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la_samtyrGanked from my sibs:
1. How many books do you own and how did you come to be a book collector (assuming that you are)? Feel free to start in early childhood and take as long as you need to get from then to now.
I've always had books since I was tiny. I don't remember ever *not* having books around. I'd get books for birthdays, Christmas -- sometimes I would get books for running errands for older family members and various neighbors.
As far as an actual number, it's probably several thousand. Really.
2. What kind of bibliomaniac are you - a specialist collector (you collect books on one topic or by one author or in one genre or...), an accumulator (self-explanatory although it's often a kind of serial monogamy in which one moves from 'one collecting interest to another' as Bonnet puts it), or a compulsive reader who ended up with a lot of books from a desire to read rather than just a desire to own, or a bit of all three? Or something else?
I tend to read anything and everything. I have a lot of sci-fi/fantasy but also a lot of non-fiction as well. My parents never really cared what I read, as long as it wasn't 'garbage', i.e. romances. Also, I learned early on that no teacher would ever make me *stop* reading that Shakespeare play I had hidden behind my schoolbook. [g] I also learned that it was simpler to buy books that I was interested in rather than bother with renewals (in school, usually only one renewal was allowed) and dealing with fines because I would often 'forget' a book at home until I was finished with it. [vbeg] I always returned them though.
3. What does your book collection say about you? What would a stranger think about you from glancing at your shelves?
I like to think they would be awed by my eclectic collection but I think they are convinced I have too many (i.e., a hoarder), lol.
Mostly they ask: "how many have you read?". I also get asked if I really *need* to get more books, to which I reply: "It's not like they are multiple copies of the *same* book, you know!" (Though I occassionally buy an extra copy of something if it's a special favorite, just so I have a back-up.)
4. How do you organise your books (or do you)?
Since I was 'trained' as a librarian, I tend to group them by category. Of course, my special "to read" shelves have a little bit of everything packed on them.
5. Do you read them?
Of course I do! I wouldn't buy them if I didn't plan to read them. Of course, I might not get to them right away, but I do read them eventually. :)
6. What's your favourite place for reading (or places, if you have more than one)?
Outside when I am letting the dogs run, at the laundromat when I am waiting on clothes, in the kitchen while eating breakfast and/or waiting on food to cook, at my computer desk when I need to rest my eyes from the screen, any office where I have to wait, on the couch/recliner when I want to get my legs up for a bit... basically, anywhere anytime -- it's all good.
Interestingly enough, I seldom read in bed because I am usually too tired to keep my eyes open once I lie down. And if I happen to be sick, then it tends to give me a headache.
7. Bonnet has a chapter titled 'Where do they all come from?' so I ask you the same. How did your books get into your library?
They just follow me home, honest! And once they are here, then I can hardly turn them back out into the cold, cruel world again now can I? :D
8. Your favourite bookshops (then and now)?
"Prairie Books and Gifts" (new) and "The Well-Read Book" (used), both in Hastings. There used to be a used store in Kearney that I liked but I'm not sure if it is still there or not, and the used book store in GI is impossible to find now -- I think it went out of business but they can't be bothered to take the sign down. Aurora has a nice new & used bookstore on the east side of the courthouse square.
Also, I often look at the local thrift stores and the yearly library sale.
Last but hardly least, there is Amazon. Mostly I search Amazon for OOP books -- ones that I have been trying to find for decades but can't find. Sometimes they are too expensive to consider; other times, I can find them easily for next-to-nothing but the shipping is too high.
9. Do you keep lists of books to read, books you've read, books you want to own, books you'd take to a desert island etc?
I try to keep lists (especially ones I want to 'find') but since I usually lose them (paper lists), they are mainly online now: goodreads, Shelfari and Amazon.
10. Which 10 books would you take to a desert island?
Five of them are already listed at #14, so there are only five here.
1. Complete Works of William Shakespeare
2. Complete Works of JRR Tolkien (Hobbit, LoTR, Silm, HoME, et. al.)
3. Complete Works of Emily Dickinson
4. My Antonia by Willa Cather
5. Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt
11. Are you a completist? Do you need to own all of a series, all of an author etc?
It depends on the author/series. I usually need to have the first two or three books of a series before I start because if I really get into it, I want to keep going. If it's bad, then I just donate them to a thrift store or trade them.
