Booking Through Thursday: Authors

Do you think any current author is of the same caliber as Dickens, Austen, Bronte, or any of the classic authors? If so, who, and why do you think so? If not, why not? What books from this era might be read 100 years from now?

Actually, I do. There are several I can think of, actually. I'm assuming authors like Harper Lee and John Steinbeck are already considered "classic". The authors I'm thinking of are "classic" for their storytelling techniques, themes, plot and character development. In my humble opinion, these are:

1. Mary McGarry Morris
   Kevin Baker
   Herman Wouk
   Arthur C. Clarke
   Margaret Atwood
   Barbara Kinsolving
   John Irving
   Wally Lamb

I'm sure there's more but Survivor's on in 10 minutes and I've got to book! When I get back, it'll be interesting to see which other other bloggers suggested!


For more Booking Through Thursday, click here.

Booking Through Thursday: Too short?

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.

That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.

Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?

I used to read books to the bitter end as well out of obligation but I don't do that anymore. Actually, let me take that back. I'll still do it with a book-of-the-month club I belong to. That's only because I feel committed to the club. I've read so many books I wouldn't normally read and none of them have been that bad.

That being said, if I pick a boring book or one that eventually doesn't appeal to me on my own, then I will abandon it as soon as possible. Usually that would be within the first 100 pages.

The reason I give up on it now is that I realize there are so many good books out there I could be reading. Why waste my time on something I'm not enjoying? Do I really need to inflict that kind of agita on myself when reading is supposed to be so pleasurable for me? No.

I'm teaching myself to stand up for myself in more ways than one. :)

Booking Through Thursday

Something I’ve been thinking about lately: “What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?”

It's easier for me to explain why I put a book back down immediately. I don't like to read formula books (i.e. detective) or romance stories. As soon as I see the word detective or investigator, the book goes down. The same thing happens if it hints of romance--like, young woman with 3 kids loses husband, moves to a new town, meets obnoxious contractor working on her new house. Bam! Down it goes. Sometimes I'll put the book down as soon as I get a good look at the author's name because of the genre they write in.

Books I'll open up and browse through:

They're "different" in that the hero/heroine is unique or has an unusual problem to handle. One example of a book I browsed further and then read is Stones From the River. Excellent book!

Maybe it's about a time travelling heroine--i.e., Outlander. I'll overlook the romance because there's enough other interesting and thrilling parts of the story.

I usually enjoy historical fiction so sometimes I'm hooked by the time period. Paradise Alley centered on a group of characters experiencing the anti-draft rioting in NYC back in 1863 (or was it 1862, duh!).

Booking Through Thursday

It's been a long time since I got to participate in this meme and I've missed it! I'm answering the last two questions because they go together.

Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

My favorite male character is Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird. He is someone that I could look up to as a real hero although his children didn't appreciate the fact--he was too "old" for them. He's a man of decency and integrity and his courage is the spiritual kind, not physical. He is chosen to defend a black man accused of rape in a sleepy southern town in the 1930s. He could choose the easy way out, hang with the good old boys and just allow nature to take its course. No--he truly defends the man and even though he loses the case and the man loses his life, Atticus Finch is a real winner.

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why?

My favorite female character is Francie Nolan from A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. She is a child growing up in extreme poverty. Her mother is the sole support of the family and her beloved father is a drunkard chronically unemployed. Yet, she loves him. She reminds me very much of me, growing up in an environment where there was lots of drinking and tension. She's a bookworm and something of a loner--like me when I was a child. She grows up doing what she has to do to help her family and I just admire her so much!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?

I'm sorry to say that I read less now than when I was younger. One reason is because of the distraction of the internet. While TV can't keep me from my book, the internet and all its temptations can: blogging, memes, emailing, forums and other message boards, fan sites, and so on. I also don't seem to be able to read as fast as I used to nor retain information as well. It's part of the Fibro Fog I struggle with.

Oh, Horror!

Booking Through Thursday

What with yesterday being Halloween, and all . . . do you read horror? Stories of things that go bump in the night and keep you from sleeping?

I thought about asking you about whether you were participating in NaNoWriMo, but I asked that last year. Although . . . if you want to answer that one, too, please feel free to go ahead and do both, or either, your choice!

The answer to both questions is: yes! I especially enjoy reading Stephen King and Dean Koontz's books, as well as Peter Straub and Anne Rice (well, not so much her anymore).

