Booking through Thursday - Presents!

It's been a while since I joined in on a Booking through Thursday but this one jumped at me because it's about books as presents, and as Deb celebrated her b'day today (Happy Birthday!!!), I'll be celebrating on Monday. So let's talk about Presents.

What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The "gift aura?"

My daughter used to get me books for my birthday or other occasions all the time. I keep my wish list updated on Amazon so anyone can just pull it up and see what I'm waiting for. This was before I started going paperless. The problem I have with books as presents is if the book was REALLY bad, I will be stuck with the book for forever more. I will not giveaway a book regardless of how bad it is because it was a present.

Now the book that immediately comes to mind when I'm thinking of a gifted book is The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's the last book Dre got me and I recall she said it was to be a book we read together (I read it and then I share it with her) but I haven't read it. I really wanted to read it at the time and now that I have it, it's waiting it's turn.

Other books that I've gotten as presents, Megan's Mark by Lora Leigh, Carrie's Story and it's sequel Safe Word by Molly Weatherfield, books by Emma Holly, Shiloh Walker (she got my the earlier Hunter books in PRINT!). These titles will always be on my shelf because they are gifts and it's not about the words between the cover but the person that put it in my hands.

Booking Through Thursday - Books vs Movies

This weeks Booking Through Thursday combines two of my favorite topics, Books and Movies.Let's delve right in.

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

In a sense I have the same expectations from a movie than I do from a book. Entertainment. A picture of a fantasy come to life. A Suspense that makes me hold my breath. A thriller that has me tapping my feet with nerves. A Happy Ever After.

The difference between a book and a movie is that with the movie I rely on someone elses imagination to bring things to life and I can sit back and just enjoy their efforts. With a book, it's all on me. There are times when I do a better job in the imagination arena and when a book moves to film, I am sooo disapointed I don't follow any more of the series in that media (ie. Eragon) but then you have a time when the film is so well done, you will never pick up the book again (ie Jane Austen Book Club & Lord of the Ring Trilogy). And then you have those films that come from a screenplay and not an adaptation. You are completely at the mercy of the creative team and you go to be swept away (ie, X-files, Ironman, Sex and the City).

I was watching Oprah yesterday and she was saying how we, as individuals, find oursleves happy but not doing things that make us Happy. My sister and I originally agreed with the statement. Then on further thought I realized that I do things that make me happy just not based on some archaic definintion of 'Happy'. Reading makes me happy. I laugh and cry and invest myself emotionally in my reading. Movies give me the same sensation.

I will walk into a movie and (if it's a good movie) I will walk out with endorphines running rampant. I don't have to go skiing or go to a concert or go on a vacation to a far off land to be happy. I can do all that from the warmth of my home with a book in hand or a good movie on the TV. Wow, I've just diverge from this week's topic.

Do I want something different from a movie than from a book? No. I want to walk out of the movie with the same smile I get after turning the last page on a great book.

What about you? Do you expect something different from a Movie than from a Book?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Booking Through Thursday - Manual Labor

So I missed last weeks Booking theme but I'm back on board this week. I was not feeling very much like a blogger when all I posted was my weekly Booking and Friday Fun so I resolved I was not posting again until I got a few of the accrued reviews out of the way. I still have a few more to post but at least I got several under my belt and I don't feel to guilty.

This weeks Booking through Thursday follows up on last weeks entry (which I missed but will post here this week anyway.. Sue me!)

Last Weeks read:

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

Guilty! I have lots of writing guides. I went on a binge of these books a few years ago and I bought enough of them to fill a shelf on my bookcase. Since I moved to Texas I have not unpacked them.
When they were unpacked, did I read them? Nope. The only writing reference book that I have opened in the last ten years has been the Student Writing Guide my daughter bought in her freshman year of High school.
Dictionaries? Why?? Spell check works (most of the time).

This weeks follow-up:

Scenario: You’ve just bought some complicated gadget home . . . do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

If I buy any new gadget I do read MOST of the manual. I use the index to decide what part of the manual I need to read to get my gadget to do what I want it to do.

Okay more confessions of a gatherer. I love software manuals. I will go to Barnes & Noble and dive into the software manuals. Those that I buy, will be read and then saved as reference guides.
I also love Quilting/Craft books. I have so many How-to books on crafts in my library I don't have any place to put them. Other types of books I collect... Cookbooks. Love Love Love cookbooks with Lots of pictures. If it doesn't have pictures, I won't buy it.

Self Help books? Nope. Not a one. I just don't put much credit into them. I think if i ever feel the need Self Help I will go to a professional (Therapist, Financial Advisor, Dating Service, etc). I have seen too many fads pass by and what one person says will help you today will be a no-no tomorrow (like the dieting industry). I will pick up and inspirational book of poems or a motivational book (like Chicken Soup for the Soul) but beyond that... nope.

What do you read to improve yourself?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves

Booking through Thursday - Mayday!

This week's Booking column was so improbable that I had to really stretch myself.

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

I said I had to stretch myself because anyone that knows me knows that I ALWAYS have a book in my purse. When I go to buy a purse I take my book from my current purse and see if the paperback fits in the new purse, if it doesn't... no matter HOW beautiful the purse is, I don't buy it. Now with my eBook reader, sometimes I have 16 books in my purse :)

So in my fantasy scenario, where I did not have a book in an airport, what would I do? Head on over to the nearest magazine shop (you know the ones, they sell everything you never knew you needed on a flight) and pick up anything that could keep me from going mad. That could be a magazine of Logic puzzles, an Entertainment magazine or if lucky, maybe they have a good selection of books. I would also stock up on a healthy (or maybe unhealthy) amount of candy, chips, snacks, chocolate and gum. Then after leaving all my cash in the store I would sit back and be too freaked out about the family emergency to eat any of the 'cavities in a box' I just purchased for an insane amount of money or crack open the reading material I chose.

What would you do in a scenario like this?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Booking Through Thursday - Springing

So I was thinking a bit about the blog and how I would like to put more time into it and all that. But there is just so many books I can review and sometimes I'm really stumped about what to say about a particular book, so I'm expanding my views and adding a bit of a kick to the blog.

I decided to join the Booking through Thursday movement! It's a weekly meme mostly about reading or books... right up my alley. So here is the question of the week:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

I will say Spring is not a big 'season' to go specialty reading for me. Big seasons for reading something special is Halloween (a month that gives me the excuse to only read Paranormals) and Christmas (you have to get into the holiday spirit somehow). Other than those two holidays, the change in seasons does not inspire me to change my reading habits.

How about you? Are you a seasonal reader?

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!