booking through thursday

Another edition of Booking Through Thursday!

Suggested by Tammy:

What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you’ve ever used or seen used?

My bookmarks are pretty normal I guess. When I was little, I would ONLY use a bookmark.  Or I would just remember what page number I'd last read, and open to that page.  In college, I went through a phase for a long time wherein I didn't buy any bookmarks.  I would either fold corners down or use whatever scrap of paper I could find.  You know, the usual: index cards, post-its, fliers.  Mostly, though, since I went to a crap load of sporting events in college, I used game tickets as bookmarks.  I would occasionally fold corners, but it didn't often happen that I didn't have a scrap.


I have since begun to buy bookmarks as souvenirs when I go to really special places. I only have a couple right now - one from St. Louis, when I was there for the 2005 Final Four.  I bought it down in the dungeon of the arch, and it's a spiffy magnetic kind.  I also picked up a nice leather one from the Library of Congress in Washington DC when Brian and I visited there with a couple of friends.  We had barely any money at all, and the bookmark was $2.


In keeping with the ticket theme, I now keep tickets from special games or events and use them from time to time.  


Brian, the third generation librarian, has effectively broken me of the corner-folding habit...for the most part.  I will fold corners in certain books I know I'll use for reference.  I'd rather do that than have a million little scraps poking out and whatnot, but I will now go to almost any effort to find a bookmark alternative to corner folds.


(Incidentally, Brian won't fold corners but he WILL write in the margins.  I'm not sure what the difference is.  Maybe he will enlighten us with an explanatory comment.)


How about you?  Play along here.

booking through thursday

From the BTT website:

“This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”



I'm not sure I can come up with 15, but here goes:

- to kill a mockingbird
- tuck everlasting (i don't remember too much of anything from my childhood, but this and the next one come soaring through)
- the fall of freddie the leaf
- early from the dance
- crazy aunt purl's drunk, divorced, and covered in cat hair
- a year in provence
- chasing cezanne
- the reluctant tuscan
- water for elephants
- the time traveler's wife
- back when we were grown ups (i will always wonder how rebecca ended up)
- peace like a river
- tuesdays with morrie


most of these are novels. i think the reason that novels stick with me harder is that most of what i find 'sticky' about books is wondering how things turned out long-term for the people invovled. with memoirs and nonfiction, there isn't a whole lot of wondering to do because it really does play out. with novels, most of the time you don't get the next installment down the road. it's like a friendship cut short for me.


Read other responses here. How about you?

booking through thursday

This week's Booking Through Thursday question:

Is there a book that you wish you could “unread”? One that  you disliked so thoroughly you wish you could just forget that you ever read it?

Months after having read it, I think I would like to un-read Midwives.  As I was reading it, I was completely engrossed.  I loved the story, the voice, the characters...  but that last page was so jarring that now, it's really the only thing I remember about the book.  Read more here.

booking through thursday, on friday

SO my BTT post got usurped by a fantastic April Fools prank.  Here's today's BTT a day late.  As always, play along here.

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I love libraries.  I spent a lot of time in the library right down the street from my high school, seeing as I was an IBer and was always doing research.  That library was cute, sunny, and quiet - with a really ugly exterior paint job.

I love the neighborhood library here, too.  It's close enough to bike, and the staff are always so friendly.  It's an old, dark, tired little library and I love it. When I'm reading, I like to cozy up and get lost in the booky environment, not sit in an uncomfortable chair.  There's something special about libraries, about being in a place filled with volumes that have been fostered out through the community for so many years and then returned to their home, waiting to give their knowledge and experience to someone new.

That's why I don't like book stores.  Well, let me adjust that.  I LOVE book stores.  I love browsing for just the right title, trying to fine the ONE (or maybe the FEW) that will come home with me.  But reading there?  No way.  And since I'm trying to make it through the books I already have before buying new ones, I don't venture to the shops very often.

booking through thursday

I like this one!  Play along here.

“What’s the worst ‘best’ book you’ve ever read — the one everyone says is so great, but you can’t figure out why?”

I've thought on this all day, and in addition to the previously ranted-against Friday Night Knitting Club, I've come up with these titles:

The Devil Wears Prada.  Overall, great, but miles too long.  The editor needed to wield a massive battle ax against the copy.  Way. too. much. bitter inner monologue.  I'd skip whole paragraphs or pages of complaining, whining, and ranting.  It's a shame too, because most of it was awesome.

