Books
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Books
I was just wondering what kind of books you like to read. What genre is your favorite? Second favorite? Least favorite? Do you reread? Do you purchase them new in stores, as e-books, used, or borrow from the library? Do you swap books? Do you give them away to friends or strangers? Or do you sell them back? Who are some of your favorite authors? What are some of your favorite books?
I would say my favorite genre is fantasy (and the sub-categories under fantasy), followed by romance (and some sub-categories under romance). When I was younger, mystery and historical fiction were also among my favorite genres. My least favorite would probably be most of what are considered classics that we had to read in high school.
I love to reread books so I prefer to own them rather than borrow from the library. It's hard to instantly gratify your need to reread a book if you need to wait until you can get to the library - if it is not already checked out. I used to purchase my books new in stores until about a year ago when I realized that I was purchasing them, but not getting around to reading them. I purchase the occasional e-book on-line, especially if it is only published as an e-book, if it is cheaper, or if I really, really want to read it then and there. However, these days I only purchase books from certain authors - and am thinking about borrowing books from other authors to save money.
I do not swap books myself but I have been considering it. I'd rather sell them but it's hard to sell paperbacks for a good price. I don't like to give away books (mine! They're all mine!) but I did give my new copy of Eat, Pray, Love to a friend who has been good to me since I knew I wasn't going to read it.
There are few authors I would recommend to other people, and strangely enough, they write general fiction.
I know I've posted about her before but Diana Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander series. The protagonist is a former World War II nurse named Claire who time travels to the time just before the Jacobite Rebellion. The series follows the story of her first meeting with her husband from the past, her life with him in the past, her 10-year separation from him, and her life after her reunion with him. What I love about this author is her voice. Her characters seem grounded and real. There is a lot of history. Since Claire is medically-inclined, there are scenes with her patching people up and medicking them with plants and herbs. The first half of the series covers the Jacobite period. The latter half is covering the American Revolution. It's actually quite exciting since the American Revolutionary period had been one of my favorite periods to read about when I was younger.
Her books are typically categorized either in the Romance or General Fiction section depending on the bookstore. There are both male and female readers of Diana Gabaldon. She also writes a mystery series using one of the important secondary characters from the Outlander series.
More recently, a musical based on Outlander has been produced in Scotland, which is pretty neat because now I can hear the voices of the Scottish characters as they might have sounded like.
Here's the link to her website: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/
And here is the link to some excerpts: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/excerpts/copyrights.html
Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper is another book I have recommended to others. While I have only skimmed through the book, I still read enough to really like it. It was about a controversial topic that I thought was not often written about or discussed. Her books tend to be about relationships and some sort of controversial topic or other, and they usually do not fail to have me in tears at one point or another. That could be part of the reason why I don't read her anymore; I don't like sad movies or books. I only recommend My Sister's Keeper because I liked that book the best of the 3-4 books by Jodi Picoult that I've read.
A fantasy author that I felt wrote well would be Robin Hobb. She wrote The Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy which all occur in the same world. She is currently writing The Rain Wild Chronicles, which takes place in this world also. I'm not sure how to describe why I like her books so I'll leave it at that.
With the poor economy and desire to save a bit of money, I have cut down on the number of books/authors I would auto-buy. I am most eagerly looking forward to the following:
A Novel of the Nine Kingdoms #5 by Lynn Kurland January 2011
Blackveil by Kristen Britain February 2011
Spirit Dances by c.e. murphy April 2011
Lynn Kurland typically writes PG-13 romance. The Nine Kingdoms novels are more fantasy based.
Kristen Britain writes The Green Rider fantasy series. If you liked Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, you might like The Green Rider.
c.e. murphy writes urban fantasy series, The Walker Papers. It's about a police mechanic turned modern-day shaman who needs to learn how to use her powers as well as how to be a police officer (first beat officer, then promoted to detective specializing in the supernatural). The author has written in a love triangle, which I do not particularly care for, but I still really like the series.
I would say my favorite genre is fantasy (and the sub-categories under fantasy), followed by romance (and some sub-categories under romance). When I was younger, mystery and historical fiction were also among my favorite genres. My least favorite would probably be most of what are considered classics that we had to read in high school.
I love to reread books so I prefer to own them rather than borrow from the library. It's hard to instantly gratify your need to reread a book if you need to wait until you can get to the library - if it is not already checked out. I used to purchase my books new in stores until about a year ago when I realized that I was purchasing them, but not getting around to reading them. I purchase the occasional e-book on-line, especially if it is only published as an e-book, if it is cheaper, or if I really, really want to read it then and there. However, these days I only purchase books from certain authors - and am thinking about borrowing books from other authors to save money.
I do not swap books myself but I have been considering it. I'd rather sell them but it's hard to sell paperbacks for a good price. I don't like to give away books (mine! They're all mine!) but I did give my new copy of Eat, Pray, Love to a friend who has been good to me since I knew I wasn't going to read it.
