Category: Book Blogger Hop Page 3 of 6

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you watch film adaptations of books before reading them?

Almost always I read the book first. I want my imagination to be the dominant vision in my head. For example, I don’t want to put up with Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb in my head when I read a Herron novel, as fantastic as he was (or as Dracula, or as Sirius Black). Having my mental image and the character’s voice firmly established, I can watch Slow Horses and enjoy Oldman’s take on the character.

This has backfired on me a few times, mostly when the adaptations are so divorced from the source material that it hurts the experience. take The Water Horse. I read that to/with my kids before the movie came out because we all wanted that experience. And boy howdy, could that movie have been more different from the book? I think it was perfectly nice and we’d have probably enjoyed it more had we not known the book.

Sometimes, I don’t care enough about the book based on what I’ve heard/adaptation trailer I’ve seen to care, and will watch the show/movie first. Occasionally, actually seeing the adaptation will make me reconsider and grab the book (I can’t come up with an example at the moment to use here, which is a shame).

Rarely, I think an adaptation looks so good that I don’t want to know what the novel is like. For example, Game of Thrones. You knew that the writers/producers were going to have to make changes from the novels for that, and I didn’t want to be one of those guys sitting there watching saying things like, “Well, actually Khal Drogo should have bells in his hair and…” After having seen season one, I could read the books and keep the two worlds separate in my mind. Sure, that seems to be the opposite of what I said in that first paragraph. It’s rare that an adaptation looks that good to me.

There’s always the stuff that I end up watching for one reason or another and don’t know it’s an adaptation until I’m watching/have watched. That usually inspires me to read it afterward, just to see.

So basically, the book first, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. I didn’t realize I had so many exceptions to the rule, though. Guess you learn something every day.

What about you, readers?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Are any of your bookshelves bowing because of too many books?

Um…are any of my bookshelves bowing because of too many books?

My shelves? Bowing because of too many books? Er, well…

Do bears bear?

Do bees be?

Do flies fly?

Do ducks duck?

Do math majors multiply?

Do eggs get laid?

Does Spock beam up?

Er, yeah. All of them are—except for those I bought in the last 4 months, anyway (and maybe a couple of those have started).

Today's post is brought to you by a grant from David Addison and The Blue Moon Detective Agency.

Are your shelves nice and flat?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you suggest new authors to your readers?

I sure hope I do! I don’t know that I’ve read (and therefore blogged/suggested) a lot of debut authors in 2022, but there have been a decent number of new-to-me authors that I’ve recommended.

But every author is a new author to someone—there are people out there who’ve never read James Patterson, Beverly Cleary, or Harper Lee in the same way that some people haven’t read a debut author or one with just a couple of titles under their belt. So in a way, I try to suggest a new author in every post here.

And that’s one of the joys of this little hobby, when someone tells me that they started reading Author X because of my encouragement.

So yeah, new authors, new-to-me-authors, older authors, newbies, experienced pros, mid-list authors, perennial best-sellers, relative unknowns, people who should be well-known, people who maybe shouldn’t be…I try to cover them all.

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

Are you lost if you don’t have a book to read?

Lost doesn’t begin to describe it, really. Up until a few years ago, it’d happen occasionally. I’d read things faster than I could get to the library, I wouldn’t have money for a trip to the bookstore, I couldn’t find anything at a bookstore/library that struck my mood, and so on (okay, that last one didn’t happen too often…but it happened a couple of times, I swear). I’d usually resort to re-reading something, but that didn’t always work.

When that happened, I would be moody and irritable. Which isn’t exactly lost, I know. But being lost does that to me, I guess.

Mercifully, I haven’t been in that state for a couple of years. I’m at the point now where I should read 4 more books by the end of the week to get back on schedule (and could say the same almost every Wednesday). Sure, I have the occasional moment of indecision about what to read next, but it doesn’t last long.

