Book meme

Book meme (thanks to Con).

Do you snack while reading?

I am reading pretty well all the time, so I would probably suffer from malnutrition if I didn't.

What is your favourite drink while reading?

Beer is my favourite drink under any circumstances.

Do you tend to mark your books while you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Never, and I hate reading annotated books from the library. The notes are invariably irritating.

How do you keep your place? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book open flat?

Bookmarks. I try to pick them up wherever I go, but somehow always end up using postcards, shop receipts, old to-do lists etc.

Fiction, non-fiction or both?

Fiction mainly, I would guess to a ratio of about 6:1. It tends to be better written.

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?


Anywhere, I actually stopped mid-word the other day (there was a page break and I was rushing to get off a train).

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

I only remeber doing this with The Da Vinci Code. I got through the execrable The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo without doing so, somehow.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

If I can. Latest example was "chid", which turns out to be simply the past tense of chide.

What are you currently reading?

Hitch 22 by Christopher Hitchens and Chocky by John Wyndham.

What is the last book you bought?

Solar by Ian McEwan.

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?

I actually really like reading in the pub. I think I picked this up because I am always the first member of a group to arrive, usually a little early, so I can grab a pint, pull the paperback out of my back pocket and settle in.

Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

Usually stand-alones, but that's only because I tend towards literary fiction rather than genre stuff. Having said that, Anthony Powell's ten-volume A Dance To The Music Of Time was one of my greatest reading experiences.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

This is hard, because my favourite books are often very wordy and very specifically English. I used to buy Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost for all and sundry, these days I might go with something by David Lodge or Evelyn Waugh.

How do you organize your books (by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)?

To my professional shame, I don't really have a system. I have 2 dedicated "to read" shelves, everything else is grouped either by spine colour or by non-ficiton theme. That is to say, on one shelf I may have all of my orange-spined Penguins and on the adjacent one all of my movie books.