Though I firmly believe that having the complete works of Shakespeare, as well as Tolkien -- and all books related to them -- qualify as life necessities.
12. Do you have a favourite art book and why is it a favourite?
Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915 by Sharon Sadako Takeda
It's not a very traditional art book but I just adore photographs of "fashion" museum displays like these. (It also helps me think of -- and describe -- how some of my characters might have dressed.)
13. Name a favourite TV show and/or film involving a bookshop, library or book collection.
"10 Things I Hate About You" (1999 film) has a lovely bookstore scene. (It starts in a music store though.)
http:// youtu.be/ eTF-bLxumkM
14. Choose 5 books from your shelves and describe the circumstances of their purchase, when you read them, and why you chose them for this question.
1. The Flight of The Horse by Larry Niven. I've had this since I was a kid, and I simply adore it. It would make a great steampunk movie, if it were handled right.
2. Mermaid's Song by Alida Van Gores. Again, I've had this forever and of course I adore it. World-building at it's finest, second only to Tolkien -- in my very humble opinion, you understand.
3. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. I bought this for a university lit course ages ago. Reading it was a real eye-opener for me; you might even say that this is one of the books that changed my world view forever.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. My cousin Paul gave me a copy of this about a year after it came out and said I had to read it. He was right.
5. Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy. I'm not sure how or when I acquired this but it's great. I first read it after being totally unable to get into a book that by all appearances, I *should* have enjoyed -- and I tried several times. Nothing -- just nothing. I was merely looking at words on a page. So I finally gave up and donated it. *Then* I was in a panic because I was afraid I was unable to *read*, so to speak. I grabbed the first book off of my 'to-read' shelf, which was "Tea", opened it -- and I walked straight into the book and was drawn into that world. "Come in, we've been waiting for you." Only other readers can understand the feeling of relief that I felt at that moment.
15. A favourite book about books and/or libraries.
"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges. It's actually a short story but it's one of my favorites.
16. Do you have a favourite dictionary? Any kind of dictionary.
I have several dictionaries at hand but one I use *a lot* is the Urban Dictionary, which is online, so I can understand some (make that most!) of the slang/modern words. Quite a few things have very different meanings than I thought!
1. How many books do you own and how did you come to be a book collector (assuming that you are)? Feel free to start in early childhood and take as long as you need to get from then to now.
I've always had books since I was tiny. I don't remember ever *not* having books around. I'd get books for birthdays, Christmas -- sometimes I would get books for running errands for older family members and various neighbors.
As far as an actual number, it's probably several thousand. Really.
2. What kind of bibliomaniac are you - a specialist collector (you collect books on one topic or by one author or in one genre or...), an accumulator (self-explanatory although it's often a kind of serial monogamy in which one moves from 'one collecting interest to another' as Bonnet puts it), or a compulsive reader who ended up with a lot of books from a desire to read rather than just a desire to own, or a bit of all three? Or something else?
I tend to read anything and everything. I have a lot of sci-fi/fantasy but also a lot of non-fiction as well. My parents never really cared what I read, as long as it wasn't 'garbage', i.e. romances. Also, I learned early on that no teacher would ever make me *stop* reading that Shakespeare play I had hidden behind my schoolbook. [g] I also learned that it was simpler to buy books that I was interested in rather than bother with renewals (in school, usually only one renewal was allowed) and dealing with fines because I would often 'forget' a book at home until I was finished with it. [vbeg] I always returned them though.
3. What does your book collection say about you? What would a stranger think about you from glancing at your shelves?
I like to think they would be awed by my eclectic collection but I think they are convinced I have too many (i.e., a hoarder), lol.
Mostly they ask: "how many have you read?". I also get asked if I really *need* to get more books, to which I reply: "It's not like they are multiple copies of the *same* book, you know!" (Though I occassionally buy an extra copy of something if it's a special favorite, just so I have a back-up.)
4. How do you organise your books (or do you)?
Since I was 'trained' as a librarian, I tend to group them by category. Of course, my special "to read" shelves have a little bit of everything packed on them.
5. Do you read them?
Of course I do! I wouldn't buy them if I didn't plan to read them. Of course, I might not get to them right away, but I do read them eventually. :)
6. What's your favourite place for reading (or places, if you have more than one)?
Outside when I am letting the dogs run, at the laundromat when I am waiting on clothes, in the kitchen while eating breakfast and/or waiting on food to cook, at my computer desk when I need to rest my eyes from the screen, any office where I have to wait, on the couch/recliner when I want to get my legs up for a bit... basically, anywhere anytime -- it's all good.