Sam's letters to Jennifer.  I thought that novel was 100% 'touching, moving' tripe.  Plain and simple.  It was even too soft and predictable to qualify as decent vacation reading.  The only benefit I found to reading that book was that I could add another title to my books-read list. 

Most (if not all) Nicholas Sparks novels.  I made it through three of his books before deciding that he writes too well for me to be able to withstand the tragic deaths of any more of his protagonists, whom I'd grown to care about.  The Notebook made me weep, years before it was put on the big screen.  I've sworn off Nicholas Sparks.

Booking Through Thursday

Questions from the booking through thursday website:

1. Do you get to read as much as you WANT to read?

(I’m guessing #1 is an easy question for everyone?)

This is kind of a weird question for me.  I get almost as much time as I'd like to read.  Which isn't a whole lot.  My desire for reading right now has gone way down, because i just don't have the energy to devote.  I wish I wanted to read more, and feel the tension between reading enough and not reading enough, but I just don't right now.  Sad day!  I think I'm storing it up for our holiday travel coming up. Maybe I should ask Santa for some reading mojo, just in case.

2. If you had (magically) more time to read–what would you read? Something educational? Classic? Comfort Reading? Escapism?

I'd like to read a novel.  Anything too educational is also too heady.  

booking through thursday

From the Booking Through Thursday website:

1. Do you have a favorite author?

My favorite author is probably Anne Lamott.  She's one of the few authors who have inspired me to read their entire body of work.

2. Have you read everything he or she has written?

Not yet, still working on that.  I've read maybe half?  Maybe a little less than half...

3. Did you LIKE everything?

NO.  I HATED Plan B.  I thought it was obnoxious and whiney and self-important, if I do say so myself.  But that's part of why I love Anne Lamott - she can get away with it.

4. How about a least favorite author?

I don't think I have a least favorite - I don't really avoid anybody's work because I didn't like a previous one.  I think a lot of those political books are not so much up my alley, though, and I don't have any interest in reading them.

5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t?

William P. Young.  I recently read The Shack, and as much as I wanted to like it, I didn't.  At all.  I didn't think it was ready to be printed - it needed more work.  The dialogue was really disappointing.  In my opinion, anyway.

books and God

For my response to last week's Booking Through Thursday, I wrote about the different relationships I have with books. And something struck me.

In a way, my relationship with books 'takes a page' from my relationship with God. You probably don't know much about my relationship with God, and I can only sum it up by saying it's multi-faceted. If it could be objectified or illustrated in some way, I think books would do a great job. Let me explain.

One facet of my relationship with God is that long-standing deep loyalty, showing lots of wear and tear. He's been with me through some major ups and downs. I've relied on his steady hand and turned to him again and again to find something comforting and safe and familiar.

Sometimes God is a reference or a teacher. His opinions and writings (the Bible and words from other believers) help guide and shape my world view. When I don't know how to answer a question, I check the scriptures and various interpretations to see what's there.

And then there's the awe/respect thing. I recently had a conversation with my mom about the type of church services I prefer. My family gets the most from 'charismatic' services, where it's more than just a contemporary setting (aka chairs and a band rather than pews and a choir) and extends into a more adoration-oriented worship style. Me, I prefer a service that has more of the traditional, austere feel. I like the deliberately guided service and the old hymns. I like to approach Sunday mornings as a time of commitment and devotion and learning, not necessarily fun and entertainment and energy.

My bible collection demonstrates all of this pretty well. I have an illustrated Precious Moments bible that I've had since very early childhood. It's pretty old by now, but I've carted it off everywhere and I still like to look at the pictures. I also have a 'working bible' - the one my private school gave me in the 5th grade, and I've done all my studying and reflecting in this bible. The cover is falling apart and has been taped back on once or twice, and there are lots of marks and notes inside. I also have a 'beautiful' bible - it's leather-bound with my name embossed on the cover. I keep this one at the office in a special cover. There are a few others floating around - an NRSV edition my brother and I bought together, a small 'backpack' bible that I keep in the glove box of my car, a Spanish/English parallel bible, and a really pretty tapestry-covered one that my brother gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Between my husband, who is in seminary, and my own history as a Christian, we have at least a whole shelf of them - or would, if they were all in the same location.

