This or that is all about reading this week:
1. Newspapers or magazines?
Both or neither. I don’t read newspapers much and I hardly ever read magazines.
2. Books-on-tape or regular books?
Regular mostly, but I listen to audio books a fair bit, too. They’re good for when you have to (or want to) keep your eyes on other things – like redecorating or tidying (or on the train).
3. Paperback or hardcover?
Hardcover for preference, paperback for convenience. If I’m going to lug books around (and I do, all the time), paperbacks are undeniably more convenient – but I still prefer the feel of hardcovers, and they look better on the shelf, too.
4. Fiction or non-fiction?
Both, but I read more fiction.
5. Sci-Fi/Fantasy or romance novels?
Both, for widely differing purposes. I read moderate amounts of Sci-Fi/fantasy, just like I read moderate amounts of other “genre” novels – like crime – but I do read them as novels. Romance novels, on the other hand, are like brain candy – I read them as an alternative to mindless films/tv-series, something to relax to, something that engages as few brain cells as possible and leaves you with a feeling that the world is a good place (they live happily ever after).
6. Borrow from library or buy books (either new or used)?
Buy, mostly. It’s hard to get the books I want at the library, and I reread books all the time (see below) so it’s convenient to be able to keep them on the shelf rather than having to return them.
7. Subscribe to magazines or buy on newsstand?
I rarely subscribe because I rarely care to have every issue of a magazine, I tend to pick one that looks interesting up at a newsstand whenever I feel like it. I currently subscribe to the new Nemi albums and I would have liked to subscribe to Burda magazine but they’re making it difficult by asking for the subscription fee in Euros and writing to me in German (why?).
8. Current best-sellers or classic literature?
A nice mixture of both, though I rarely read a bestseller while it’s a bestseller, I tend to be a year or two behind, but if it’s an author I enjoy I’ll get the book when it first comes out.
9. Read books once, or re-read favorites every so often?
Reread. I reread almost every book I enjoy at least once. If I don’t it’s either because it’s too demanding (emotionally or intellectually – still haven’t gotten around to rereading Ulysses, for example) or because it makes such a strong point the first time around that rereading is uneccessary. American Psycho is an example of both of those reasons (emotionally taxing, main points too well remembered), I might decide to reread it some day, but I doubt it, somehow.
10. Here in the U.S., we have two hot best-sellers…former First Lady Hillary Clinton’s memoirs, and the new Harry Potter book (coming out June 21). If you had to read one, which one…Hillary or Harry? Why?
‘Scuse me? Stupid question. No way am I reading Hillary’s book. No way am I not reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.