I love LOVE LOVE books. I can’t wait to sink into the Chair of Death and luxuriate with a pile of books, three cats, and a down comforter with a side of a tall glass of water. I will spend an inordinate amount of time in various bookstores. Time just flies because I have to look at everything. Reading is my drug of choice. During a weekend with nothing to do, I can typically go through 4-6 books, depending on subject-matter.
Tell you a little secret… I sniff books. Of course it depends on the book. Some paper and ink doesn’t smell so good to me or the book is infested with nicotine or mold (YUCK). Some bookscents can take me right back down memory lane. I recently bought a used edition of a book I read as a pre-teen, and when I sniff the pages, boom, I am right back in the house I used to live in back then, friends’ faces come swarming up, I practically re-live the games and things we used to play, and strangely enough even the weather comes back.
I like small typeface. I know it is hard on my eyes, but I think my preference harks back to my younger days when the print was smaller then (in the 70’s and early 80’s). To pad out a book, today’s print is mega-sized and indicates to me that it is a book I don’t want to read. Nor do I like the hardback books with huge margins around their print. Aesthetics, my ass, it’s to make the book thicker so you have to pay more. I also get turned off with books that have the beginning of their next book (that isn’t even off the presses yet) in the back of the book.
When looking at a book, I will open up in the middle and read a paragraph or two. If the writing doesn’t hook me right away, I will either skip to another section to check to make sure it isn’t going to appeal to me or just close it and move on. Typically, I know right away if it’s something I am going to buy or not.
I’m a re-reader too. I have some books in my library that I read once a year, like A Christmas Carol (at the appropriate season of course), a Stephen King book (one of his older ones, not much into his newer stuff), or a book from my teen years – like the Anne of Green Gables series. I have an entire small bookcase in my bedroom that is full of books I haven’t gotten to yet and 7 large bookcases of books I’ve already read in my living room. As a kid, I always loved how everyone in the “old-time” stories had a library in their house (granted there was a tendency for bodies to be discovered in them) and now that I am a so-called grown-up, I am attempting to create my own library (and doing a damn fine job I must say).
I have divided all my books into categories:
--Speculative non-fiction
--Horror/Terror/Scarey stories (mostly older, newer stuff is not as good)
--Fictional ghost stories (again the older stuff – Victorian/Edwardian)
--“Real” ghost stories
--Vampires
--Lovecraftiana
--Gothic themes (not the cheap bodice rippers of today, but the oldies)
--Stories with a hint of otherworldliness/fantasy
--Queen Elizabeth I
--Movie star bios from 20’s/30’s/40’s/50's
--Marilyn Monroe
--Empress Josephine and related themes
--Marie Antoinette and related themes
--Mary Queen of Scots and related themes
--Catherine de’ Medici, Catherine the Great, and assorted misc queens
--Cleopatra and other Egyptian themes
--Oriental-themed stories/books
--“Outside of morality” books
--Alfred Hitchcock anthologies
--True crime
--Fictional Crime/Detective/Murder anthologies/collections
--Sherlockiania/Solar Pons
--Ellery Queen anthologies
--Agatha Christie short story collections
--Humorous, mostly Southern, themes (coz they’re all kinds of crazy)
--Science Fiction (takes up a bookcase all its own)
--Miscellaneous – not enough to have section of own or uncategorizable
--Books from my early childhood/pre-teen/teenager times, and a ton of children’s books
My living room smells like books. Warm fur and books – nothing better, unless we sneak the smell of freshly baked brownies into the mix.
Tell you a little secret… I sniff books. Of course it depends on the book. Some paper and ink doesn’t smell so good to me or the book is infested with nicotine or mold (YUCK). Some bookscents can take me right back down memory lane. I recently bought a used edition of a book I read as a pre-teen, and when I sniff the pages, boom, I am right back in the house I used to live in back then, friends’ faces come swarming up, I practically re-live the games and things we used to play, and strangely enough even the weather comes back.
I like small typeface. I know it is hard on my eyes, but I think my preference harks back to my younger days when the print was smaller then (in the 70’s and early 80’s). To pad out a book, today’s print is mega-sized and indicates to me that it is a book I don’t want to read. Nor do I like the hardback books with huge margins around their print. Aesthetics, my ass, it’s to make the book thicker so you have to pay more. I also get turned off with books that have the beginning of their next book (that isn’t even off the presses yet) in the back of the book.
When looking at a book, I will open up in the middle and read a paragraph or two. If the writing doesn’t hook me right away, I will either skip to another section to check to make sure it isn’t going to appeal to me or just close it and move on. Typically, I know right away if it’s something I am going to buy or not.
I’m a re-reader too. I have some books in my library that I read once a year, like A Christmas Carol (at the appropriate season of course), a Stephen King book (one of his older ones, not much into his newer stuff), or a book from my teen years – like the Anne of Green Gables series. I have an entire small bookcase in my bedroom that is full of books I haven’t gotten to yet and 7 large bookcases of books I’ve already read in my living room. As a kid, I always loved how everyone in the “old-time” stories had a library in their house (granted there was a tendency for bodies to be discovered in them) and now that I am a so-called grown-up, I am attempting to create my own library (and doing a damn fine job I must say).
I have divided all my books into categories:
--Speculative non-fiction
--Horror/Terror/Scarey stories (mostly older, newer stuff is not as good)
--Fictional ghost stories (again the older stuff – Victorian/Edwardian)
--“Real” ghost stories
--Vampires
--Lovecraftiana
--Gothic themes (not the cheap bodice rippers of today, but the oldies)
--Stories with a hint of otherworldliness/fantasy
--Queen Elizabeth I
--Movie star bios from 20’s/30’s/40’s/50's
--Marilyn Monroe
--Empress Josephine and related themes
--Marie Antoinette and related themes
--Mary Queen of Scots and related themes
--Catherine de’ Medici, Catherine the Great, and assorted misc queens
--Cleopatra and other Egyptian themes
--Oriental-themed stories/books
--“Outside of morality” books
--Alfred Hitchcock anthologies
--True crime
--Fictional Crime/Detective/Murder anthologies/collections
--Sherlockiania/Solar Pons
--Ellery Queen anthologies
--Agatha Christie short story collections
--Humorous, mostly Southern, themes (coz they’re all kinds of crazy)
--Science Fiction (takes up a bookcase all its own)
--Miscellaneous – not enough to have section of own or uncategorizable
--Books from my early childhood/pre-teen/teenager times, and a ton of children’s books
My living room smells like books. Warm fur and books – nothing better, unless we sneak the smell of freshly baked brownies into the mix.
2 comments:
Hey you book snifing is interesting I have to try that too... nice post hehe!!
I know what you mean about the smell of books... they can really take one back. I must compliment you on your selection of reading materials - it seems that we share some common interests (besides the love of books in general)! I'm a big fan of Sherlock and Lovecraft... have you seen Shadow of Baker Street? It is a book that combines both genres! I also have quite a collection of Sherlock parodies -something special to me about those. And I am always a sucker for "Stories with a hint of otherworldliness/fantasy". As well as SciFi. If you were closer we could swap books, though we can still swap tales of books. Anything really interesting lately?
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