Like I talked about back when the prompt was about using the Kindle app on your phone, nowadays I have a book with me everywhere I go. They’re a handy way to deal with the stress, boredom, ennui, annoyance, etc. that comes from being stuck someplace (including social situations you’re not that interested in).

I have a nagging sensation that I left off something I meant to say here, but this is close enough. I’m gonna go read.

Do You Need to Have a Book at All Times?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever skipped ahead to read the ending?

To quote one of my favorite Flight Of The Conchords songs:

Why? Why? Why?
What?
Why exactly?
What? Why?

Okay, in some non-fiction works, I can see reading the conclusion after the introduction so you get an idea of where the argument is going—I had a professor tell us that was the way to read a book (I think he was drawing on Mortimer Adler’s lousy book). I will do that occasionally (well, I’ll skim the last chapter) to help me focus on the bigger things the book focuses on.

But that’s not what the question is talking about, is it? Nah, this is about novels—glancing to the end to see if the butler really did to it, and so on. I know it’s done, but I don’t get it. Sure we all want to find out what happens at the end of the book–but what’s the point if you know that Wade Watts wins James Halliday’s contest if you don’t know how he won it?* It’s great to know that Mark Watney gets rescued, but the point is to know how he survives. We know that whatever guy that Stephanie Plum is hunting down will be captured/killed/cleared—the pleasure isn’t getting there, it’s the mishaps along the way. I feel like I should be going, but I think the point is made—and I’m having a hard time finding well-known examples to give without spoilers.

* Also, we’re told really early on that he wins, so maybe that’s not the best example. Or maybe it is.

Yes, the endings are important. If only to motivate you through some dull/problematic parts so you can find out the ending. But if all you want is the ending to the book—check out wikipedia or some other website. Even if you know and enjoy learning the ending, you can’t fully appreciate all of it unless you’ve got the context of the rest of the book. Novels aren’t just beginnings and endings—they’re about the work as a whole. It’s the stuff between the first and last chapters that makes them worth the time and effort—why cheat yourself?

It just seems rather pointless to me.

Unless, of course, you’re Harry Burns, who has one of the weirder boasts in cinematic history:

When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.

I dunno, maybe I can be convinced—not convinced to try, but convinced that people who do this aren’t missing something.

Am I out to lunch here? Let me hear what you think!

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Have you ever reread a book? If so, why did you decide to reread it?

Have I ever? There’ve been times in my life when re-reading was the majority of my reading. Thankfully, a better library, a larger budget, and the occasional book in exchange for a review have prevented that from being the case lately.

Sometimes, I re-read because I have nothing else on hand to read (it’s been ages since this has been an issue). Sometimes it’s because I need to refresh my memory before a new installment of a series comes out and I want to get the last book or two in my mind as a refresher. Sometimes it’s because I didn’t understand something the first time—or I need to review the material in general (I’m thinking primarily of non-fiction books here). But the primary reason I re-read is that I liked the book and want to experience it again.

A lot of it is the comfort of returning to a world and characters that I liked—when I get sick, for example, a quick visit to the Brownstone on West 35th Street* does as much good as chicken noodle soup. Or it’s the writing—the wordplay of Ellen Raskin or Gregory Mcdonald always makes me smile. Or just to relive the story—I could give too many examples here.

* That’d be Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin books.

Sadly, I really don’t have that much time anymore to re-read and I miss it. I feel a little guilty that I’m not reading something I can blog about when I do that (sure, sometimes I do talk about re-reads, but it’s not often)—and even without the guilt, I just don’t have the time. Largely, that’s what I use audiobooks for now.

Are you a one-and-done type of reader, or do you keep circling back?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Is it hard to find new books in local stores?

There are a few ways to go with this question. But I should note that as of 9/1, I owned over 100 books that I haven’t read. Overall, not finding books in bookstores is not a besetting problem for me.

