Thursday 9 October 2008

Booking Through Thursday

This week's BTT is a meme. Feel free to join in.

What was the last book you bought?

There were four in my last Amazon/Book Depositary order so I suppose they all count. The two that arrived today are Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle and both of those are for the R.I.P. challenge I am taking part in. Dispatched this morning was Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book which is fabulous news as it's not supposed to be released until the end of the month. Inexplicably not posted yet is Terry Pratchett's Nation which I bought because I've read some interesting reviews.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

Just one? I often read books more than once although this tends to happen more with Classics, also known as comfort reads, and that would include Trollope, Austen, etc.

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

Quite possibly not a fundamental change but I do like to have "themes" such as WW1 or a specific country as I think that you can learn a lot by reading.

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

Depends! These days it tends to be reviews or recommendations but if I want through a bookshop for "research purposes" then a good cover is what will make me stop and look at a book. I don't think that I would ever buy a book based on the summary alone as, although it's important, I prefer to flick through and read a few random sentences to get a feel for if I'm likely to enjoy it. Years ago I used to buy books by cover theme so I would walk into Waterstones and challenge myself to find five interesting books in brown or with flowers on the cover. Some great books were found using that method so I would recommend it to anyone with nothing particular in mind!

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Fiction

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

They are both very important! I am sure I've written about this

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Most loved? Ummm. Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing and Elizabeth Bennet. I am also fairly fond of Koala Lou even through the book makes me cry every time I read it...

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

The ones mentioned in the first question, the ones mentioned here and about 20 other "want to reads" that are patiently waiting their turn. It's all a bit out of control...

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

Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones. I am two book reviews behind and blame my new job! This 9-5 lark does not fit in well with blogging regularly!

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

Yes. Life is far too short.

3 comments:

SmilingSally said...

A good cover can stop me in my tracks too.

StuckInABook said...

Love your answers, Peta!
Especially love the idea of selecting five books based on brown or flowers... almost none of the books I buy are a surprise or spontaneous choice - it would be fun to pick almost arbitrarily, and allow myself a space to read them. That's the sort of thing I used to do before my tbr pile grew taller than I am!

Peta said...

Simon, I know what you mean. Spontaneity in book buying goes out the window when you have a teetering pile of tbr's glaring accusingly at you!