Ah, the adult version of playing tag continues to ravage the email/blog world. You know those emails that go around asking you go give between 15-30 pieces of information about you so your friends can find out those little details they don't already know (like dog vs. cat person, or chocolate vs. vanilla, favourite smell etc)? Well, this is actually a book meme and you tag people as you go. A meme, incidently, is a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is transmitted from one person to another.
Once you've been tagged, you must list 15 facts and personal preferences about books. Now, clearly, if there's one area where I'm picky, it's in the book area. Yeah, because we all know there's only one area where I'm high maintenance. Anyway, that's a whole other bolg post so we won't delve too deeply into "high maintenance" today.
1. I love the way a new book feels in my hands; it presents fresh pages, a smooth cover, a whole new world to draw me in, vivid characters, and writing that can make me laugh or cry (sometimes both).
2. I hate seeing cracked spines, writing in books, bent pages or any other sort of book torture. Some people would consider the book "well loved", but those people should be kicked around a bit. I couldn't even bring myself to highlight a textbook (except math, but that should tell you something right there. Here math book, take
THAT, and
THAT...as I viscously stab my highlighter at a calculus equation). There may be something wrong with me.
3. My books are stacked two deep and all the way to the top of the shelf. There are little books in every possible space, and I have stacks of books randomly about my apartment because I have no more room on the two bookcases. I need more space.
4. I read several books simultaneously. I am reading a number of books right now, including The Bronte Project, The Kite Runner, and Paradox of Choice, Eleven Minutes, Angels, Canadian Environmental Assessment in Transition, and Agriculture, Environment and Society. Tally:
Chick lit - 1
Literature - 3
School Books - 2
Decision Making - 1 (if you've read the Paradox of Choice, you'll see how it highlights my reading problem. There are just too many book options!)
5. I re-read books. Many times.
6. I don't have a favourite book. I have many beloved books in different genres that I go to when I've had a bad day. It's like coming home to an old friend (that doesn't accuse you of being irrational or arguementative after your bad day).
7. I hate libraries. I was a library bandit for years, forgetting to return books and racking up fines. They are so unreasonable, always wanting you to give
back the books.
8. I see nothing wrong with staying up until 3 am in the grip of a good book.
9. When I was a child I read "Where the Red Fern Grows" and it was the first book I remember that made me cry. I haven't read it in years, but I remember the way it touched me, and I bet if I read it today, it would still make me cry.
10. My idea of a great day (or even date) is wandering around a bookstore, looking for new books to peruse, and lounging in comfortable chairs. This may be why I'm still single. However, I have actually done this on dates (more than once) and if a guy can manage without complaining, or (gasp) he actually enjoys himself, he's a keeper.
11. I avoid hard covers because they're more expensive, but also because they're unwieldy. They're much harder to carry around in my purse.
12. I refrain from buying purses that are too small to carry a book. Unless they're evening clutches, and then you really shouldn't have to carry a book. But that depends on the date I guess. I could tell you stories...
13. I don't get rid of books. I keep them all, except two that were so horrifically bad I had to get rid of them. And there was no guilt, because they were demeaning to women, and just bad writing and editing. They shouldn't have even been published.
14. Some of my earliest memories involve reading. I remember lying on the living room carpet, learning how to read "Dragon in the Woods" with my dad. He'd make the noises about the bees buzzing and the dragons hissing. Or did the birds hiss? I don't know. But that was way before I knew what onomatopoeia meant. My dad read me The Hobbit when I was too little to read, but I loved listening to him make the story come alive.
15. When I was little, I became an expert at bargaining because of my reading habit. My mom (who initially was thrilled I liked to read, but was less thrilled as the years went by and the books got more expensive) would take me to a bookstore, and the conversation would go something like this:
Me: If you buy me these 7 books, I'll buy this one (obviously the cheapest). This was accompanied by a huge grin and a "see, I'm pulling my share" look.
Mom: I'm glad you like to read, and I'll buy you this one, if you buy that one.
Me: (Disconcerted look) How about those 4 if I empty the dishwasher tonight?
Mom: (Smiling calmly and knowingly) You'll empty the dishwasher
anyway, and I'll get these three if you babysit your brother on Saturday.
Me: (check to see the value of the books, and calculate against babysitting hours). Ok, thanks. (secretly suspecting that she was getting the better deal, but I would have ended up babysitting anyway, so why not have something to read?)
Mom: Don't forget the one you're buying.
Me: Are you sure you don't just want to buy this one too? (not being difficult, just putting the option out there)
Mom: (sigh) let's go. (Sometimes accompanied by:) Don't push your luck.
And thus, I learned to negotiate, as well as learning the value of money, which is a valuable lesson at that age. But my poor mom must have just wished for a kid that didn't read sometimes.
It's not uncommon for me to go into a bookstore, lose the person I went in with, hear myself paged on the intercom, and then have to hastily buy my book(s). When the person finds me, and suspiciously eyes the bag, asking "how many are in there", I'll say "three", but really mean "seven". They're on a need to know basis.
Now I need to tag someone else...Shannon and Courtney have blogs, and they read, so consider yourself tagged.
