she tagged to me. With all the talk about book on this blog I don't often take the time to get personal and talk about my life outside of my reading habits. (Ok fine 90% of these questions are about reading, but still!) So, a thanks to Alley at What Red Read for putting together this list of thoughtful questions. Here it goes:

1. What's your favorite bookish movie? (Movie based on a book, movie with literary tendencies, whatever)
Hands down Stranger Than Fiction staring Will Ferril. The movie isn't based on a novel, but the plot revolves around the idea that the main character, Harold Crick, is suddenly at the center of a novel. He can hear his life being narrated out loud and begins a quest to find out if his life is a trageity or a comedy. Tons of bookish fun in this one. Seriously you should watch the trailer here if you haven't seen the movie.

2. How often do you re-read books?

Not as often as I feel that I should. I've been reading a lot about rereading lately, here and there, and I'm really starting to understand its importance. I'm hoping to start incorporating more rereading into my reading diet, but it's tough for me because I think about all the books I haven't even read once yet and I'd like to make time for those too. Maybe I'll save rereading until I'm a little older...

3. What's your favorite reading spot?

In the summer I love to read outside on the patio. In the winter I like to read on my bed.

4. Which season is your favorite?

I enjoy Autumn more than any other season. There is something about the crisp air when the leaves start to fall that elates me. I enjoy putting on a light jacket after a hot winter and enjoying the cool air.

5. What's your profile picture?

Pictured on the right.

6. What's your ideal meal?

I'm a sucker for Mediterranean food. An ideal meal would be falafel, hummus, babaganoush, tabbouleh, roasted vegatables, anything with spinach and feta combined and a big fat side of tzatziki. I'm also an eggplant fanatic so anything with eggplant in it and I'm on it. Also pesto. I'm generally a fan of anything with pesto on it.

7. What's your guilty pleasure TV show, movie, book?

I am the first one to admit that when I do watch tv, it's trashy tv. I keep up with the Kardashians and the real housewives of most cities. I watch True Blood in the summer and reruns of Gilmore Girls year round. I also really like Pawn Stars on the history channel and Storage Wars on A&E.

8. How do you like to spend a rainy day?

Reading of course.

9. Do you have any good Tumblrs to recommend?

Why yes I do! I really enjoy the surge in Ryan Gosling tumblrs over the last year, and I'm a huge fan of Slaughterhouse 90210. I also like PrettyBooks and BookOasis if I'm looking for images of books and reading.

10. If you like to cook (or bake), what's your favorite thing to make?

I'm not a superstar in the kitchen, but if I do find myself there I enjoy making breakfast; spinach feta omelets, rosemary potatoes, eggs florentine, and arugula salads are my favorites.

11. Do you have a big TBR list? Or do you wait until you're done with your current book to buy (or borrow from the library) your next reads?

I keep a running list of books I'd like to buy. I consult it whenever I go book shopping. As far as the books I own that I haven't read, I've probably got about 40. I've been making an effort to buy fewer books and read more of the books I already own. Some weeks I do really well and others not so much. I'm not too worried about it though. I've heard of people who have thousands of unread books on the TBR pile. As long as I never get to that point I'm ok with a short stack of unread books.

Feel free to answer this set of questions on your own blog.

Marginalia: Use or Abuse?

mar·gi·na·lia (n) - marginal notes or embellishments

I'm a big fan of marginalia. I never write in pen, or use a highlighter, but you can bet any book I love is filled with penciled annotations and underlined passages. I find the more I like a novel, the more marginalia I scribble inside of it.

Word has it marginalia began as a result of the scarcity of paper. Authors who were poor borrowed the blank spaces of the page to write their own words. Voltaire composed in book margins while he was in prison. Then it adapted into a way of remembering and finally, a means of noting interpretations or enthusiasms. Edgar Allen Poe titled his fragmentary work "Marginalia". Samuel T. Coleridge's marginalia were published in a five volume set.

All of us mark our books somehow - whether that be dog-ears, post its, scribbles or stains. To me, marginalia makes used books more interesting and borrowed books more personal (let me be clear I don't write in books I borrow - I am referring to my own books that I borrow out, or books I borrow from others who have written their own annotations). It marks ownership and reveals reader's nuances. It's also a way of connecting and responding to the author - alive or dead.

So there it is - my short defense of my marginalia. If you're interested in more detail, check out H. J. Jackson's Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books.