There are few authors I would recommend to other people, and strangely enough, they write general fiction.
I know I've posted about her before but Diana Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander series. The protagonist is a former World War II nurse named Claire who time travels to the time just before the Jacobite Rebellion. The series follows the story of her first meeting with her husband from the past, her life with him in the past, her 10-year separation from him, and her life after her reunion with him. What I love about this author is her voice. Her characters seem grounded and real. There is a lot of history. Since Claire is medically-inclined, there are scenes with her patching people up and medicking them with plants and herbs. The first half of the series covers the Jacobite period. The latter half is covering the American Revolution. It's actually quite exciting since the American Revolutionary period had been one of my favorite periods to read about when I was younger.
Her books are typically categorized either in the Romance or General Fiction section depending on the bookstore. There are both male and female readers of Diana Gabaldon. She also writes a mystery series using one of the important secondary characters from the Outlander series.
More recently, a musical based on Outlander has been produced in Scotland, which is pretty neat because now I can hear the voices of the Scottish characters as they might have sounded like.
Here's the link to her website: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/
And here is the link to some excerpts: http://66.147.244.179/~dianagab/excerpts/copyrights.html
Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper is another book I have recommended to others. While I have only skimmed through the book, I still read enough to really like it. It was about a controversial topic that I thought was not often written about or discussed. Her books tend to be about relationships and some sort of controversial topic or other, and they usually do not fail to have me in tears at one point or another. That could be part of the reason why I don't read her anymore; I don't like sad movies or books. I only recommend My Sister's Keeper because I liked that book the best of the 3-4 books by Jodi Picoult that I've read.
A fantasy author that I felt wrote well would be Robin Hobb. She wrote The Farseer Trilogy, Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy which all occur in the same world. She is currently writing The Rain Wild Chronicles, which takes place in this world also. I'm not sure how to describe why I like her books so I'll leave it at that.
With the poor economy and desire to save a bit of money, I have cut down on the number of books/authors I would auto-buy. I am most eagerly looking forward to the following:
A Novel of the Nine Kingdoms #5 by Lynn Kurland January 2011
Blackveil by Kristen Britain February 2011
Spirit Dances by c.e. murphy April 2011
Lynn Kurland typically writes PG-13 romance. The Nine Kingdoms novels are more fantasy based.
Kristen Britain writes The Green Rider fantasy series. If you liked Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, you might like The Green Rider.
c.e. murphy writes urban fantasy series, The Walker Papers. It's about a police mechanic turned modern-day shaman who needs to learn how to use her powers as well as how to be a police officer (first beat officer, then promoted to detective specializing in the supernatural). The author has written in a love triangle, which I do not particularly care for, but I still really like the series.
niquae- Chatterbox
- Posts : 333
Join date : 2009-10-10
Re: Books
What an interesting post!!
I too love books. I'd rather buy books than anything else. Until recent years, I'd kept all my books from childhood. I finally got overwhelmed with the amount of books I had with no place to put them, and always moving them each time we moved. I ended up giving 7 boxes of books away to the local library, then gave more boxes away years later. I never missed any of those books because I sifted through carefully.
My favorite genre since childhood is science fiction. I used to buy Star Trek books all the time when I was little, as well as other scifi books. I still love scifi books but don't read them so much anymore. I also liked mystery books when I was younger but haven't read any for a long time. When I got older, I like non-fiction now too, like self-help books, biographies, cooking books, how-to books, etc. I have tones of books like this that I consider reference books.
Now with my money situation tighter than before, I'm extremely careful with what books I buy now. I usually try to read part of a book now before I buy to make sure that it's something I'll read and use again and again. If it's something I just want to read only once, like a novel, I'll go to the library for it now.
I don't have a Kindle. I've read some e-books on my Blackberry and on my online book readers but I never can seem to finish a book that way. I enjoy most of my reading the old fashioned way, from paper!
I too love books. I'd rather buy books than anything else. Until recent years, I'd kept all my books from childhood. I finally got overwhelmed with the amount of books I had with no place to put them, and always moving them each time we moved. I ended up giving 7 boxes of books away to the local library, then gave more boxes away years later. I never missed any of those books because I sifted through carefully.
My favorite genre since childhood is science fiction. I used to buy Star Trek books all the time when I was little, as well as other scifi books. I still love scifi books but don't read them so much anymore. I also liked mystery books when I was younger but haven't read any for a long time. When I got older, I like non-fiction now too, like self-help books, biographies, cooking books, how-to books, etc. I have tones of books like this that I consider reference books.
Now with my money situation tighter than before, I'm extremely careful with what books I buy now. I usually try to read part of a book now before I buy to make sure that it's something I'll read and use again and again. If it's something I just want to read only once, like a novel, I'll go to the library for it now.
