Dr. Shaun Duke, Professional Nerd

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Reading Time

The Book Habits Meme (Reboot)

Writtenwyrdd originally posted this in October of last year, but I thought I would bring it back with a few additions. If you have a blog, then post your own answers to the following questions and leave a comment with the link!

Here goes:

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack:
I don’t, actually. I sort of get involved in my reading, so snacking really isn’t an option.

What is your favorite drink while reading?
Hot chocolate, green tea, or water. But I don’t drink while reading. I stop, get a drink, and then continue reading. I can’t imagine doing both at the same time. That’s the kind of multitasking only crazy people can muster. Imagine that. You’re reading, imagining whatever is going on in your head, reaching out your arm, grabbing a mug, and drinking all at the same time. That’s a lot of stuff going on!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I don’t mark in books I am reading for fun. I do for books I am using for graduate school or research. Generally I don’t like marking, but when you have to remember passages and things, marking is inevitable. That said, I own duplicates of books I really love that I have to mark in. I’m doing just that with Tobias S. Buckell’s books, actually. I recently bought all his first edition hardcovers, signed, just so I’d have a set that I could keep in perfect condition. I’m a weirdo.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Bookmark. Rarely will I lay the book flat and open. People who dog-ear their books are communists and shouldn’t be allowed to vote. That’s the kind of blasphemous nonsense the Inquisition wouldn’t have put up with, and that might be the only thing I would agree with them on.

Fiction, nonfiction, or both?
A little of both, actually.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?
I can stop anywhere, but I prefer to stop at the end of a chapter. I hate stopping in the middle of things. At best, I am comfortable with stopping at a break within a chapter, but even that is bothersome.

Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?
I’ve come close. I’ve slammed books down onto my bed before, but I’ve yet to toss something across the room. To be fair, I don’t own my apartment, so throwing things is a bit dangerous when I don’t want to put holes in my walls.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?
It depends on the word. If it’s really obscure, I’ll look it up. Otherwise, I use what little I know of the English language to figure out what it means on the spot.

What are you currently reading?
Spellwright by Blake Charlton
Angel Dust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin
Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

What is the last book you bought?
I think it was every single book by Tobias S. Buckell (first editions and signed). He had a deal going on at his blog and I partook.

Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?
I can read more than one. Sometimes I start something, find it a little dull, and move on to something else for a while. Other times I don’t have much of a choice, being a graduate student and all. I’ve had 10+ different books going at once before.

Do you have a favorite time/place to read?
I prefer to read somewhere not in my house and away from a computer. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially right now with a few of my geckos needing regular care.

On top of that, I either need absolute silence or pure noise. Anything between is a no go.

Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
Stand alones. I like series, but they require you to invest a lot of time into them, and unless a series is really good, I won’t do that. There are few series that I have been obsessed enough with to buy the rest of the books and read them (Harry Potter, Tobias Buckell’s Caribbean SF, and some others). When you find a good series, though, it’s a wonderful experience.

Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?
Four: Tobias S. Buckell, Karen Miller, Kage Baker, and Susan Beth Pfeffer. I’ve recommend loads of others, but those three have probably seen the most airtime from my lips (or fingers, actually).

How do you organize your books?(by genre, title, author’s last name, etc.)
I organize my books by genre and size. Mass markets are all together, with a section for SF/F, general fiction, and non-fiction. All other sizes are much the same. I separate all my books on writing from the rest, though. It makes it easier to get to them.

And now that that is over with, I am going to tag Weirdside and NextRead. Again, if you want to do this on your blog, go for it and come back here to give me the link!

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