What Else?

Booking Through Thursday

What’s your favorite hobby OTHER THAN reading?

Table top roleplaying games. Unfortunately, it’s becoming harder to get a group of adults at the same place at the same time.

My brother and I also play a lot of board games and card games. Some of my favorite board games: Arkham Horror (we own all of the extra boards!), Carcassonne, and Dominion. They just tend to take a lot of time.

I guess I spend so much time on Facebook that I can call that a hobby, too. I tend to play a lot of games there, too.

 

Language

Booking Through Thursday

I saw a Latin edition of “The Hobbit” last time I was at the bookstore… Do you read any foreign languages? Do you ENJOY reading in other languages?

My native tongue is Finnish…
I’ve read in English for many years and I enjoy it. Most of my favorite writers haven’t been translated into Finnish so I wouldn’t have found them if I wouldn’t read in English. (That’s a circular argument, of course. )

Also, I read mostly SF and fantasy. I’ve watched English language SF and fantasy shows before I started to read in English, so I’ve always associated science fiction and fantasy with English.

 

Spring Up

Booking Through Thursday

What’s the last book that made you spring to your feet, eager to spread the word and tell everyone how much you enjoyed it?

The Planetary graphic novels by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. There are four of them. I read the comic when it first came out in monthly issues, but I wasn’t able to get the whole run. Last month, I finally reread the series as a whole. I loved the series when I first read it and I got a whole new appreciation for it when I reread them quickly and in order.

Planetary is an organization dedicated to unearthing the secret history of Earth. It has parallel universes, secret histories, twisted versions of beloved super heroes, and mysteries. The central character, Elijah Snow, has gaps in his memory and recovering them is a big part of the mysteries. If you’re interested in any of the above, I think you’ll like Planetary.

 

Rating

Booking Through Thursday

Movies have a rating system to help guide the consumer weed out adult/violent/inappropriate knds of films. Video games do, too. Do you think BOOKS should have a ratings system?

It depends. It depends on who decides what goes into what categories, what the categories are etc. I don’t think putting age categories would be a good idea because kids are different and read at different levels. I think libraries already have to restrict the books kids can borrow and that’s enough.

However, I wouldn’t mind it if the publishers would put icons for things like violence, sex, cursing, horror, etc. That would give some idea of what to expect in a book. In fact, I have vague memories that some UK (fantasy?) publishers have already done that.

But it depends on who gets to decide what types of scenes would get a warning and which wouldn’t. I doubt people could agree on them.

 

Mood Reading

Booking Through Thursday

Does your current mood affect your reading? Affect your choices? I know there are plenty of books I enjoy, but only if I’m in a particular kind of mood–or books that can lift me out of a bad mood without fail. Surely I’m not alone?

My mood certainly affects my reading choices: if I’m in the mood for something light and short or long and convoluted or perhaps a tie-in novel. In previous years, the reading challenges I’ve joined started to rule my reading choices and so I decided to not join as many of them this year.

My mood might affect on how I react to specific things in a book but not likely to make me hate a whole book.

 

Spring Forward

Booking Through Thursday

Clocks change this weekend here in the US, which means one less hour to read … does anybody else begrudge that hour like I do? Wish the Powers That Be would just pick a time-frame and stick to it instead of inflicting clock-driven jet lag on an innocent public twice a year?

(Yeah, so not a question so much about reading … except, of course, you do need to use your electric light to be able to read, so the hour it gets dark IS relevant!)

Over here in Finland, we also have to change the clocks, except that for us that happens at the end of March. Here we call it either Summertime or Wintertime and I can’t even say how preposterous it is to call late March and early April “Summer” when most years there’s snow on the ground and sometimes we even still get blizzards.

I really don’t like the clock changes because most of my clients live in other time zones and it’s hard enough to try to figure out the times, for deadlines not to mention phone calls…, with the ordinary time differences. Throw in the idiotic clock changes and I’m spending twice more time figuring things out.

 

Current Events

Booking Through Thursday

One of those quick, easy questions that I ask periodically because the answer is always changing:

What are you reading right now? (And, is it good? Would you recommend it? How did you choose it?)

In print: The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper. It’s a steampunk book. I’ve just started it but it seems like a good read. Mostly I chose it for the size: I take it with me on the bus and it has to fit in my pocket.

In ebook: Blood by Tara Maya. It’s the sixth book in a fantasy series set in Stone Age. I’d recommend the series to people who like high magic in a less common setting.

In audio: Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell. I bought it on recommendation by a blogger and a few other reviewes. It’s a time travel story.

 

Libraries

Booking Through Thursday

How often do you visit a library? Do you go to borrow books? Do research? Check out the multi-media center? Hang out with the friendly and knowledgeable staff? Are you there out of love or out of need?

I go to the local library to borrow books, comics, and movies. Sometimes I use the local equivalent of the interlibrary loan to borrow books or comics from other libraries. I go there on average about once or twice a month, sometimes more frequently and sometimes a few months go by without going there.

I don’t think we have a “multi-media center” even though the library closest to me is the central library of my city.

 

Love

Booking Through Thursday

Not the kind of “love” question you’re expecting for Valentine’s Day. No, what I want to know is:

What do you love most about reading?

Getting into the minds of other people and getting into completely different settings and situations.

 

Influence

Booking Through Thursday

Do other people influence what you choose to read? When a family member recommends something, or a friend says they hated a book you were planning to read … does it affect your reading choices?

Yes, they do. These days it’s pretty rare for me to read a book from a new to me author without first reading reviews or recommendations, mostly online. I seem to have pretty strange tastes so I tend to find out first if the book is to my taste before buying it. For example, I’m not a romance reader so a romancer lover complaining about a lack of romance in a book is in fact a recommendation to me. Of course, if I can find the book in a library, I might try it even if it sounds that it’s not going to be the best book in the world.

But I have several hundred unread books already, so I’m currently trying to read them first before actively searching for new books.