BBAW Reading Meme

Today’s BBAW topic is a reading meme about how one reads books. Here’s the quick details:

We encourage you to be creative with this! Please choose one or two questions to answer or try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Or choose a picture to answer a question! Brevity is the goal of today!

1. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
2. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
3. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
4. Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
5. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
6. Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
7. How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

I totally encourage everyone to do this and then to link up your response over at the BBAW topic post. It should be fun to see what everyone says. Remember, you don’t have to answer all of the questions, but can pick and choose which ones you want. I only answered a few; the ones I didn’t answered are listed above, however, if you ever run into me on the street, this should give you an idea of how much I love to talk about books. :)

Hard copy or audiobooks?
I think there is a format missing – digital. I have to say, I’ve been a print/hard copy kind of gal for a long time now; but since I’ve received my Kindle, I’m really liking digital books. For me, you’ll never be able to completely replace a print book – the smell, the feel of the pages – but with a toddler in the house, the Kindle has made reading so much easier.

Audiobook have just never done it for me. I like having noise in the house, but I tend to block it out or just listen to the beat of the music or the cadence of the voice. It’s not there to fully concentrate on, but more to keep me company. With audiobooks, you kind of have to pay attention. Now if I was going to be in the car for long periods of time, than that would be one thing, but for every day use, it’s hard or digital copies for me.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Not necessarily. I’m generally pretty good about figuring out what the word is suppose to mean by the context around it. If I can’t, then I’ll go look it up, but only if it’s essential to the story. I’ve come across a few words that were used just as a way to describe the look of a flower, but the flower wasn’t important. I’ve skimmed over those. However, when that word describes the character or a situation they are in, then I try and figure out what it means. That word can impact the feel of a scene, so I like to know what I’m reading. The words I have the most problems with are the ones the author makes up for their world. Most authors are really good about explaining their new vocabulary, but I’ve come across a few who haven’t been. Then it can get confusing and my interest in the book starts to wane.

What are you currently reading?
I am currently reading about three different books – A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans, a romance anthology Four Dukes and a Devil and The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox. The first book is one I’m reviewing for next week since the author will be stopping by Literary Escapism. The second one was started awhile ago and I’ve read three of the five stories it contains. There was a time I wanted a quick read and anthologies are good for that. However, I really need to finish it. The last book is what I’m currently reading on my Kindle. I read it last year when it came out, but I was sick at the time and its harder to please me when I’m sick. I want to give it another shot.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
I dislike reading more than one book at a time. I can do it, but I generally won’t do it. If I’m reading something, I like to be able to think about that book only. I don’t want my mind to wander to something I read out of another book and wonder what’s going to happen next. If I have more than one book open at a time, it means that there was something about that first book that wasn’t catching my attention or I just wasn’t in the mood for it at that time. If I do pick up a book in the middle of another one, once I finish the second read, I’ll go back to the first one and finish it before picking up another one. Unless it really didn’t catch my attention, then it gets shoved back onto the TBR stack.

What is the last book you bought?
I just purchased two books together over the weekend – Mercy Thompson: Homecoming and Anita Blake: The Laughing Corpse – both of which are the graphic novel editions from their respective series.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
I totally prefer series books. I’ll read stand alones, but I like revisiting different worlds. I’m actually sad when series end because then the only way I can go back to that world is to reread a novel. Rereading novels is fine, but there are so many great books coming out right now, it really doesn’t make sense to me to read a story I already know when I can discover something new. I know that sounds a little contradictory, but I like seeing known characters get put through hell and watch them emerge better for it.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Definitely. I’m always recommending Ilona Andrews, Keri Arthur, Patricia Briggs and Nalini Singh. Their worlds are so unique and wonderful to visit that I love sharing them with other people. Andrews world of magic and technology fighting for dominance is fun to watch, especially when it complicates situations her characters are in. Arthur’s concept of werewolves and her futuristic society is spectacular and so much fun to read. The idea that werewolves don’t get all violent at the full month, but are extremely horny instead is different and I love how she makes it work part of their makeup instead of it being a flaw. Briggs gives her characters such life that it’s hard not to become emotionally attached to them. I love Singh’s Psy-Changeling world and how she brings the paranormal into our world instead of forcing our world on the paranormals. The two blend together so well that it doesn’t seem that odd and half the time I expect to run into a Psy or Changeling on the street. Plus what she has done with angels is gorgeous. So yes, there are authors I recommend over and over again and these are just a few of the ones I do. There are a ton more authors out there that I love, but there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to talk about them all.