And I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo!

Read With Abandon

Booking Through Thursday

Today’s suggestion is from Cereal Box Reader

I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why?

It's been a long time since I abandoned a book. I think the last one was a fluff book that I tossed because I didn't have the patience to "waste my time" if that makes any sense...

There have been a couple of books recently that I was really tempted to abandon because they were just not my cup of tea and I became very irritated with the plot. One was Beach Road by James Patterson and another was Brimstone by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child.

One more book I almost put down was a recent read about the Hartford circus fire and that was because the first part was so emotionally wrenching for me at a time I was feeling very depressed.

Typography

Booking Through Thursday

You may or may not have seen my post at Punctuality Rules Tuesday, about a book I recently bought that had the actual TITLE misspelled on the spine of the book. A glaring typographical error that really (really!) should have been caught. So, using that as a springboard, today’s question: What’s the worst typographical error you’ve ever found in (or on) a book?

Oh boy, that is some boo-boo! I belong to the Stephen King Book Club and one month they sent me a copy of Salem's Lot. Many of the pages are out of order, at least 20 of them! When I notified the company, they sent a replacement book...same problem. So I called and explained what the problem was and apparently they weren't going to redo the books because they sent me a refund. Duh!

Live and In Person

Booking Through Thursday

I said in August, when we talked about fan mail, that I planned on expanding that to live meetings when the time was right. Well, that time is now!

* Have you ever met one of your favorite authors? Gotten their autograph? No, I wish!
* How about an author you felt only so-so about, but got their autograph anyway? Like, say, at a book-signing a friend dragged you to? I got autographs from Lara Parker and Stephen Mark Rainey at Dark Shadows festivals some years ago. I wasn't dragged there. I wanted to go and enjoyed the books they wrote, they're just not my favorites.

* How about stumbling across a book signing or reading and being so captivated, you bought the book? Nope, hasn't happened...not yet anyway!

Decorum

Booking Through Thursday

Do you have “issues” with too much profanity or overly explicit (ahem) “romantic” scenes in books? Or do you take them in stride? Have issues like these ever caused you to close a book? Or do you go looking for more exactly like them? (grin)

Once upon a time when I was younger, more curious and more passionate, I liked finding erotic passages in books. I used to go looking for more. Now that I am an old gray mare, I take them in stride but find it annoying if the scenes don't add to the story. One reason I don't like R movies is because they have gratuitous scenes of violence and/or sex. I don't read romance novels at all anymore. The only "romantic" scenes I've enjoyed in the last few years were in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series of books. Ahhhhh, Jamie...

Sunshine & Roses

Booking Through Thursday

The reverse of last week’s question:

Imagine that everything is going just swimmingly. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all’s right with the world. You’re practically bouncing from health and have money in your pocket. The kids are playing and laughing, the puppy is chewing in the cutest possible manner on an officially-sanctioned chew toy, and in between moments of laughter for pure joy, you pick up a book to read . . .

What is it?

Whatever is next on my TBR (to be read) next list! If I am really feeling up and everything is going well then I am in the mood for any type of book!

Comfort Food

Booking Through Thursday

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.

What do you read?

I don't think any book would make me feel better under those circumstances but the first one I'd probably pick up (no, not the Bible!) would be Rabbi Kushner's book about why bad things happen to good people. Even if it's not warm, it's got comforting information in it! Then I would move on to a book that would pull me into the story and help me forget my troubles. Some books I've read in the past that would work:

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Stand by Stephen King
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Christy by Catherine Marshall

Indocrination

Booking Through Thursday

When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

The one family member who really got me into reading was my mom. I remember going to the library with her when I was about five and being totally awed that I could bring books home with me. also, when my grandmother would take me grocery shopping, she would let me choose a Little Golden Book to keep at her house. I loved to look at the pictures at first and then when I learned to read, I'd read them to my younger cousins and brother.

My mother loved to read and had a bookcase full of what would be called classics now. When I was 10 or 12, I began wanting to read those books. She made several recommendations to me: Gone With the Wind, Imperial Woman, Love Is Eternal, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, and many others. She'd warn me that some of the books would be difficult to understand and that I should look in a dictionary to understand more of the words.

About a year later, I began begging to go to the library and she'd take me 2-3 times a week before finally complaining it was too much. She told me to check out the max allowed on my card so that she could make fewer trips. I was delighted. I was checking out about 15 books at a time. She was always checking out books too.

