Thursday, July 20, 2017

This Or That Book Tag


This tag was created by Wendy @ Falconer’s Library. <-- Go check out the original. 






--> This Or That <--







Buy new or buy used?


If I was rich, I’d only buy new books, but sadly, money is extinct in my world. Almost all of my books are used books that I traded for.







Eat while you read or read while you eat?


Nooo! I’m a germophobe. What I hate most about used books is that they’re often covered in mystery stains. I’m not going to do anything that could contribute more germs to their pages. Yuck. 







Reread old favorites or preorder upcoming possibilities?


I’ve never preordered a book. (I’m broke, remember?) I do love rereading my favorites, though. 






Read every single word or skim at times?


When I was in school, I almost always skimmed my textbooks and assigned reading. No one wants to read that boring school crap. I wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. When I read for fun, I read every word.







Happy endings or tragic?


Realistic? I don’t like books that wrap everything up too neatly. That’s why I have a hard time with middlegrade fiction. The endings are too perfect. I also don’t like books that kill off characters at the very end for no reason. *Mumble* Divergent trilogy *mumble.* If an ending is realistic, I don’t care if it’s happy or tragic.






Audiobooks or ebooks?


Ebooks. I like my Kindle, especially for traveling. I’ve only listened to one audiobook and couldn’t pay attention to it. My mind kept wandering. Maybe I should try an audiobook while running? That might give me something to concentrate on besides how much my ankles hurt. I don’t even know where to find affordable audiobooks.






Multiple books at once, or one at a time?


Ideally, I’d be a book polygamist. I prefer to read one short story collection and one other book at the same time. If I don’t have any short story collections on my TBR shelf, then I’m a book monogamist. I don’t like reading multiple similar books at the same time.







Mostly one genre, or a little bit of everything?


Everything! I’m a believer in reading widely.







Lifelong obsession or later discovery?


I loathed reading when I was a little kid and refused to do it. When I was in fifth/sixth grade, I stumbled across a few books that didn’t suck, and my bookish obsession grew from there.







Classics—yea or nay?


I don’t read as many classics as I used to, but I try to finish a few each year. Classic horror is my jam right now. (Do people actually say “my jam”? Is that a thing?)






Read aloud to others or be read to?


Be read to. I hate reading aloud. That’s probably one of the reasons I disliked reading as a kid. My teachers used to make us take turns reading aloud to the class. I’m way too anxious for that. Nope, nope, not going to do it.







Absolute silence or background noise?


I need silence to read. I remember trying to read The Stepford Wives in an airport last year, and I had to start the book over when I got home because I was too distracted by airport stuff to absorb anything I read.






Cover on or naked?


I used to leave the cover on so that I didn’t lose it, but now that I have carpel tunnel, I can’t do that anymore. The cover slides around too much, which makes the book harder to hold, which murders my wrists. My books have to get naked before I hold them.






Dog-ear or bookmark?


Only demons dog-ear their books. Civilized humans don’t do that. Be a good person and use a bookmark, especially if you’re going to trade the book when you’re done with it. Nobody wants to spend their time flattening out your demonic book mutilations.







Movie covers or originals?


Originals. I hate movie covers because the characters in my head never look like the actors plastered on the cover. Also, I’m a hipster. Movie covers are way too commercial for me.










13 comments:

  1. I am glad I stopped dog-earring books. Maybe I am a reformed demon :). I tend to listen always have an audio book going, primarily for the gym. And it needs to be funny. I have been reading (listening to) Jack London's "John Barleycorn" and am about ready to find something else. I couldn't stand drunk talk when I was in college and I haven't gotten any better listening to it in my old age. Carl Haissen is my favorite "go to" audio book author.

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  2. I totally agree - only demons dog ear their books! Why would anyone commit such senseless book violence? I just don't understand!
    And yes, I totally hate movie covers too. Which is annoying, seen as they are always the ones that come up really cheap at the supermarket, but I just can't bring myself to buy them unless I'm really desperate to read the book!

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  3. I won't read and eat. I mean not together. And while I love to get library books I don't like it when you get one where someone clearly was eating lol. ugh. I can't audio either.

    "I'm a hipster" lol. Yeah movie covers suck.

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  4. Eeep this tag is so fun!! And I can't read + eat either....I just am not coordinated enough and I get the book messy AND LET'S FACE IT: THAT'S A SIN.😂 I also confess I actually skim read if a book is really dull.😂

    And AGREED. Only demons would dog-ear.😂

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  5. I hated the books we got given in school to read-they were all classics and I hate the over descriptive waffle and having to analyse them all so I developed a deep hatred for them! As soon as I start to skim it is DNF time for me! If I put on an audiobook, I get nice and relaxed and usually doze off so it kind of defeats the purpose for me! I keep the cover on, the very few hardbacks I've read in recent years though I'm not sure why I do it. And yes, those who dog ear are demons and book abusers!

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  6. I love this tag and your answers! I hate, hate, HATE movie covers! They ruin everything good about cover art!

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  7. Reading out loud is THE WORST. I dreaded that in school. I used to count forward through the paragraphs to see what I would have to read and then silently practice it before my turn.

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  8. We used to do "popcorn reading" in high school and it was TERRIBLE. I never understood why teachers force their students to read out loud to the entire class. It's cruel. About the audiobooks ... do you have OverDrive? It's an app connected to your library, and that's how I borrow audiobooks. If it wasn't for that app, I'd never listen to them. They're so expensive. And I refuse to pay the money each month for audible :P.

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  9. The memes seriously cracked me up. Especially the "I won't buy anymore books" one and the hipster guy at the end. So funny and on point. :D

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  10. I agree with you on so many of these - rereading, not skim reading, ebooks, original covers. Although I will admit as I've got older I have started dog earing my pages... Enjoyed this tag.

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  11. This is fabulous! I skimmed SOOO much in school that sometimes I find myself skimming even when I don't want to haha. I am, however, a compulsive preorderer, and I cannot handle touching library books too much- the stains creep me out. And I also definitely prefer ebooks- I can't pay attention to audio very well either, and I have tried quite a few times now. I managed to finish one, but I was on a very long car ride, so take that for what it's worth. And Idk if other people say it, but I definitely call things "my jam"- in a quasi-ironic way?

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  12. Wheee, I somehow forgot to read this when you posted it, but your replies (and memes) are terrific! We're all hipsters when it comes to those movie covers, right? I will on occasion get them for my classroom to try to lure students in.

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  13. I love rereading as well, especially this year for some reason. Half of the books I read were rereads.

    If I start skimming over words, it probably means the book is not really worth reading anyways :D Yep, I understand the struggle with stuff read at school.. there's some universal rule that it HAS to be boring, right? The only good thing I had to read was 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. That was one exception.

    I agree with you on endings that are too neat and tidy or too happy to be true.. I like it bittersweet.

    I am so used to reading while my partner is watching TV.. I don't think I can get distracted anymore. Reading on planes is no problem either.

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