Let The Great World Spin: First Impressions

I am currently about half-way though Colum McCann's Let The Great World Spin and I'm blown away. First of all, the book is nothing what I expected it to be. I thought it was a fictional take of the true story of the French acrobat who walked across the gap between the twin towers on a tightrope in 1974. While the story includes this tightrope walker, I would hardly call him a major character. Rather, his story is what seems to be the connecting thread joining McCann's other characters together. Secondly, this novel is composed of so many truths that relate to me that I can't help but love every word. It's full of so many layers I am already planning to reread it.

In short, I am finding Let The Great World Spin to be altogether brilliant and I don't want it to end. I'm going to savor this one.

Great Advice.

Via Stuff No One Told Me

I'm sorry, did I just see you smell that book?

Rory is one of those characters who:

a. I wish wasn't fictional so I could be friends with her and
b. reminds me that dorky can be cool too

LitGeek

A few days ago I was driving, happily listening to LCD Soundsystem, going a steady 75 mph when a SUV passed me with the coolest license plate I have ever seen. It read: LITGEEK.

Of course I was in the car alone and couldn't share my enthusiasm with anyone so I tried to snap a quick picture. Needless to say LitGeek had a lead foot and I didn't feel comfortable when I saw the speedometer approaching 95 so I backed off. This is what I was left with:

I did my best, however I figured I would for sure get a ticket if I told the cop "I was speeding because I needed to get a picture of that guys license plate for my blog!" 

So, LitGeek, if you're reading this, are you free next weekend?  

On Book Trailers

I read an article in the NYTimes Online today that discusses the importance of book trailers in today's publishing industry. "In the streaming video era, with the publishing industry under relentless threat, the trailer is fast becoming an essential component of online marketing. Asked to draw on often nonexistent acting skills, authors are holding forth for anything from 30 seconds to 6 minutes, frequently to the tune of stock guitar strumming, soulful violin or klezmer music. And now, those who once worried about no one reading their books can worry about no one watching their trailers."

It's undeniable that book trailers are the next big thing. We've even got book trailer awards and trailers with almost 5 million hits but at the end of the day, who are these trailers being marketed to? Are publishers hoping to reach avid readers who are constantly adding to their TBR list, or are they going after the demographic who watches more youtube videos in a day than they read pages out of a book?

For me, I've never bought a book based on it's trailer. But then again, I haven't seen that many book trailers. I can remember the first book trailer I ever saw, about two years ago, which also happens to be the most viral trailer. It promotes Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan through a series of touching anecdotes.




But did it work? Did I buy the book? No, I already told you I've never bought a book because of its trailer, silly. However, when I was at BEA last year I saw they were giving it away and grabbed a copy, which is still sitting in a box in my basement waiting to be read.

I'm not knocking book trailers. I think anything out there that promotes reading is a good thing. But I do question it's effectiveness. Maybe 10 years down the road when next generation's avid readers are purchasing books they will pick out a few from a trailer they saw. But until then, have any of you ever bought a book because of it's trailer?

A Few Things I'm Excited About

1. I know I've mentioned it before but I can not WAIT for The Night Bookmobile to be published in book form. It was a serialized graphic novel that was in the Guardian, but as of September 1st I'll be able to read the whole thing in a book. Did I mention it's by the one-and-only Audrey Niffenegger?

2. NPR Books Podcasts: This week I discovered that you can subscribe to the NPR book reviews and author interviews - All Things Considered - and upload them to your iPod. I've always kind of turned on NPR and hoped I would stumble across it, which didn't always work so well. Subcription? Yes please!


3. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. I've read a couple of reviews here and there and it sounds like this book has the potential to be amazing. I've got to track it down soon!

4. Eclipse on June 30th. I'm sorry I had to say it.

5. The Harry Potter Theme Park that opens this Friday, June 18th. Not that I'm planning to be in Orlando anytime soon, but at least I know I've got the option!

Bookshelf Porn

I'm kind of obsessed with really cool bookshelves. I love to display the books I own and I love walking into someone's house to find they have an elaborate built-in bookshelf or a room dedicated to books. 

I've been in the market for a new bookshelf for a couple months now (because I can't stop acquiring books and they are scattered everywhere.. some still in boxes from the last time I moved) and while I was shopping I stumbled upon Bookshelf Porn, a collection of amazing bookshelves for people who appreciate bookshelves. 

This is almost as good as hot guys reading books. 

Thoughts on the Unread Book

I just read an article about unread books and why you shouldn't feel bad about your ever-increasing to-be-read pile. Kristy Logan maintains that her favorite books are the ones she hasn't even read yet. At first I thought this was dumb but then I got to thinking and I can completely relate:

An unread book is all possible stories. It contains all possible characters, styles, genres, turns of phrase, metaphors, speech patterns, and profound life-changing revelations. An unread book exists only in the primordial soup of your imagination, and there it can evolve into any story you like. An unread book – any unread book – could change your life.