Interestingly enough, I seldom read in bed because I am usually too tired to keep my eyes open once I lie down. And if I happen to be sick, then it tends to give me a headache.
7. Bonnet has a chapter titled 'Where do they all come from?' so I ask you the same. How did your books get into your library?
They just follow me home, honest! And once they are here, then I can hardly turn them back out into the cold, cruel world again now can I? :D
8. Your favourite bookshops (then and now)?
"Prairie Books and Gifts" (new) and "The Well-Read Book" (used), both in Hastings. There used to be a used store in Kearney that I liked but I'm not sure if it is still there or not, and the used book store in GI is impossible to find now -- I think it went out of business but they can't be bothered to take the sign down. Aurora has a nice new & used bookstore on the east side of the courthouse square.
Also, I often look at the local thrift stores and the yearly library sale.
Last but hardly least, there is Amazon. Mostly I search Amazon for OOP books -- ones that I have been trying to find for decades but can't find. Sometimes they are too expensive to consider; other times, I can find them easily for next-to-nothing but the shipping is too high.
9. Do you keep lists of books to read, books you've read, books you want to own, books you'd take to a desert island etc?
I try to keep lists (especially ones I want to 'find') but since I usually lose them (paper lists), they are mainly online now: goodreads, Shelfari and Amazon.
10. Which 10 books would you take to a desert island?
Five of them are already listed at #14, so there are only five here.
1. Complete Works of William Shakespeare
2. Complete Works of JRR Tolkien (Hobbit, LoTR, Silm, HoME, et. al.)
3. Complete Works of Emily Dickinson
4. My Antonia by Willa Cather
5. Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt
11. Are you a completist? Do you need to own all of a series, all of an author etc?
It depends on the author/series. I usually need to have the first two or three books of a series before I start because if I really get into it, I want to keep going. If it's bad, then I just donate them to a thrift store or trade them.
Though I firmly believe that having the complete works of Shakespeare, as well as Tolkien -- and all books related to them -- qualify as life necessities.
12. Do you have a favourite art book and why is it a favourite?
Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915 by Sharon Sadako Takeda
It's not a very traditional art book but I just adore photographs of "fashion" museum displays like these. (It also helps me think of -- and describe -- how some of my characters might have dressed.)
13. Name a favourite TV show and/or film involving a bookshop, library or book collection.
"10 Things I Hate About You" (1999 film) has a lovely bookstore scene. (It starts in a music store though.)
http:// youtu.be/ eTF-bLxumkM
14. Choose 5 books from your shelves and describe the circumstances of their purchase, when you read them, and why you chose them for this question.
1. The Flight of The Horse by Larry Niven. I've had this since I was a kid, and I simply adore it. It would make a great steampunk movie, if it were handled right.
2. Mermaid's Song by Alida Van Gores. Again, I've had this forever and of course I adore it. World-building at it's finest, second only to Tolkien -- in my very humble opinion, you understand.
3. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. I bought this for a university lit course ages ago. Reading it was a real eye-opener for me; you might even say that this is one of the books that changed my world view forever.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. My cousin Paul gave me a copy of this about a year after it came out and said I had to read it. He was right.
5. Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy. I'm not sure how or when I acquired this but it's great. I first read it after being totally unable to get into a book that by all appearances, I *should* have enjoyed -- and I tried several times. Nothing -- just nothing. I was merely looking at words on a page. So I finally gave up and donated it. *Then* I was in a panic because I was afraid I was unable to *read*, so to speak. I grabbed the first book off of my 'to-read' shelf, which was "Tea", opened it -- and I walked straight into the book and was drawn into that world. "Come in, we've been waiting for you." Only other readers can understand the feeling of relief that I felt at that moment.
15. A favourite book about books and/or libraries.
"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges. It's actually a short story but it's one of my favorites.
16. Do you have a favourite dictionary? Any kind of dictionary.
I have several dictionaries at hand but one I use *a lot* is the Urban Dictionary, which is online, so I can understand some (make that most!) of the slang/modern words. Quite a few things have very different meanings than I thought!
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Date: 2014-06-05 12:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-05 03:36 pm (UTC)