I don't have a Kindle. I've read some e-books on my Blackberry and on my online book readers but I never can seem to finish a book that way. I enjoy most of my reading the old fashioned way, from paper!
Gankaku- Team Player
- Posts : 76
Join date : 2009-10-24
Re: Books
I've still got my childhood books because for many years I kept thinking that I would want to rereading them when I got my own place. Now I know that I am not. I have been thinking about donating them to the library but it would be such a chore to bring the books down from the attic and sort through them (tried it several times without much success). Furthermore, I am an indifferent driver so I prefer to have my sister drive me. lol.
I was never able to get into Star Trek but I did love to read the Star Wars novel. Then I got to a book that I couldn't finish, and since I was reluctant to continue the series without reading that one book, I told myself I'd take a break. It's been several years now.
It's funny you should mention the non-fiction books. I too have purchased more of those recently; namely, how-to books on photography, knitting, and computer programming, and cookbooks. I never got around to teaching myself photography or knitting or computer programming though. I've always been interested in gardening and herbal medicine so I've got a couple of books on that as well. Purchased one from the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble the other day, in fact.
I like reading the old-fashioned way too! But I would love to get an e-book reader. I have always loved the idea of being able to carry around more than one book conveniently (when I was younger, I would carry around 2-3 books in my bag).
I was never able to get into Star Trek but I did love to read the Star Wars novel. Then I got to a book that I couldn't finish, and since I was reluctant to continue the series without reading that one book, I told myself I'd take a break. It's been several years now.
It's funny you should mention the non-fiction books. I too have purchased more of those recently; namely, how-to books on photography, knitting, and computer programming, and cookbooks. I never got around to teaching myself photography or knitting or computer programming though. I've always been interested in gardening and herbal medicine so I've got a couple of books on that as well. Purchased one from the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble the other day, in fact.
I like reading the old-fashioned way too! But I would love to get an e-book reader. I have always loved the idea of being able to carry around more than one book conveniently (when I was younger, I would carry around 2-3 books in my bag).
niquae- Chatterbox
- Posts : 333
Join date : 2009-10-10
Re: Books
Well maybe one day you'll get the urge to pick up the knitting book and try to learn it, or fool around with some of the ideas in the photography book. I think a person's book collection is more than just reading! It displays a person's interests, dreams, hopes, wishes...I think one can learn a lot about a person just by browsing their bookshelves! It's actually a pretty intimate look into a person.
Gankaku- Team Player
- Posts : 76
Join date : 2009-10-24
Re: Books
I've very recently gotten more involved with PaperBackSwap. I've sent out 3 books so, and received two. It was a great way to add new books to my bookshelf without spending a dime for it. Furthermore, I am hoping that I'll be able to send my books out to people who want them, and clearing out my packed bookcase of books I will likely no longer read.
At the moment, I mostly have YA and children's books up because they happened to be in the box I had brought down from the attic. I'm too busy and lazy to get my other books, which I should do, because it looks as if most people join PaperBackSwap for adult books, not children's or YA for their kids. Maybe I'll do that in about a week or two, after I'm done with my exams...
My Christmas Wish is...an iPod Touch. I really want an e-book reader now, and I've got my eye on an iPod Touch to fulfill my wish. I've got the Kindle desktop app installed on my laptop, and have a bunch of free and/or cheap Kindle e-books downloaded. I just need the iPod Touch and I'm ready for more comfortable and enjoyable commutes.
At the moment, I mostly have YA and children's books up because they happened to be in the box I had brought down from the attic. I'm too busy and lazy to get my other books, which I should do, because it looks as if most people join PaperBackSwap for adult books, not children's or YA for their kids. Maybe I'll do that in about a week or two, after I'm done with my exams...
My Christmas Wish is...an iPod Touch. I really want an e-book reader now, and I've got my eye on an iPod Touch to fulfill my wish. I've got the Kindle desktop app installed on my laptop, and have a bunch of free and/or cheap Kindle e-books downloaded. I just need the iPod Touch and I'm ready for more comfortable and enjoyable commutes.
niquae- Chatterbox
- Posts : 333
Join date : 2009-10-10
Re: Books
Hmm paperback swap - looks interesting! I have plenty of books that I don't need anymore and would rather see if I can get some of the things on my very long to-read list...
I have the Kindle app on my BlackBerry. However, I'm just never interested in reading the books on my phone. I like having a paperback in my hand. The only time I read the few free e-books I have on my phone is when I'm waiting on someone or something outside the home. Then I'll read one of those. Usually when I read a book I want out from the front of a computer screen!
I have the Kindle app on my BlackBerry. However, I'm just never interested in reading the books on my phone. I like having a paperback in my hand. The only time I read the few free e-books I have on my phone is when I'm waiting on someone or something outside the home. Then I'll read one of those. Usually when I read a book I want out from the front of a computer screen!
Gankaku- Team Player
- Posts : 76
Join date : 2009-10-24
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