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Book Addicts Anonymous |
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| Welcome! Yes, this is a support group for book addicts. No, we don't plan to cure anyone. I'm not sure it's possible, or for that matter advisable. Remember what Groucho Marx said: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." If you're new here, please browse through the entries tagged "question" and answer one or more in posts of your own. You may also post new questions: anything except "What is your favorite book?" If we could answer that question, we wouldn't be here. If you'd like to introduce yourself, you're welcome to make a post in this format! Happy reading, everyone! |
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| Jan. 4th, 2010 @ 01:55 pm Happy New Year! | |||
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Yeah, yeah, belated, I know. So, has anyone made book-related resolutions for this year? I made my standard promise to myself to buy fewer books. As usual, I don't think it will work. Especially now that our store has a bunch of picture books and sticker books on sale. I'm a total sucker for kiddie stuff. |
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| Jan. 1st, 2010 @ 10:31 pm So let's flip that previous question: | |||
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What characters have you read about who were your complete opposites? Did you like them, or not? I remember being amazed when I read "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas" by Tom Robbins, because the main character was my complete polar opposite in every way... and I still wound up sympathizing, if not empathizing with her. The book is written in second person, no less, so it was a very surreal experience to read it. I was so impressed that Robbins could make me care so much about a character when I probably wouldn't even consider being friends with her in real life. I also love Taylor from Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees" even though we have so little in common. I think we'd be great friends, though-- but we come from such different worlds, mentally. Not so much now, but when I first read the book, I was just blown away-- it had never occurred to me that people could even be like that-- so bold and brave, so driven and impulsive, and so naive and innocent while being able to act so grown up. I was almost the opposite-- more educated and cerebral (though exceedingly naive and ignorant in my own ways), but completely lacking in common sense and real life skills. We would have made a heck of a pair. |
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| Dec. 27th, 2009 @ 11:16 pm on the subject of characters... | |||
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| How often do you come across a character in a book (true or fictional) who reminds you of yourself? What character do you think you most resemble, and why? |
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| Dec. 22nd, 2009 @ 05:20 pm busy busy | |||
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I see this community is starting to fall by the wayside a bit. I know that's mostly my fault, and I'm going to work on it... but I'd also like to encourage all of you to post discussion topics, questions or thoughts about books and reading, book-related news of any kind... let's see if we can't expand this community into a living and growing thing again, shall we? I'm going to start off by nabbing a discussion question that ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} lectitat mentioned waaaay back when:If you could be any character from a book, who would you be and why? Go at it! |
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| Dec. 2nd, 2009 @ 06:30 pm Holiday musings | |||
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Do you buy books for people for the holidays? Do you consider them a deep and meaningful gift? Do you obsess over picking out the perfect one for each person? Do people get you books for the holidays, or are they too intimidated to shop for you? Do you ask people for books (in general or specific titles) as gifts? If someone gives you a book you already have, do you keep it, exchange it, regift it? |
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| Nov. 27th, 2009 @ 10:32 pm busy holiday season! | |||
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I celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday and spent some time thinking about the things I'm thankful for. So, just for a bit of food-for-thought: Have you ever read a book that made you feel particularly grateful for the life you have? And, Is there anyone you'd like to thank for introducing you to a particularly wonderful book or author? I'd like to thank mj_automatic for letting me know about the incomparable Octavia Butler, and the cute couple of customers whose names I don't even know for introducing me to the works of Connie Willis.And I'm pretty darn grateful that I'm not Julie Gregory, author of Sickened: The True Story of a Munchausen-by-Proxy Childhood. My mother may have gotten a lot of things wrong, but one thing I am sure of is that she would never ever have caused me deliberate harm. |
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| Nov. 11th, 2009 @ 10:04 pm sorry for all the posts at once! | |||
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But I found myself nodding along a lot at this article about graphic novels-- their literary value and their stigma in our culture as a form of "pulp" media, the way they are changing, and what they offer to the avid reader. Your thoughts? |
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| Nov. 11th, 2009 @ 09:02 pm an interesting post | |||
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On the connection between being a writer and being an avid reader. (Thanks to rosefox8 for the link). I don't write, but most of my friends who are book addicts do. How many people here also consider themselves writers? How many of you are published authors? Also, things seem to have died down here a little. I know it's a busy time of year-- for me too. But I want to encourage you all again to share your own questions and book-related news of any kind. We've got a steady trickle of new members-- welcome! Spread the word! Feel free to browse through old question topics for ones you'd like to answer, and if you see an old discussion you'd like to start up again, you're welcome to re-post it with your comments. Also, please message the moderator (me!) with any suggestions or requests you have that could improve your bookaddiction experience.Happy reading, everyone! |
