Book Meme

I haven’t done a Meme in a while. It’s a BOOK meme and since I read a fair amount (and own even more) I can’t turn it down. It’s in the Extended Entry if you are interested.
Oh and it was stolen from Dave.


Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror? Out of these three I enjoy Fantasy the most, though I’ve read a lot of Science Fiction in the past. As for Horror, I don’t dislike it, I just don’t read it much.
Hardback or Trade Paperback or Mass Market Paperback? Whichever is cheaper at thrift stores. I very rarely buy new books.
Amazon or Brick and Mortar? If I do buy a new book I’ll get it from Amazon.ca. Though I do like going to bookstores, and will occasionally buy from them – they occasionally have better deals that Amazon.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? We don’t have either of these in Canada. Plus most of the bookstore here (Chapters, Indigo, Coles) are all owned by the same corporation.
Hitchhiker or Discworld? I enjoy both. I read the Hitchhikers Trilogy ages ago. I just started reading the Discworld books last year.
Bookmark or Dogear? Dogear? I don’t know what this is. Oh you mean dog-ear? Isn’t that two words? I use a bookmark, the bookmark is usually a scrap piece of paper (bill, movie ticket etc.). I would never dog-ear. I have too much respect for books.
Magazine: Asimov’s Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction? I don’t read either.
Alphabetize by author, Alphabetize by title, or random? Some day I would love to alphabetize by author. I just need a library to keep all the books in. Currently they are in a semi-random order – meaning I try to keep the book series together.
Keep, Throw Away or Sell? Keep them. I’d like to think that when I have kids/grandkids they will enjoy them as much as I do. Though I’ve been thinking about going through my books and getting rid of the ones I know I will never read.
Keep dust-jacket or toss it? I usually take the dust cover off when I read it. I put it back on after I finish it.
Read with dustjacket or remove it? See the answer above.
Short story or novel? I prefer novels, though I will read short stories as well. Depends on the author.
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? I like both. Lemony Snicket is a much more self-deprecating type of humour (plus he is friends with Stephen Merrit of the Magnetic Fields). Harry Potter is enjoyable in a light and fluffy way. Though the hysteria is quite amusing as well.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I try to end at chaper breaks.
“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time?” Once Upon a Time since I like fairy tales, be them childhood ones (i.e. Grimm Fairy Tales) or adult ones (i.e. The Theif of Always).
Buy or Borrow? I usually buy them used from thrift stores and the like. I’ll borrow if it’s a must read.
Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse? All of them. Some of the best books I’ve read have been based on title only, or the way the book looked.
Lewis or Tolkien? I’ve read more C.S. Lewis than Tolkien. Actually I’ve never read any Tolkien – I’ve had the Hobbit read to me. I’ve heard Tolkien can be rather tedious to read. Some C.S. Lewis is tedious as well (i.e. the Screwtape Letters).
Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)? Collection. Though I do read McSweeney’s which is more in the Anthology form.
Tidy ending or Cliffhanger? I can handle a cliffhanger – though I like definite endings, unless there are sequels in the work.
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Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading? I usually read before going to bed. Though I do try to read over my lunch hour, and read when I’m doing my business (if you know what I mean).
Standalone or Series? Standalones are easier to read, but also sadder to end if you really like the characters.
New or used? Used. It’s just cheaper.
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Towing Jehovah by James Morrow. The story goes as follows – God dies, he falls to the earth and lands in the ocean. A disgraced oil tanker captain is given the holy task to pull the corpse to it’s final resting place in an Artic tomb. Along the way the captain has to deal with atheists who need to destroy the corpse (so they can’t be proved wrong), shipwrecking on an island where morality is discarded because there is no one left to judge us, just to name a few. It’s a pretty interesting read.
Top 5 favorite genre books of all time? Like Dave I have no idea what a “genre book” is, so I will try to list five of my favorite books.
a) Lamb by Christopher Moore – Tells the fictional story of Jesus lost years. The ones the bible didn’t tell you about.
b) The Life of Pi by Yann Martel – Once you get through the first 70 pages it’s a hard to put down book.
c) The Thief of Always by Clive Barker – An adult fairy tale featuring children.
d) Life After God by Douglas Coupland – Short little stories for the screw-up world we live in.
e) Home Game by Paul Quarrington – A book about baseball and freak-show freaks. I’m not a big fan of baseball, but I sure like those freak-show freaks. 🙂
Favorite genre series? Hmm. Not sure. I like Harry Potter, I like A Series of Unfortunate events, I like the Wrinkle in Time series, I like Discworld, I like the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite.
Currently Reading? I’m reading a couple at this moment:
[Before Bed Reading] Fishing With My Old Guy by Paul Quarrington
[At Lunch Time] The Museum of Hoaxes by Alex Boese
[Bathroom Reading] High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games by Rusel DeMaria and Johnny Lee Wilson
[Occasional Reading] Horripilations: The Art of J. K. Potter by Nigel Suckling and Stephen King

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6 Comments

  1. I was fortunate enough to go to a Clive Barker book reading for Thief of Always… it is an amazing book, but I always have to borrow it from the library to read it because I’m afraid I’d ruin my autographed copy! 🙂

  2. Dave2: Have your read Weaveworld? It’s just as good as Thief of Always.
    You should also check out Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or American Gods – also adult fairytales. His writing reminds me a lot of Clive Barker.

  3. This was interesting, thanks! I’m always interested in hearing what books other people like – as I’m always looking for new books to read.

  4. k&n

    Really simply (most of my thesis concerns exactly the problem of defining this…), ‘genre’ refers to the classification of art by the conventions of its writing (or performance or conception): so comedy, thriller, horror, detective, romance, coming-of-age, fantasy, sci-fi. Of course, the boundaries of all genres are very vague and you’ll almost never find a pure example of one kind of genre (particularly in writing). I liked this meme – it almost made me want to read for pleasure again…!

  5. Kaley: But what is a “genre book”? A book that defines the genre? Or just a book that falls into a genre – because if it’s the second one then any book can fall into that category. 🙂

  6. k&n

    ‘Genre book’ seems a bit redundant – most books fall into several genres. I’ve never actually come across that phrase – and I’m not sure what it means. I think it’s a poorly worded question that is actually asking you to list your favourite books in different genres (favourite sci-fi, fav crime/detective, fav travel writing…etc etc etc). I think you’ve inadvertently answered it anyway (example: “an adult fairy tale” for your description of Clive Barker)! It would have made more sense if the meme read: List your favourite book in five different genres or something to that effect. Even then… ‘Genre series’ I assume means a series written in a certain genre – again, kind of needless complication of ‘favourite series’! Kind of like when a restaurant menu says ‘pan-fried’ – well of-bloody-course! How the hell else are you going to fry something? 🙂