Book meme

Saw this on Cyberkitten's blog and had to steal :-)

Link to original CK meme and ...

Do you snack while reading ?

Depends how well I'm doing with the "only eat when hungry" discipline. Not too often (I cheat by leaving the biscuits on the pooter side of the room, out of arms reach), never anything icky though as that might get on the pages.

What is your favourite drink while reading ?

Diet coke

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Mark a book ? HERESY !

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?

Dog ears come under the same category as "Mark a book ?" ;-) Laying a book open flat is similar, as it tends to break the spine. That then leads to your book falling to bits ... I use a soft leather bookmark, which will leave a book looking as new after I've read it. Mind you, if I end reading two things at once, I'll fall back on using a piece of paper :-)

Fiction, non-fiction or both?

I'm a fiction reading person. Science fiction mainly, although I have a place for fantasy swords & sorcery type fiction too.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

I'll almost always go to the end of a chapter. Which can be reaallly annoying if the author goes for long chapters :-)

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

Nah - I channel my aggression out in other ways (cricket helps a lot). If a book gets annoying, I just do something different, which usually leads to me taking absolutely ages to read the book. Besides, chucking a book across the room usually leads to more self inflicted annoyance at needing to find your place again.

What are you currently reading?

WorldWar Striking the Balance by Harry Turtledove. Book 4 of a series of 8 and in that "annoying book" category. It's taking ages to get through cos of the author's style. The narrative has crawled through 4 books which might have been doable in 1 or 2. Must apply a bit more belligerance to reading it so I can get on to :

What is the last book you bought?

Victorious by Jack Campbell. Space Opera, where an Alliance Captain who's been in cold sleep for 100 years is awoken to lead a fleet out of enemy territory. Victorious is the final book of 6 and I have number 5 to read too. If anyone's interested in trying it out, the first book is called Dauntless and will have you ordering the other 5 by the time you're halfway through. Unlike Turtledove, the narrative moves on very quickly and it's very easy to read.

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?

At home, evenings. Or while "watching" cricket :-) Reading combines well with cricket, you can be go sentence by sentence and look up for that 10% of the cricket time when there's action. I.e. when the bowler is about to deliver the ball.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

It really depends on the book. Some stories are too big for a single novel and the cliff hangers at the end set up your anticipation for the next. However, other series tend to run on and on, eventually getting spoiled by going rotten at the core. Anne McCaffrey's otherwise stunning Dragons of Pern series suffers here and David Weber's Honor Harrington series is in danger of going the same way. The Star Wars books most certainly did, the New Jedi Order series cured me of any interest in that series where before I'd been an addict.

The most key aspect is Beginning, Middle and End. If that can be done in one book, that's great. There's some extremely compelling single volume novels out there. If they then grow into a series ... that shows evidence of a good scope in the background. Larry Niven's Ringworld is a good example here, the initial book stands up very well on its own and is improved by the addition of 3 more books in the series. Timothy Zahn's The Icarus Hunt and many of the Robert Heinlein books are very good examples of excellent single book stories.

The Jack Campbell books and Anne McCaffrey's Planet Pirates collaboration with Elizabeth Moon are good series, which stand up better because they have a Beginning, Middle and End. Same as the David and Leigh Eddings books. Then you have the Kim Stanley Robinson Mars books, which has a fantastic beginning in Red Mars, a decent middle in Green Mars and a disappointing dribbly out ending in Blue Mars.

Next question !

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

Larry Niven, whether it be future sci fi or current time scifi. His Known Space universe set a few hundred years in the future is excellent. Huge scope for mayhem and mischief in these. Timothy Zahn, although he can be a little hit and miss. Robert Heinlein ! Iain M Banks for the Culture novels, even if Matter was a bit of a disappointment. Michael Stackpole tends to jump in on universes started by others but always does an excellent job. I've read books by him set in Star Wars as well as Mechwarrior, all stellar.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

One book ended up with me researching chemical weapons and nerve gas.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)?

Errrmmm ... The functioning of my brain is deeply rooted in chaos, which is reflected in how my books are sorted. I used to be better at it but I lost my desire to get everything in order a while ago. That said, it's my chaos and it would make me nervous if the chaos got tidied away ...

Background noise or silence?

Although I can Go Robot if I need to, I'm very bad at doing just one thing. Like at the moment, I'm tapping out this post while listening to Sky News. (No music yet, will be hitting the shower after hitting Post). So if there's nothing on the telly in the background, I'll have music on.

Tonight if I read, it'll be Clannad's Landmarks followed by some random stuff.