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| Nov. 11th, 2009 @ 08:38 pm Temptation | |||
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| There's a brand new community up for people who want to exchange paperback books: paperbackswap . I figured I should be evil and let everyone know about it. |
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| Nov. 7th, 2009 @ 12:49 am just out of curiosity... | |||
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How many of you watched the "Reading Rainbow" program on PBS television while you were growing up (or at some other point)? What did you think of it? |
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| Nov. 4th, 2009 @ 04:53 pm wow | |||
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I thought this might be of interest-- one woman's story of how she started reading and the role that books have played in her life. [caution: her story is traumatic and may be triggering for some people] Why I read. Nabbed from nonnycat |
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| Nov. 1st, 2009 @ 01:30 pm more hypotheticals and lots of questions | |||
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Fahrenheit 451 is still very much on my mind. Imagine, if you will, that books become illegal-- audio and downloadable formats as well as print. I know it's a philosophical stretch, and there are a lot of questions about the actual plausibility of such a thing, but bear with me. Your books are all confiscated. You have no books. How soon would you start missing them? When would it start to really drive you crazy? What would you do to keep yourself from going nuts? A black market for books will pop up, of course. Which books would you be desperate to buy? How much would you pay for them? (I suspect that we're all willing to break the law for the sake of books) Would you become a black market book dealer yourself or just a private collector? What steps would you take to counter the regime? Would you become a subversive, reading books aloud on forbidden radio bands and typing up pages of them to post anonymously online? Would you become a political activist? What would you be willing to donate to the cause-- your time, your life savings? Would you risk going to prison? Or would your rebellion be smaller and more personal, inviting trusted friends over for reading parties with the shades drawn? What else would change for you in such a world? |
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| Oct. 26th, 2009 @ 11:31 pm just for fun | |||
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If books were waterproof, would you read while in the shower? Why or why not? |
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| Oct. 24th, 2009 @ 01:02 am Just one book... | |||
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Ok, I tend to hate questions along the lines of "if you could only have one book with you on a desert island..." but today I ran across an intriguing new version that I'd like to put to all of you. I was reading the graphic novel version of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," and in the introduction, Bradbury writes about his inspirations for this story and asks the reader to consider the question: if you had to choose one book to save from the flames and preserve for the future of humanity, which one would it be, and why? |
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| Oct. 21st, 2009 @ 05:57 pm Literary Taboos | |||
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A quick question: When reading, what are things that will make you drop a book faster than a piece of hot coal? (Besides out-and-out bad writing, of course.) Mine would be excessive or pointless animal cruelty. I can handle just about any subject, but reading about animals in pain will hit my trigger button like nothing else. |
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| Oct. 13th, 2009 @ 02:49 pm recommendations | |||
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A fascinating conversation with a customer the other day (have I mentioned lately how much I love working at a book store?) inspired me to get back into reading neurology-related books. I've picked up a copy of Taylor's "My Stroke of Insight," which I've been interested in reading for a while but probably wouldn't have gotten around to any time soon without this incentive. I get recommendations from my customers often, and I ignore many of them, because I confess to not being impressed by the average level of American reading. Some have been very helpful, though. I'm more likely to take recommendations from coworkers, and also from some friends if I know our reading interests are similar (in one case, a friend and I constantly frustrate each other on this topic because we tend to love some of the same books... and have completely opposite opinions on others! Actually, it occurs to me that my roommate and I are a bit like that, too.). I like to get recommendations from my teachers as well. Sometimes, I pick up books because they just look interesting, often because I've read other books by the author, and sometimes because they were mentioned by other books or authors. I almost never bother to read reviews, although the right (or wrong) blurb on a book jacket can make all the difference. What's your main source of book recommendations? How else do you decide what to read next? |
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| Oct. 7th, 2009 @ 10:10 pm same characters, new author | |||
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As a huge fan of the late and very lamented Douglas Adams, I was recently amazed to hear about this-- an upcoming sequel to the series that he tried numerous times to end before invariably caving to fan pressure and writing another book. Most people actually consider only the first 3 or 4 books canonical, and though I personally enjoyed all five, I can clearly read his reluctance to continue in the fifth. And now there's a 6th book being written? By someone else? I honestly don't know what to think about this. I know there's a long tradition of 1) publication of unfinished works after the author's death, 2) manuscripts or notes completed by another author after one's death, and 3) complete sale of a series or concept to a new author (the last two options usually with the permission of the original author's estate, who may or may not be the best people to judge). What books have your read that fall into any of those categories? What did you think of them? Do you have an opinion on the practice in general, or do you prefer to judge on a case-by-case basis? |