Go to your bookshelves and pick a book you have not read. Hold it in your hands. Look at the cover and read the description on the back. Think about what the story might be about, what themes and motifs might be in it, what it might say about the world you inhabit, whether it can make you imagine an entirely different world. I suggest that the literary universe you just created might be more exciting and enlightening than the one contained within those covers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that book. It might prove to be a great book; the best book you have ever read. But your imagination contains every possible story, every possible understanding, and any book can only be one tiny portion of that potential world.

I think it's the books that go beyond what we could imagine - those that tie together ideas in a way we could never think of but makes so much sense - that inevitably become our favorite books.

Granted Logan takes this idea (it's better to not read a book than to read it and be disappointed) to the extreme, but I like that she encourages a reader to think about the excitement and possibilities any book can hold.

Barnes and Noble nook Commercial

I've got mixed feelings about e-readers. I've always been an I-want-to-touch, hold, read, and-love-tangible-books type of girl. And then I went and swooned over the iPad the first time I saw it but told myself it was ok - I didn't like it because it was an e-reader, I liked it because it was so much more than that. (Not to mention it's like a great big version of my beloved iPhone and a smaller version of my even more beloved MacBook.) So, the universe was still intact; I didn't like nor want an e-reader (because an iPad isn't just an e-reader) and I still wanted to touch and hold real books.

And then I saw this commercial - the first commercial for Barnes and Noble's nook. I am starting to doubt whether or not I have any bibliophilic integrity or if I am just a victim of a genius marketing scheme because surprise surprise; I want a nook. Kudos to the Barnes and Noble marketing department.

My Love for Alliteration

My love for alliteration has reached an all-time low. This afternoon as I was eating my lunch I found myself scrolling through my Facebook friends, making mental notes of who I could marry based on whether or not their last name started with a "B".


Let's be honest, there is nothing better than having an alliterative name. I once met a man named Cooper Collins and couldn't get him out of my head for weeks - not because I was especially attracted to him, but because his name was impossibly sexy.


Is there something wrong with me or do other people think about these things too?


In related news, this might explain my crush on David Byrne.

And Another Justification...

I realize I am the biggest hypocrite of hypocrites and I deserve all the ridicule I am receiving from every end of the earth for reading Twilight (and by the way I finished book 3 and am taking a break before I start book 4 - I was experiencing a Twilight overload), but I would like to share this little quotable.

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe this guy has it right:

"Consuming nothing but grand literature is like only eating rich, fine food; we all need variety or else our palate becomes jaded. And besides, one appreciates the genius of Italo Calvino or Samuel Beckett even more keenly when set against some straightforward non-fiction or trashy, fun genre novel.

It's best, I think, to mix one's biblio-diet. Fine literature is an excellent staple, incredibly nourishing and satisfying, but there's no harm indulging every now and again in a crime novel, an autobiography or a dissertation on pop culture." - Darragh McManus, "Bedside Reading: The Naked Truth"

Letters to President Obama

This morning I read a piece in the Washington Post that details the ten letters of "unvetted correspondence" President Obama reads daily. Written to Obama from the American people he governs - he considers these letters "among his most important daily reading material". These letters address a wide array of topics spanning from fan mail that offers support to citizens demanding jobs or healthcare. "Each day, 20,000 letters and e-mails addressed to Obama are screened for threats and then sent to a nondescript office building in downtown Washington. Hundreds of volunteers and staff members sort the mail into categories before a senior aide picks the 10 destined to provide Obama with his daily glimpse beyond what he calls 'the presidential bubble'."


It's amazing the amount of effort that the selection of these ten letters require each day. However, I think the importance Obama places on these letters says a lot about his commitment to the American people. " He gravitates toward messages that 'inspire,' and prefers mail that provides a 'counterbalance to business in Washington' and transports him someplace else." Kudos to you, President Obama.


Anyhow, this piece got me thinking about the importance of handwritten letters and why exactly they mean so much. One of my favorite books to page through, Other People's Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant To See, is great because it offers a sense of intimacy to its readers; offers them a connection to the writer because of it's unflinchingly honest characteristics. One of my weekly addictions is checking the Post Secret blog - "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard". (There are also a handful of Post Secret books that have been published.)


Again, there is something to be said about how personal handwritten letters are. I've been carrying around a handwritten letter in my wallet for about two years - not because I read it everyday but because it is so meaningful to me I want it to be with me always. What is it that makes handwritten letters so meaningful? Maybe because they are individualized and purposeful, reflective and emotional.


