92 Some of My Thoughts About Books

Don't usually respond on this blog to the various memes floating around, but this one that I saw over at Goddess of YA made me think a lot about books and I thought I'd share my thoughts...especially since some people out there suspect I don't "read" because all they ever see is me "on the computer"!!

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Hardback because they are “real” books to me…do I practice what I prefer—no. Practicality does not allow me to do so…and many books are only available in paper now anyway. But if I could make a law…books would only be hardback with rich papers and beautiful tradtional covers…and they would not cost a gazillion dollars to be like this!

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
The Book End…had a newsletter of the same name several years ago because the library was at the end of the hall…would want the shop at the end of the street or row of shops in the shopping center!

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…
Can’t help it... 3–part answer!
A. The newest one from Gordon Korman’s recent book Born to Rock:
"There are two kinds of people in this world--those who have had a cavity search, and those who haven't. This is the story of how I wound up in the wrong category."
This is just so Korman…and so bizarre that it makes me laugh…a lot!

B. Another favorite from a few years ago…again humorous and made even more special because the author Gary Paulsen can NOT read these short stories from How Angel Petersen Got His Name without laughing out loud himself.
In talking about the extreme sports of his youth, he states:“I want you to remember two important facts— 1. We were quite a bit dumber then. 2. There wasn’t any safety gear.”

C. And one more that came from a life-changing book for me, The 7 Habits of Highly Efffective People where Covey states:
"We are free to choose our response in any situation, but in doing so, we choose the attendant consequence.”
A sort of “for every action, there is a reaction”…I have often thought about which set of consequences do I want to deal with when trying to make a decsion on which way to go.


4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….
Living: Frank McCourt…to talk with a “real” Irishman who also happens to be a teacher who tells such wonderful stories
Dead: Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott and Harper Lee and…


5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
a laptop or gigantic I-pod type device full of all the books I would want around me…1 book—you gotta be kidding me—impossible mission!


6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that….
Can’t for the life of me think of anything I need unless it would be something even better to accomplish #6…and make the content “feel” like it was in a real book.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of….
Wonderful memories reading books from my parents’ shelves, some which belonged to my grandmother. I know they are now considered unhealthy, but “old” books are like old friends.


8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….
Josephine March of Little Women...or one of the children from the original Boxcar children stories. I thought would have been cool to live in a boxcar…or Atticus Finch


9. The most overestimated book of all times is….
This one will probably get me in trouble…it is SUCH a classic, but, hey, we are entitled to our opinions aren’t we…Gone with the Wind.


10. I hate it when a book….
takes 90% of a book to draw out the story with great descriptions, wonderful character development and lots of action, only to have the author realize he/she only has “X” number of pages (as set by the publisher or page police) to finish everything up and so zooms thru to the end, forgetting to continue the great descriptions, wonderful character development and action to the last page. Can I think of a title as an example? not at this moment, but it happened to me so often, I have almost given up fiction because of it.


I welcome anyone to respond...looking forward to your selections!