Tag: audiobooks

  • Rapid Fire Book Tag

    Rapid Fire Book Tag

    I saw this book tag on K.L.M. Moore’s site and thought it was pretty cool, so here goes:

     

    1. Ebook or physical books?

    Physical book.  I do own a Kindle paper white, and I have quite a few ebooks loaded onto it, but my brain does a much better job processing, synthesizing, and remembering information when I read from a physical book than a digital screen.

    2. Paperback or hardback?

    Day-to-day reading would be paperback.  However, if I love a book, like really love a book, I’ll seek out and purchase a hardcover edition.  For example, I own not one but three copies of the Hobbit and LOTR, and one of my sets is a gorgeous illustrated hardcover edition.  Same with Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon series.  My children and I have all read that series multiple times over. 

    3. Online or in-store book shopping?

    There is something magical about a bookstore for me.  I get a little giddy when I enter one, so I prefer in-store shopping.  More specifically, I try to get my books through a small, local, independent bookseller.  

    4. Trilogies or series?

    Hmmm… this is a tough one.  I do love a good series, but not because it’s a series.  The characters must be awesome and the world has to be awesome.  I think I might actually prefer stand alone books the most.   

    5. Heroes or villains? Magneto

    Villains, all the way.  No question.  Antiheroes, too.  Not that a hero can’t be great. (I love you, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III).

    6. A book you want everyone to read?

    A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab.  Just go read it.  You’ll understand why.

    A Darker Shade of Magic7. Recommend an underrated book?

    Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer.  One of the most amazing craft books I’ve encountered.  Even if your preferred genres aren’t fantasy or science fiction, this book is worth a look-see.Wonderbook

    8. The last book you finished?

    The Last Star by Rick YanceyThe Last Star by Rick Yancey.  This is a bit of a fib.  I’m aiming to finish it up tonight.  I’ve got about 30 pages left to go.

    9. The last book you bought?

     The Scar (Bas-Lag)How to Train Your Dragon - Book 11

    In print: The Scar (Bas-Lag) by China Miéville.  Audiobook: How to Train Your Dragon, Book 11 (David Tennant narrates these books.  Enough said.)

    10. Weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

    A parking ticket.

    11. Used books: yes or no?

    Gods, yes!  I live for the Salem book swap!!

    12. Three favourite genres?

    Young Adult (though I struggle with calling it a full-on genre), Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror.

    13. Borrow or buy?

    Both!  My house isn’t large enough to hold all the books I’d love to own.  I’m a true-blue bibliophile.  My dream home contains a library that would rival Alexandria’s.  But, given space constraints, I’m a regular patron of my local library.

    14. Characters or plot?

    Honestly, both.  I’ll admit that I enjoyed Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code despite the paper-thin characters.  I also liked Matthew Pearl’s The Dante Club.  That said, if I had to pick one over the other, it would be characters.  I fell in love with Stephen King’s work for his characters, not his plots.  I’ll stick with fascinating characters through a mediocre plot.  To stay with mediocre characters, the plot has to be highly entertaining, and that doesn’t happen all that often for me.

    15. Long or short books?

    Short.  I’m a very slow reader.

    16. Long or short chapters?

    I honestly don’t think I have a preference, as long as the chapter lengths are working for the story I’m reading.

    17. Name the first 3 books you think of.

    This question should have come earlier in this list.  I’ve biased my response by listing all those others above.  

    18. Books that made you laugh or cry?

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Bridge to Terabithia

    Bridge to Terabithia  was the first book that made me sob.  I cry every time Gandalf falls to the Balrog.  I laugh my way through The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy every time I read it.  

    19. Our world or fictional worlds?

    I’m not yet convinced there’s a difference.  Currently, however, fictional worlds.

    20. Audiobooks; yes or no?

    Is this even a question?  Yes!

    21. Do you ever judge a book by it’s cover?

    All the time.  Sorry.

    22. Book to movie or TV adaptations?

    With a few notable exceptions, please, no.

    23. Movie/TV show you preferred to its book? 

    *snorts derisively* Yeah, right.

    24. Series or stand-alones?

    Stand-alones, though that doesn’t mean I don’t read series, too.

     

    Well, now you know a bit more about me.  Your turn!

  • Beating the Cold Season with Some Good Books!

    Beating the Cold Season with Some Good Books!

    Every September, I get back into the classroom and, within a month, I catch a cold. I blame my students. They get it first, and then they proceed to coat every surface they touch with their contagion.  Last year, the virus took up residence deep in my chest and overstayed its welcome by about six weeks. It was vicious. Several of my colleagues and even a few of my students developed secondary pneumonia. Thankfully, my family and I live in a state of lightly controlled squalor, so we’ve got exposure theory on our side. Our immune systems are primed and ready for battle, but I’ve got a secret weapon in my battle against the common cold: books!

     

    And yet, here I am, all hopped up on cold meds (this might be a very interesting post), holed up in bed while the rest of the fam shares hot-wings and watches the Patriots game on TV. Now that I think of it, perhaps there are some perks to catching the annual back-to-school cold.

     

    Books (in all forms) Make Everything Better!

    The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 8
    Just look at all those lovely books!

    If you’re anything like me, your “to read” list grows faster than your “have read” list does. One of the original Twilight Zone episodes that haunts me the most is “Time Enough At Last,” starring Burgess Meredith as a guy who just wants to be left alone so he can read his books. I won’t spoil the episode because it’s available on Amazon Prime (you should watch it), but the ending is tragic in a way that only a bibliophile can fully grasp.

     

    Audiobooks have become a staple in my life these days, too. I check them out from my library, and I buy them via Audible.com. Whenever I’m in the car or out for a walk, I’m listening to a book. My students helpfully showed me how to overclock the reading speed to 1.25x, which shaves about 2.5 hours off of a 10-hour book. It’s amazing.

     

    That said, as great as listening to books can be, it’s not quite the same as reading them myself.

     

    I am a slow reader. A pathetically slow reader. And, since I’ve started up the Masters in Creative Writing program at Lesley University, my reading speed has slowed even further. Now I find myself reading at two levels. I used to read for the simple pleasure of getting lost in the story. Now, I pay close attention to word choice, verbs, description, pacing, syntax, structure, flow, et cetera. In other words, I read with a writer’s eye, which slows me down.

     

    My current bout with the rhinovirus isn’t nearly as bad as last year. Last year, I felt like I was dying. This year, I just feel like someone has stuffed my sinuses with a soggy loaf of bread. Not pleasant, but it could be worse.  It didn’t stop me from getting out to Barnes & Noble yesterday for a YA book event where I grabbed myself a few ARCs to read… eventually… when I find the time. (That’s them in the photo at the top of this post.)

    Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh
    Here’s what I’m currently reading!

    I might be guilty of exaggerating my misery slightly so that my spouse keeps the kids at bay, but I’m not completely faking. I am in bed with a sinus headache, and I do have to rest up so that I can make it through teaching my classes next week.

     

    But really, I just want to snuggle in and cherish this rare opportunity to READ!

     

    Books make everything better. Aren’t they great? Have you ever used books to get through something unpleasant, like cold season?