There is probably some sort security measure that prohibits the publication of Obama's letters, and if there weren't it would take a lot of work to get the consent of the writers to be published, however I think it would make for a really great book - a collection of the letters Obama read everyday. Is anyone on that?

The Beginning of a Long Love Affair

I was thinking the other day about my relationship with books as a kid and how I was probably destined to become an English major since I learned to read. I was that little girl who never cared if I got grounded because I would simply retreat to my room and read the whole day through. My mother told me if she really wanted to ground me she would have had to take away my books, but, like any good mother, she could never bring herself to do so.

I was also that kid who wanted to read before I actually could. I used to memorize books that were read to me as a child and recite them while proudly stating I could read. Honestly. Pretty dorky; I'm surprised I had any friends.

Anyhow, I got to thinking about some of my first favorite books as a child and compiled this list:

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I remember getting this book from a Scholastic book fair at my elementary school and it was my introduction to poetry. One of my favorites:

Hug O' War

I will not play at tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war.

Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,

Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,

Any everyone cuddles, and everyone wins.

The Giver by Lois Lowry. My introduction to dystopian novels.

The Babysitters Club series by Ann M. Martin. If you were a young girl in the early 90's you have probably read every book in the series.

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks. Toys coming alive behind closed doors is every child's fantasy. Did I mention Toy Story was also my favorite movie?

Around the World In 80 Days by Jules Verne. I had the kid's version with pictures which was basically awesome. My mom and I would read a chapter together before bed at night. I should also confess Phileas Fogg is the greatest character name that was ever written.

The Borrowers by Mary Norton tells of tiny little people who borrow their life's necessities from average size people while all the while keeping their existence unknown. The movie was a disappointment but the books are great.

I Love Finding Old Bookmarks In My Books

Flipping through my copy Paris to the Moon this morning and found little souvenirs in the back that made me smile.

If I Hear You On NPR I'll Read Your Book

I mean not really but this morning on my way to work I was listening to NPR which featured author Sebastian Faulks and his book sounded very interesting.

"Sebastian Faulks A Week in December is a seven-day tour of London written in Dickensain style. Charles Dickens' rich cast of characters dealt with class conflict, wealth, poverty and true love. Faulk's modern-day characters deal with terrorism, greed, the internet and - because some things never change - true love".

They discussed what had inspired Faulks' novel and he went on to read this passage in his impossibly handsome voice - English accent and all - which basically sold me the book:

'And what about reading?' said Gabriel, as they move off again. 'You like reading, don't you?'

'Yeah, I do.'

'Why?'

'Dunno. I s'pose it's an escape from the real world.'

'But surely it's just the opposite,' said Gabriel. 'Books explain the real world'. They bring you close to it in a way you could never manage in the course of the day.'

'How do you mean?'

'People never explain to you exactly what they think and feel and how their thoughts and feelings work, do they? It's as though your daily life is a film in a cinema. It can be fun, looking at those pictures. but if you want to know what lies behind the flat screen, you have to read a book. That explains it all.'

'Even if the people in the book are invented?'

'Sure. Because they're based on what's real, but with the boring bits stripped out. In good books anyway. Of my total understanding of human beings, which is perhaps not very great...I'd say half of it is from just guessing that other people must feel much the same as I would in their place. But of the other half, ninety per cent of it has come from reading books. Less than ten percent from reality - from watching and talking and listening - from living.'

I've always had the school of thought that books are an escape from the real world - as they are - especially those that offer a different world like the Harry Potter series or A Handmaid's Tale. But I also think Faulks explains very well that even if you are taken to a different world via your book, it also inevitably and simultaneously explains something about your own world.

Listen to the NPR interview here and read a review of the book and tell me you don't want to read it too.

I Love Half-Priced Book Sales

I've been telling myself not to buy anymore books until I read my to-be-read pile but it's hard to pass up a half-priced book sale. And who doesn't love new books?

In other news, I officially need to get another book shelf. The one I have is full and the piles of books scattered about my room are starting to bother me.

Fictional Books

Not to be confused with books that fall under the category of fiction.

A fictional book is a non-existent book created specifically for (i.e. within) a work of fiction. This is not a list of works of fiction (i.e. actual novels, mysteries, etc.) but rather imaginary books that do not exist.

So, there is such a thing as a non-fiction fictional book. Interesting.

And how about a non-fictional book? Is that just a real book?

My favorite fictional author: Julian Carax.