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| Oct. 6th, 2009 @ 10:41 pm odd books | |||
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Every so often I'm rummaging through old boxes of books and come upon something utterly surprising. Granted, I have a knack for picking up strange books, and I often forget what I own, so it's no surprise that I often surprise myself, if you will. Shopping in the bargain bin at the local library often results in my picking up multiple copies of the same books, too. Apparently, I bought 3 used copies of "Kushiel's Dart" before I ever got around to reading it! I was astounded to come across, recently, a book on psychology by L. Ron Hubbard (the title escapes me at the moment). Perhaps I picked it up thinking it was a science fiction novel? I feel almost dirty owning such a thing. The man was such a total loon. Or a mad genius with a nasty sense of humor. I'm never quite certain. And then there are the books I own that surprise other people. Sometimes, you just can't resist. I have no intention of ever actually reading my copy of "Oral Sadism and the Vegetarian Personality," but how on earth could I pass up the opportunity to own a book with a title like that?! What's the most surprising book in your collection? Have you ever been shocked or baffled to discover you owned a particular book? PS-- if any of you have good LJ-Fu, can you help me figure out why I can't post polls here? As the mod, and given that it's a Plus account, I should be able to, right? |
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| Oct. 4th, 2009 @ 09:56 am A new book about books I am looking forward to. | |||
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| Ever since I read on Susan Hill's website of her plans for a memoir of her reading life, I've been looking forward to its appearance. Howard's End is on the Landing: a year of reading from home, is due to be published later this month and early reports from those lucky enough to have advance copies suggest it is going to prove a delightful read. I know I can totally relate to Hill's experience of realising that she had many books that she'd never read or forgotten she'd owned or wanted to read again. Given the subject matter of books and reading, I'd have suggested it as a book club choice here but it seems that there is no publication date listed outside the UK and so only available as an import rather than via libraries and the like. Of course, that might change but I am unsure what Susan Hill's reputation is outside of the UK. queenlyzard had you thought about selecting another book for community discussion? I did so enjoy The Magician's Book and it meant it got prompted to the top of my 'to be read' mountain. |
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| Oct. 4th, 2009 @ 07:12 am The Magician's Book: a Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller, 2008 | ||||
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50bookchallenge with a little plug for this community!This book focus is one reader's long, tumultuous relationship with C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. As a child Laura Miller had been totally enchanted by C.S. Lewis' created world. Then as a teenager she came across references to its Christian symbolism and felt she had been tricked and thereafter this sense of betrayal alienated her from the books. Years later, convinced that "the first book we fall in love with shapes us every bit as much as the first person we fall in love with," Miller returned to Lewis' classic fantasies to examine her responses as an adult and to seek to uncover the source of these small books' power through an examination of the life and influences of their creator, C.S. Lewis. This is something of a hybrid work, being partly a memoir of the author's relationship with books and reading and her issues with this series as well as a biography of C.S. Lewis and some literary analysis of The Chronicles of Narnia. It also gives details of Miller's trip to the UK and Ireland to trace those places that had inspired Lewis' creation. I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book when I first spotted it and then the moderator of bookaddiction suggested a group of us read it and discuss in the community. I found I could deeply relate to Miller's writing about her childhood experiences of The Chronicles and reading in general. Her words awoke memories of my own experiences and deep desire that, like Lucy Pevensie, I'd discover a door in the back of the large Victorian wardrobe in my bedroom. However, unlike Miller my relationship with The Chronicles was not really damaged by my realisation of their inherent Christian symbolism. Still I could relate to her perspective. I did get the impression that throughout she was wrestling with an expectation that if you love these books, then automatically they will lead you to Christianity (or back to it in her case). Actually I don't think this is at all so. She did include other perspectives and I found I could relate more to the responses of her friends, Pam and Tiffany, in the chapter where she examines her teenage discovery (Chapter 9 The Awful Truth). The cover art is beautiful and I enjoyed Miller's rambling anecdotal style. However, there were a few statements that seemed to be pure speculation on her part and I felt my academic self grumbling below the surface about her lack of sources to back these up. Also, there was no bibliography or notes. So while it seemed to want to be taken seriously in terms of a biography and literary studies these omissions meant the book remained much more of a personal work. Perhaps that was her intention given its autobiographical aspect that would be considered out of place in a more academic work of non-fiction. Overall a very enjoyable and rich book that gave me a great deal of food for thought about my own relationship with books throughout my life and how they'd helped to shape me and also gave me many new insights into C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia. The Magician's Book - official site with excerpt and gallery of images from her travels as well as partial bibliography missing from the print version. Book Addiction Community Discussion Threads. |
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