Image Credit: itstartsatmidnight.com
I stumbled upon this tag on B.G.’s fantastic blog, Getting Through Anxiety!
Ready?
Here we go!
I: Inside Flap / Back of Book Summaries. Too much info? Or not enough? Discuss!
- I love reading the inside flap – It helps me determine whether or not I’ll leave the library or bookstore with that book! I don’t normally read back of book summaries, but it depends!
N: New Book. Be Honest: Which format do you want it in? Audio, hardcover, paperback, or ebook?
- I prefer paperback.
S: Scribble While You Read? Do you write in your books, or keep them clean? Tell us why.
- The horror! Never. I keep them clean. B.G.’s response was perfect: “The only writing that should be in a book is the author’s!”
I: In Your Best Written Voice Read Us Your Favorite First Sentence From a Book.
- “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
‘Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.‘”
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
D: Does It Matter to You Whether the Author is Male or Female when Deciding to Read a Book? What if you’re unsure of author’s gender?
- That’s a very interesting question! As a child, I was drawn to more female authors. As an adult, I’ve found that it’s been basically a 50-50 split between male and female. Regardless, it doesn’t matter to me whether the author is male or female. As for being unsure of an author’s gender, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a book that I really didn’t like!
E: Ever Read Ahead? Or have you read the last page before you got there?
- I have read ahead, but just a few books that I had to read for school. Some were just awful!
O: Organized Bookshelves or Outrageous Bookshelves?
- For me – Organized, as much as possible. However, I like hunting through outrageous bookshelves in second-hand bookstores!
U: Under Oath: Have You Ever Bought a Book Based On the Cover? … The Cover Alone?
- Yes, a few times when I was younger. Not now, though.
T: Take it Outside or Stay In?
- I prefer to stay in, especially now, since this summer has been ridiculously hot and humid. However, I’m envious of our neighbors across the street – They have a beautiful front porch with chaise lounges. I would love to have that, at some point. For now, though, once the weather decides to calm down, I’m excited to get some patio furniture and read on our back screened-in porch!
I Tag…
- EVERYONE! I would love to see your responses!
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Hot Shot Headlines 
Great answers! Thanks for the shout out!
You’re so welcome! It was a fun tag!
I know, it was!
Do you have other tag posts in the works?
Yes! Working on one now!
Awesome! I’m working on a Harry Potter one 🙂
Cool.
I must disagree about writing in a book. When I was in college majoring in English and reading 4-6 novels at a time, I jotted margin notes to help me notice symbols and themes and to find details I would use later in those brilliant essays I would write.
You bring up an excellent point. In college, I minored in English and writing & rhetoric. But, I could never think of writing, or even highlighting, any book. Everyone is different! I’m sure you’re not alone 🙂
Thanks for reading, and commenting!
omgoodness i would never write in a book! hahaa it bothers me a bit to think anyone would scribble or write in a book that thought has never ever crossed my mind! keeping them clean is the best way to hand them down to whoever if its family or friends or you donate them when you are done. no one wants a book used or not with scribbles or writing in it that would ruin the effect it has on a person when you first get it and open it to smell the pages! hahahaa! right?!
Exactly!! I completely agree!
!!!!! right?!!!!! hahaaa just NO! hahaha!
Never! I never highlighted or wrote in any of my textbooks in college, either. I couldn’t do it!
hahahaa omg i could never! the whole idea sets me right off for some reason hahahaa!!
Same here. You’re not the only one!
Good to know Laura! im usually really pretty easy going its just some things omg I cant handle hahaha! writing in books being one of em! xoxoo!
Definitely!
I strongly dislike writing/highlighting in a book. My Dad does it when he reads & then, when he thinks highly of a book & wants me to read it after him, I just can’t read it!! I don’t want – no offense to him or someone else who writes/highlights in a book – to see their ideas promoted/expressed before I even have time to formulate my own thoughts on the book.
Personally, I use these little Post-it tabs so I can make short notations & mark quotations I like (which I then copy down into a journal for future reference). http://www.staples.com/Post-it-Ultra-Colors-Page-Markers/product_SS670083
They’re like $1 at Walmart, which is good because I use a LOT of them. LOL
Excellent idea!
I: Inside Flap / Back of Book Summaries. Too much info? Or not enough? Discuss!
Just like a movie trailer – it should be enough to give you a gauge of whether you would enjoy it, but not so much info that it gives everything away. I think writing the “flap copy” is an art form. Some are just cliches and teasers, but others really do the job.
N: New Book. Be Honest: Which format do you want it in? Audio, hardcover, paperback, or ebook?
Not audio. Any of the other three work just fine.
S: Scribble While You Read? Do you write in your books, or keep them clean? Tell us why.
I don’t. If I need notes, I will keep a piece of paper nearby to write on. However … when my dad’s best friend died, I asked his daughter for a keepsake. She gave me a few things that are totally precious to me. One is a book, the history of the St. Louis Cardinals. (Both baseball fans, both Cardinals fans.) I already had a copy of the book, but I was thrilled to have *his* copy. A few weeks later I leafed through it for the first time, and my heart skipped. He had written all sorts of notes to himself in the pages, in his absolutely unmistakable handwriting. “Mnemonic device to remember the years we won the World Series … ” That kind of thing. And right then, at that moment, it was as if he was speaking to me from the grave.
I: In Your Best Written Voice Read Us Your Favorite First Sentence From a Book.
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.” – Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House
D: Does It Matter to You Whether the Author is Male or Female when Deciding to Read a Book? What if you’re unsure of author’s gender?
No difference at all. Another friend of my father’s (a different one) once had no interest in a Sue Grafton book my dad recommended because, as he said, “I can’t imagine being interested what a woman writes.” I have no clue how he came to that conclusion. Jodie Foster, when she was interning with a major magazine, said she reached a point where she could read a submission and know whether it was by a man or a woman. As for me, I’ll read either.
E: Ever Read Ahead? Or have you read the last page before you got there?
I have read ahead on occasion. I’ve probably read the last page, but i can’t say for sure. Probably though.
O: Organized Bookshelves or Outrageous Bookshelves?
Loosely organized, but not meticulously so. I like to know where to look for a particular book, but it’s not like broken down by subject and then alphabetized by author or anything. (For some reason I’m recalling Rob Gordon in “High Fidelity” deciding to take down his entire alphabetized record collection and re-organized it autobiographically – putting albums together that had specific relations to the same moments in his life. (“If I want to play ‘Landslide’ by Fleetwood Mac, I have to remember that I bought it for someone in the ‘Fall if 1983’ pile but didn’t give it to them for personal reasons.”)
U: Under Oath: Have You Ever Bought a Book Based On the Cover? … The Cover Alone?
Almost certainly, though it would have been a used book. Can’t cite one specifically, but I’m sure the answer is yes.
T: Take it Outside or Stay In?
Either way. There’s no bad place to read. 🙂
I totally see your point with inside flaps of book covers and movie trailers. I never thought about it that way!
Reading about your dad’s best friend gave me chills. What an awesome story!
I’ll have to look up Shirley Jackson now. I love that quote!
Thanks for reading, and commenting! There is no bad place to read, indeed 🙂