In what ways do your relationships with books mirror other relationships in your life?

Booking Through Thursday

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?


My husband cringes when he sees some of my books. His mother and his grandmother were both librarians, so he feels a deep respect for books. Books are to be cared for, not torn or dog-eared or marked up.

I too have a deep respect for books, but mine is based more on a perception of relationship. Books are awesome - they are such awesome things. They carry our thought, our history, our traditions, even our subversion. They are important.

There are some books that I treasure, because they have been with me for a long time. One of these books is my tattered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. I got it in the 8th grade, and it has been marked up, written on, taped back together, bent backward at the spine, highlighted, dog-eared to kingdom come, you name it. It's been loved. I have a nitty-gritty, you-are-my-lifeblood relationship with this book. We have been through the ringer together, and the more worn it gets, the deeper our relationship has gone.

Another book I treasure is The Christmas Cat. This is a Christmas storybook that I've had for as long as I can remember. I think my Grandovie gave it to me, but I'm not sure. I actually have two copies of this book because I thought I'd lost the original and I found an old library copy for sale. I treasure this book by keeping it very safe and in very good condition. I expect this book to show some wear because it has been through several moves, and it's old, and it is in fact displayed and read at least once a year.

Some books, I will dog-ear. These are the 'reference' books - idea books, clutter control books, self-help books, whatnot. I'll fold down the very tip corner on a page that relates to me or speaks to me. These guys are the workers. They're meant to be used, and their value is in their information.  I don't necessarily LIKE the look of dog-ears, but I very much don't like the look of flags sticking out all over the place. One of these days I may get diligent and make a brief 'index' to post-it in the front cover. Any kids out there who need a service project?

And then there are those books that are revered.  I have a beautiful set of leather-bound autobiographies of Christian people and specific works I really admire - Corrie ten Boom, Brother Andrew, CS Lewis's Screwtape Letters, etc. They're beautiful. I've read them all once - because books are meant to be read. But a number of these, I wanted to keep re-reading. So I bought cheap paperbacks. These are some of my most favorite books, and they are beautiful, so I want them to stay beautiful, but I also want to read them without hesitation. Hence the duplicate.

In general, I appreciate the aesthetics of books. I try to take care not to bend the covers of paperbacks. It's really annoying to me if a book doesn't lie flat. I try not to let pages or groups of pages get bent - again with the flat. But I'm not offended if a particular book looks worn. Books are meant to be read, loved, and invested in. You can't invest in something by sticking it on a shelf and looking at it.

Booking Through Thursday

Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is ok too.  Name as many as you like - sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful.  Or maybe that's just me.

I had a surprisingly hard time thinking of any literary couple I particularly like.  And then I remembered - Mike and Rebecca from the Monk Upstairs.  She is busy busy busy; he was a monk for 20 years.  There are elements of Mike and Rebecca both that remind me of me, and also elements of both that remind me of Brian, so they make a really interesting read.  And I love the ways you see them compromise and stretch to support each other.  I think they really do make each other better people.

Monk Upstairs is actually a sequel (to the Monk Downstairs) and I haven't read the first book yet - in which they become the couple.  They were already well-established by the time I met them.  I imagine it will be fun to see their history play out!

booking through thursday

The Setup, from the Booking through Thursday website:

Okay–here was an interesting article by Christopher Schoppa in the Washington Post.

Avid readers know all too well how easy it is to acquire books — it’s the letting go that’s the difficult part. … During the past 20 years, in which books have played a significant role in both my personal and professional lives, I’ve certainly had my fair share of them (and some might say several others’ shares) in my library. Many were read and saved for posterity, others eventually, but still reluctantly, sent back out into the world.

But there is also a category of titles that I’ve clung to for years, as they survived numerous purges, frequent library donations and countless changes of residence. I’ve yet to read them, but am absolutely certain I will. And should. When, I’m not sure, as I’m constantly distracted by the recent, just published and soon to be published works.

So, the question is his: “What tomes are waiting patiently on your shelves?“

The answer:

SO MANY. There are so many books I have kept around because I am just waiting for the day for the right mood to strike, the right amount of free time, and optimal interplanetary alignment to cause me to pick up "that book" and get it read.

