Musing Mondays [May 14]

Tags

Memes, Reading Preferences

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

I always prefer to read until the end of the chapter.  It just feels weird stopping anywhere else.  Unless I’m put in a situation where I really need to stop at a page other than the end of the chapter.

Musing Mondays [May 7]

Tags

Memes

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

If you were going to write a book, what would you write about? Would it be fiction, or nonfiction?

I’d probably write fiction drawn from real life events. I dunno, there are lots of creative ideas out there but I think that events drawn from real life OR your own life make a good starting point for creating a story.

Musing Mondays [April 30]

Tags

Audio Books, Memes

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

Do you listen to audiobooks? If not, why not? And, if so, what has been one of your favorites, so far

I don’t think I have ever managed to finish an audio book. But I have listened to some.  My aunt gave me “Merrick” and “Vittorio the Vampire” (both by Anne Rice) as presents and I only managed to listen to Vittorio.  And I didn’t even finish it! I dunno, I got creeped out.  Its one thing reading about it and another having to listen to it.

I also cannot recall if I finished the audio book of “A Christmas Carol” that I got off iTunes for free.  Hmmm … But I loved the guy who voiced Scrooge.  :)

I’d love to have another go at an audio book though.  They are pretty nice company when you have a long way to travel.

Musing Mondays [April 2]

Tags

Book Clubs, Memes

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

Do you belong to any book clubs — face-to-face, or online? If so, how long have you been with the group(s)? If not, why?

Let me start off by saying that I missed doing Musing Mondays and have not done it in months.

Anyway, on to the question.  I don’t think I’ve ever been a member of a book club.  There was not a lot of these groups while I was growing up (where I am from).  Online though, I’m a member of several on Goodreads but sad to say I have not been participating in any of the chosen readings for the month.  Other responsibilities and my full time job prevent me from participating full time.

Musing Mondays [January 30]

Tags

Memes

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

How far along are you in your current read before you start thinking about what you’ll read next?

Not far along. Its because I’m surrounded by books that even while I’m reading I get easily distracted and pick up another volume just out of curiosity.  I want to curb this habit actually because sometimes it ends up in me leaving the book that I am reading for a new one.  I’ve managed somewhat successfully this year.

Musing Mondays [January 23]

Tags

Memes, Young Adult Fiction

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

Why do you think that the Young Adult genre is so popular with even the adult readers? Do you read YA books, yourself?

I think that the young adult fiction is popular because they are fairly easy to read and they are relatable.  The target of YA are teenagers and the books are relatable to them because they are experiencing the same issues that the hero or heroine of the story is going through.  Its something that they can associate with.

YA fiction also resonates well with adults because they have been through what the characters of YA have been through.  YA fiction features subjects that adults are fond of that are twisted in a way to attract a younger audience.  Mythology is a subject that interests adults and Rick Riordan has found a way to make it interesting to young ones as well.  It uses the themes already present in adult literature and makes them more friendly for youngsters.

However, it is also interesting to note that some works that are considered classics  are also works that can be of interest to young adults or deal with characters who are young adults.  :)

Am I a reader of YA fiction myself? Yes but reluctantly.  I had to be pushed to even touch a book that was labelled as YA.  But when I started reading, I found myself enjoying them and actually purchasing a few YA titles myself. The reason I find them fun to read is that they are really very simple reads and you can flow from page to page without any worries.

Musing Mondays [January 16]

Tags

Memes

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

What devices –if any– do you read books on? Do you find it enjoyable, or still somewhat bothersome? Or: If you only read the print books, why haven’t you chosen to read on any devices?

I have a Nook that I really like which holds mostly classic works and EPUBs of works made free by Project Gutenberg of topics that I’m interested in like the mythology and fairy stories of other countries.  I also use the iBooks application on my iPod Touch but like my Nook it only holds free classic works.  There are just times when I prefer to read rather than listen to music or read and listen to music.

I like having those devices but I definitely prefer to read from a physical book.  Those devices make it easier for me to find notes that I have made and passages that I’ve highlighted (and the reason why I’ve highlighted them) but there is just something different about holding and reading a physical book.  With physical books, I can drop them when I fall asleep and the pages or cover might get folded but it will still be fine.  I can’t drop a device because if it comes crashing on the floor, one of two things can happen: it goes bye bye or I just end up being very lucky.  :) Also, with physical books, I can take them anywhere whereas I’d be more cautious about taking it out in public because where I’m from there’s a huge chance that you’re never gonna see it again.