If I go into a bookstore, I’m almost guaranteed to spend money. So I’m pretty careful about venturing into one (there have been times I haven’t been that careful—and there will be times like that in the future, I’m sure). If I go into browse, I will almost definitely find something that piques my interest enough to reach for my wallet. If that’s what the question is asking, then my answer is a definitive “no.”

On the other hand, if I go in looking for specific titles/authors, I may find it difficult. Whoever does the buying for local stores has different tastes in Mystery/Crime/Thriller material than I do—yes, I may make some pleasant discoveries (see the previous paragraph), but I usually can’t get what I’m looking for. Same for Urban Fantasy (ironically, almost every UF series/author I read, I discovered in one of those stores—something’s changed). But SF/F? I’m almost guaranteed to find what I want. The same goes for YA or “non-genre” books. So the answer to the question phrased that way is a vague, “It depends” with an expressive shrug.

Unless I cheat and special order something, so I go in having already paid for a book.

How do you fare in your local bookstores?

This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:

Do you run your reviews through editing software before posting?

Not enough, that’s for sure.

I compose (most) posts in Evernote and use its spellcheck as I write. Then when I paste into WordPress I use the Grammarly plug-in to clean things up a bit. Sometimes, if it’s a post that I want to be top-notch I’ll go to Grammarly’s site and run it through that check, too (lately, I can’t tell that it makes a difference, but the plug-in didn’t use to be as good). Sadly, I’ll still find errors hours later when I copy the posts into whatever sites I cross-post to.

And, as everyone knows too well, the best way to find an error in spelling or grammar is to post something. My eldest will frequently hit me with a text shortly after something goes up pointing out something embarrassing. Micah (who is responsible for the current look of the blog) will occasionally beat him to the punch. And, of course, commenters on the blog are good at pointing out missing/broken links to my Saturday Miscellany posts.

What about you? I’d love another suggestion or two to prevent the necessity of the last paragraph.

This prompt was submitted by Julie @ Stepping Stone Book Reviews:

What are some of your favorite books?

Are you kidding?!?!?!

I just have too many favorites, it’s that simple. I really can’t choose. I’ve taken 3 swings at this post in the last couple of days, and I end up with notes that are too long for me to convert into a readable post (or one that I can finish in a timely fashion). And when I forced a limit on myself (genre, number of books, time of publication), I couldn’t settle on a list without triple or quadruple-guessing everything.

Basically, I couldn’t stop overthinking this question*. But I’d spent so much time trying to come up with something that I just had to post something—even if it was as feeble as this.

* See also: Decision Paralysis or Analysis Paralysis.

What about you?

This prompt was submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews:

If you are listening to an audiobook, do you follow along with the print version?

Gah! No. That would drive me nuts. Granted, the last time I tried that was when I was a little kid—I had a few of those “read along” books that had the super-flimsy and square vinyl records in the back (I distinctly remember one that went along with The Empire Strikes Back, but I had others, too) and one or two on cassette (the only one I can remember is a Disney’s Robin Hood that included a possibly-abbreviated version of “Oo-De-Lally”). But even then, I would read faster than the record/tape and it was too complicated to synchronize.

I had the same problem in school when we’d take turns reading paragraphs/pages out of a book as a class—I’d tune out my classmates and end up a few pages ahead of everyone and get in trouble when I didn’t know what to read when it was my turn. Which has nothing to do with the topic at hand, it just came to mind.

Reading speed aside, if I’m listening to an audiobook, I want to take in the characterizations and voice of the narrator, if I’m reading a book, I want to be immersed in the words and the way it “sounds” in my head. I’d end up spending too much of my mental RAM comparing the audio/print experiences to get anything out of it at all.

I’ve also never tried the whole Whipsersync thing where you bounce back and forth between a Kindle and Audible version of a book. I think that’d throw me—if I start in one format, I’m going to finish in it.

I’d like to see why someone would read along, specifically what benefit they get from it. Hopefully, a few people responding to this prompt do it. It’s such a foreign concept to me, but I’d love to see what it looks like in someone else’s shoes—er, headphones.

What about you?