I appear to have made the commitment to read more books this year, as evidenced by my have-read list (look over to the left), which is already tremendously longer this year than it's been in a long time. The majority of these are books that had sat on my shelves, through two moves, just waiting to be read. Some are books from the library that I'd been meaning to read for years (the Narnia books, Friday Night Knitting Club, Kitchen Privileges). Only three of these books are new acquisitions (Wild at Heart, Sushi for Beginners, and Balzac) through PaperBackSwap. Peace, Evensong, Monk and North Haven are required reading for the class I'm taking. All the rest are mine and had been mine for quite some time.

You should probably know that I cull my books at least once a month. I've also stopped requesting books on PBS unless I really need or really want them - no more 'hey that sounds good' requests. My ultimate goal is to have my collection whittled down to just the essentials - the most loved, most useful, and most sentimental books.  And I'm proud to say that the out-going stream is a little swifter than the in-coming one.  I'm also making good friends with the neighborhood library branch.  In the meantime, I've got shelves and stacks and piles to get through.

Right now most of my reading is for my Theology in Literature class. It's a great class and I love the reading list, but I do have a moderate amount of baseline frustration that I'm not making any "progress" (and in fact, I'm ADDING to the list of tomes I ultimately want to read). But with that said, a sampling of the titles up to bat once I finish the class include:

First Things First, by Stephen Covey

The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron

Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller

As usual, we'll see what book ends up screaming the loudest when I'm browsing for a new read.

booking through thursday

What was the last book you bought?

a coffee table book of 'space photos' - planets and stars and whatnot.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

to kill a mockingbird. i have read it probably 13-15 times.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

anne lamott's traveling mercies changed my life in a big way. it set in motion a big internal struggle over what really constitutes a 'good Christian' and whether there actually is such a thing. she was very much NOT the conservative evangelical Christian i'd spent my whole life accepting as 'right.' and yet i couldn't dismiss her, because her writing was so captivating. it validated her, to me. BIG big struggle, perhaps the biggest one i faced in college.

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

sometimes the cover matter, but mostly through recommendations.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

no preference, but i read more fiction right now because i'm in a literature class.

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

beautiful writing, as long as it's meaningful. there are different kinds of beautiful.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

scout finch, from TKAM

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

peace like a river, by leif enger; interpreter of maladies, by jhumpa lahiri; and metaphors we live by, by george lakoff and mark johnson.

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

i finished a couple of books in the last 2 weeks - balzac and the little chinese seamstress, by dai sijie; and evensong, by gail godwin. evensong was the first book i've read by godwin and it certainly won't be the last.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

i gave up on great expectations a few months ago.

booking through thursday

what, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven't liked?

The absolute best book that I've read in the past year, and ended up not liking, was Midwives by Chris Bohjalian.  The prose was mind-blowing.  The story was so well-told, and really interesting to boot.  I even came away from this book thinking that maybe, just maybe, I would consider a home birth if I ever had kids.  It was gentle, subtle, dramatic, and incredibly moving - and had some touches of To Kill a Mockingbird, my very favorite book of all time.  I will always remember Midwives.  

I loved it to the very end.  the very last paragraph of the very last page.  I wish I hadn't read it, because that last page spoiled the entire story for me.  I'm still bothered by it.  And I will probably never read that wonderful, delicious book again, because of that last page.

If you are a novel reader, I highly recommend Midwives to you.  And you can decide for yourself.

booking through thursday

no booking today.  too busy, and tired, and uninspired.  fun!!

booking through thursday...

on some other day.

Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school - does the changing season change your reading habits?  Less time?  More?  Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

My reading habits don't change according to the weather, per se.  They're more affected by changing circumstances, which may or may not have anything to do with reading at all.

I try to read every day.  Some days I spend an hour or two (or more!) in a book, other days it's a struggle to read more than 3 or 4 pages.  I think autumn makes me THINK about reading a lot more than spring or summer do, because I start envisioning cosy evenings by the fire, buried under blankets with a hot mug of tea.

We won't point out that I don't actually HAVE a fire place, because I might cry at that.

I think my tastes in reading are somewhat determined by circumstances, also.  That is to say - when I am on vacation, I like to read really light novels.  But when I'm heavily entrenched in work-mode, or when I am feeling motivated to build up and maintain some semblance of intellect (that is to say, MOST of the time), I'd rather pick up a book about language, or a biography, or a fantastically written novel.

And then, when I've read too many of these, I find something light to read.  Cus you know, steak is great and all, but you can't have steak every night.