Musing Mondays [January 9]

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading.  This week’s question is

Are there any “raved reads” –books that everyone seems to be talking about– that you’re hoping to get read this year, yourself? What books are they, and why are you hoping to read them? Is it because you want to say you’ve read it? Or, would you have chosen to read it, even if you’d discovered it yourself, and no one was raving about it?

I tend not to read books that are being raved about that are not in a genre that I normally would read in.  But sometimes, a combination of reviews and recommendations from friends would sometimes lead me to read books that are being raved about.  I would probably never have read The Hunger Games had not my friend suggested it.  :)

The book that got a lot of rave reviews last year that I am really hoping to read this year is The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides.  I read an interview with Jeffrey Eugenides about the book on The Economist book blog, Prospero, and found the plot to be rather interesting.  Plus it also deals with semiotics and literary theory, two topics that I am rather interested to learn about.

Musing Mondays [December 26]

I’m finally back after a couple of days absence due to the holidays. Busy, busy, busy. I was so busy that I wasn’t able to post for Friday Finds and Friday Five. Anyways, on with this week’s Monday Musings.

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Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading. This week’s Musing Mondays question is:

Did you get any books for Christmas? If so, what were they?

If you didn’t, what books are you most looking forward to reading (and/or buying) in the new year?

I bought a couple of books for myself for Christmas and these were:

• The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, by Umberto Eco.  I’ve been meaning to read more of Umberto Eco after I read Focault’s Pendulum “seriously” this year. I read Focault’s Pendulum when I was in college and I don’t think I had the same appreciation for it now as I did back then.
• The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides.  I’ve been reading a lot of praise for this book and it seems that I’m the only one who hasn’t read it.  That aside, this description I read from an interview with the author in The Economist grabbed my attention:
  

  It tells the story of three college students—Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell—who graduate from Brown University in 1982 and spend a lot of time discussing literary theory, Derrida, Tolstoy, Austen and Hemingway. It is a book about other books, and a postmodern twist on the marriage plot of the Victorian novel. But it is also an exploration of mental illness, failed romance and one man’s battle with religious faith.

• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  Since I’m participating in both Reading Shakespeare Month and Reading Shakespeare a Play a Month in 2012, I thought it would be fitting that I would purchase Shakespeare’s entire body of work.

I look forward to reading these books as well as the books that I am reading for the challenges and read-a-longs that I am participating in.  :)  Hehehe ….

With regards to books that I wish to buy, oh well, these are just a few:

• 11/22/63, by Stephen King.  I have never read any of King’s latest works and this one seemed really interesting.
• Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini.  I have the first three in the series and I would really like to have this one just to complete the series.
• The Prague Cemetery, by Umberto Eco.  I should have bought this instead of The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana but I had to weigh this against the fact that TMFoQL is not available as an ebook while TPC is.
• any book by Jose Saramago.  I saw a couple of books of his on display at National Bookstore and saw that some are also available as ebooks on Barnes and Noble.
• any book by Yasunari Kawabata.  I also saw a couple of books of his on display at National Bookstore and I was glad that there are also ebooks available on Barnes and Noble.
• The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  I’ve read a lot of good things about this one and it seems that I am the only one who hasn’t read it.
• The Angel’s Game, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  Well, if I intend to read The Shadow of the Wind, it would make sense to read The Angel’s Game.

I think I’ve mentioned most in that list I made above but you can read my list of books that I want in this post I made for Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Hope Santa Brings.

Musing Mondays [December 19]

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted at Should Be Reading. I wasn’t able to post for this week’s Musing Mondays because my Internet connection just wasn’t cooperating.  Anyways, I’ll just answer this week’s musing here.  The question was:

What’s one book you always recommend to just about anyone?

To be honest, I don’t know how to answer this question.    For me, I would feel much better if I knew the reading preference of the person to whom I am making a recommendation.    But if I was ever to recommend anything to just about anyone, I would probably recommend “The Hobbit,” by J.R.R. Tolkien because its has adventure and it has comedy.