This List Uses British Spellings, and I Like That.

I stole this list from Fig and Thistle. I like filling out questionnaires, and I was in the mood to do another post.

Do you snack while you read? If so, favourite reading snack:
No. I’ve tried, but I either forget I was supposed to be snacking or drop the book.

What is your favourite drink while reading?
I don’t really have one. It depends on what time of day I’m reading. Sometimes I venture into the land of caffeinated beverages if I want to stay up especially late to finish reading something.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I hate writing in books. All through college I was told to write in my books, but I couldn’t do it. During my last semester, while taking British Literature II, I convinced myself there was nothing sacred about a cheap English Romantic poetry anthology and finally underlined a few things and made a few margin notes, but it didn’t become a habit. When I die my books will probably still be in pristine shape, and if I end up famous there’ll be nothing especially interesting for collectors to search for.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I use bookmarks. I have a nice Virginia Woolf bookmark I’ve been using for about five years.

Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
I think I tend to read more fiction, but I love non-fiction. It really depends on my overall mood. I get seized by urges to read everything I can find on a particular subject or by a particular author sometimes.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I like reading to the end of a chapter, but I prefer to read to an even break. For instance, if the chapter begins on page 37 I’ll probably read to page 40 before I stop.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
I threw Heavier Than Heaven across the room the first time I tried to read it, but rather than throw the book I usually just start arguing with it out loud.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
I prefer using context clues to try and figure out what the word means. Sometimes I’ll go and look it up if it’s especially strange or interesting. I have a giant thesaurus, and it’s fun to have an excuse to get it out. You know, besides my forays into literary pretension.

What are you currently reading?
The Wise Virgins by Leonard Woolf. I should have finished it yesterday, but instead I put in a quality hour of staring at the wall.

What is the last book you bought?
A brand new copy of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers for $0.25 at a thrift store.

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
I can read more than one at a time, but I don’t usually. I read more than one at a time when I was reading books for class, but I tended to focus more on one book until I finished it and then finish the others.

Do you have a favourite time/place to read?
I like reading at night best. I like reading outdoors during the winter.

Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
Stand-alones. I haven’t read very many series that held up overall. Lemony Snickett’s A Series of Unfortunate Events was wonderful right up until the end. The Harry Potter series started disappointing me during book five, and it got worse during books six and seven. I don’t want to talk about what a let-down Deathly Hallows was.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
This one took a lot of thought because as much as I tell people to read Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath, I was sure I tell them to read other authors as well. I recommend the Brontës a lot, especially when it’s someone who reads bad romance novels or I just want to give a good, general recommendation.

How do you organize your books? (by genre, title, author's last name, etc.)
I organize them by size. That seems to be the best way to fit the selection of books I have with me into the limited bookshelf space I currently have. Once upon a time I had a books organized by author and type (genre/era for fiction, subject for non-fiction), but the majority of my books have been boxed up and stored in various places for about seven years now. I have my old books arranged together, my Woolf and Plath books all together.