Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Book Confessions

This week the Broke and the Bookish are asking for bookish confessions. I think I already confessed to some of my more egregious book-related actions, like ruining my middle-school library's copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls by spilling milk on it -- but I managed to think up five more.


1. For a long while, I wouldn't go near the Left Behind series, because as a kid raised to believed the Rapture was real and inevitable, the thought of actually being left behind terrified me. I'm not exaggerating when I say I didn't go a week in my first twenty years of life without being reminded that the world was doomed to become the province of a psychopath, and my only hope of escaping that fate (to be followed by an eternity in Hell) was church.  After escaping from such beliefs, I later read the first book out of curiosity and found it hilariously awful -- so much so that I read the entire sixteen book series in the month and  a half that followed.

2. Although I'm hostile toward digital readers, I'll probably wind up buying one within the next five years. My rising Luddite tendecies notwithstanding, my job as a reference assistant often entails helping people with computers, and increasingly their own wireless devices. If touch-screen interfaces are the way of the future, I need to learn to navigate them to function out in the world. Of course, at home I can be as tech-free as I want.

3. Like other readers, I tend to avoid "hot" series on the prinicple that they're just too popular. This is snobbish, of course,  but I don't feel bad about it. I just don't myself too seriously on this point, especially since the one time I succumbed to peer pressure and tried a series everyone was nuts about, I found I loved it. I speak, of course, of Harry Potter, which I now re-read once a year.

4. When visiting someone's home, I tend to look for and then investigate their bookcases. Nothing else (aside from a garden, I suppose) would attact my attention.

5.  Although most of the books of my childhood are gone, there are a couple of series from middle school that I absolutely will not give up -- California Diaries and Roswell High. I keep them in the same cabinet as my old journals.

6. Once, in my sophomore year of high school, I found a library book that I'd previously lost...on the day that I'd intended to pay for its replacement cost. I decided to pay for the replacement and keep the book, because I loved that book. It was Albert Marrin's The Airman's War, and I keep it in the bookcase near my bed.



9 comments:

  1. I love your #2. I was a very avid anti-ereader person till I realized that every time I travel, I have to pack 5+ books since I'm a quick reader. I still definitely prefer physical copies, but I'll default to my ereader for travel (and for the benefit of free downloads of out-of-copyright classics.)

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  2. It would be weird if you didn't look at people's bookshelves, in my opinion. You can learn so much! Here's Ours

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  3. "2. Although I'm hostile toward digital readers, I'll probably wind up buying one within the next five years. ..."
    I was always like that, paper books ftw, but I got a Kindle now and I love it. I still buy paper books, those I know for a fact I'll love and reread often. Ones I'm just curious about, I put on my Kindle.

    "3. Like other readers, I tend to avoid "hot" series on the prinicple that they're just too popular. ..."
    I was the same for a long time, but now I figured that if the books are such a hype, there must be a reason. I succumbed to the pressure with The Hunger Games and I'm not sorry.
    And I also reread HP every year (since my 11th bday). Hi5! Immediate follow :D

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  4. I love inspecting other people's bookshelves, too. Except for my sister and brother in law's shelves...because they make me feel like I don't read enough "good" literature, since there is not a single trashy paranormal romance or YA book to be found on their shelves...

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  5. Stephen, if you break it they send you a new kindle for free if you send in the broken one... (not sure if that's official but it's how it always works in practice)

    If you lose it though, you have to buy a new one...

    As someone who travels frequently, I couldn't live without mine!

    -Mary @ My Sisters Bookshelf

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  6. As a non-Dispensationalist, I completely avoided the LEFT BEHIND series. Not that I object to reading books from viewpoints opposed to my own, but I thought that, unless the writing was exceptional, the total disconnect with my own beliefs would hamper my enjoyment of the series. I get the feeling I made the right call. :)

    And I always look for someone's bookshelf when I visit. You can learn a lot about someone from what they read. I always say, you don't really know me until you've visited my library. :)

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  7. I always try to find a bookshelf. I'm disappointed if I can't find even a little something... Then I have to see what's there. Mental notes are taken and the judging begins! (Just Kidding - Mostly)

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  8. Three things I always do when I'm in someone's house for the first time:

    Check out their CD's
    Check out their DVDs
    Check out their books.

    You can tell a *lot* from what they listen to, what they watch and what (if anything) they read.

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  9. Great list! I was also a little hesitant about the digital reader at first but given my lack of space to store books these days, it's actually been very convenient.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog yesterday!

    - Li @ rulethewaves.net

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