Once I became an adult, we'd pass books back and forth on occasion but then our tastes began to diverge. That was okay. We could still spend an afternoon together just reading contentedly. My father and brother are not readers and they were not into that. In fact, my dad was sometimes jealous of my mother's love for reading and he'd find reasons to interrupt her.

Lucky me, my husband is a reader too!

I really appreciate this question today. I have many unhappy memories of my mother and it is really nice to remember this and be filled with a warm glow.

Multiples

Booking Through Thursday

Do you have multiple copies of any of your books? Yes I do :)

If so, why? Absent-mindedness? You love them that much? First Editions for the shelf, but paperbacks to read? Actually ... it's all 3. Most of the duplicates I have are because I want either the hardback or signed copies for my shelf and the paperback to read and pass along. Sometimes I forget I have a book on my TBR already and I pick up a duplicate copy by mistake. That's why I've made a data base. I have over 430 books, still counting! And finally, if I love a book enough to pass it on to someone I'll keep one and buy/trade for another to pass along.

Letters! We Get Letters!

Booking Through Thursday

Have you ever written an author a fan letter? Yes

Did you get an answer? Yes, from one author named Stephen Mark Rainey

Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?

(And, sure, I suppose that e-mails DO count . . . but I’d say no to something like a message board on which the author happens to participate.) Emails for a short period of time

Best Moustache Twirling

Booking Through Thursday

Who’s the worst fictional villain you can think of? As in, the one you hate the most, find the most evil, are happiest to see defeated? Not the cardboard, two-dimensional variety, but the most deliciously-written, most entertaining, best villain? Not necessarily the most “evil,” so much as the best-conceived on the part of the author…oh, you know what I mean!

For me, it is without a doubt "Black Jack" Randall from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Although he has to be one of the most brutal and sadistic characteristics I've ever seen written, he did have a human side to him -- a younger brother he cherished. He tortured and sexually assaulted my favorite character. He was cold blooded, cunning and ruthless. And yet ... when his younger brother was on his deathbed, he was totally humbled, crushed. I haven't hated a character more than him.

I missed last week's frenzy and decided to answer the questions anyway!

1. Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it? Yes of course

2. If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties? No midnight parties, not reading it until it comes out in paper back probably because the arthritis in my hands makes holding heavy books nearly impossible

3. If you’re not going to read it, why not? Not applicable

4. And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to? I think Harry will survive because otherwise Evil triumphs over Good and we just can't have that. I guess I am most looking forward to the climax. I think Harry will defeat Voldemort. And they all lived happily ever after. The End.

Celluloid

Booking Through Thursday

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie? There are a couple but I'll say To Kill A Mockingbird

2. The worst? The Relic

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.) In both cases, I read the book first. I usually like the book better because there's more character development and details. I find movies have to leave out much--for instance, in Gone With The Wind Scarlett only had 1 child in the movie. I know this isn't a significant detail but it did leave me with a feeling of "wrongness". As for The Relic, it was so awful because it was changed around and the most important character was totally left out!

Dessert First

Somehow I forgot to do this one...

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?

Unfortunately, I usually do cheat and read ahead. Usually it happens as I'm about to go to bed and cannot read any further. Usually I'm about half way through the book and I go take a peek at the end one night and what's coming up next on other nights. Maybe fatigue has something to do with this compulsion because I don't peek during

2. And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?

Obviously yes

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

Almost everyone can name at least one author that you would love just ONE more book from. Either because they’re dead, not being published any more, not writing more, not producing new work for whatever reason . . . or they’ve aged and aren’t writing to their old standards any more . . . For whatever reason, there just hasn’t been anything new (or worth reading) of theirs and isn’t likely to be.

If you could have just ONE more book from an author you love . . . a book that would be as good any of their best (while we’re dreaming) . . . something that would round out a series, or finish their last work, or just be something NEW . . . Who would the author be, and why? Jane Austen? Shakespeare? Laurie Colwin? Kurt Vonnegut?

I think I'd like to read another book by Harper Lee. It doesn't necessarily have to continue the story of Scout Finch or her family although that would be nice. Harper Lee had one of those styles that just "hooks" you. At first I was pulled in by a seeming "ghost" story (Boo Radley) and three mischievous kids but it turned out to be so much more than just that. If she had written another book I would have snapped it up to read right away!