March 18, 2008
Uncategorized
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I am taking a break over Easter, so I will not be posting over the next couple of days. I have packed up my current obligation reads (bookrings - Brighton Rock and The Inheritance of Loss) and a couple of free choices and we are off. I am always wildly optimistic when I go on holiday, as I forget that I still need to look after my two preschoolers, so I get no more reading time than I would otherwise. But worse than schlepping too many books is to get there and have nothing to read!
Anyway, Happy Easter. I hope you have a good time on your break, if you are having one. What are you reading over Easter?
March 16, 2008
What to Read
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Olivia Laing from the Guardian posts a number of nice suggestions for those who are a bit overloaded by reading at the moment. There are some great reader comments as well.
The List in a nutshell:
1. Books for acute reading overload:
Comic novels such as The Pursuit of Love, Cold Comfort Farm (both Nancy Mitford) and Three men in a boat (Jerome K. Jerome)
2. More serious cases, when you need a break from written english:
A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess), Riddley Walker (Russell Hoban), Poetry
3. For reading meltdown:
Ex Libris: Confessions of a common reader (Anne Fadiman), anything by AS Byatt.
Check out the reader comments for more suggestions. What are your picks for books to read at meltdown time?
Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - books: Reading cures
March 15, 2008
Finding books, What to Read
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Growing up, I had a shelf of books that I read over and over until I was sick of them, and supplemented those with regular trips to the library. Once a year, I would take a birthday book voucher and select a brand new book to join my book family. As I have grown, my attitudes to my personal library have changed as much as my sources for book recommendations (although I do still judge a book by its cover).
Once I was an adult and had to take responsibility for my own borrowing habits, I realised that I am not a person who can return things on time - library books, video hires, rental cars…. After entering Uni, I had a lot more time to read (I even read fiction in lectures), and I had no cash, so I needed to find alternate sources of literature. As the internet has become a bigger part of my life, I have found new and cheaper sources for reading material, and had a change in attitude to the books sitting on my shelf.
So avoid paying $20 a book and share your library with others. One book is probably equivalent to one tree’s worth of paper, so it is time to start sharing them around. Here are my favourite sources for books.
Bookcrossing is one of the sites that has changed the way I think about my personal library. We all have books on our shelves that we will never read again. Unclutter your house by setting them free. Give each book a registration number, enter them into the site, and you can let it go (pass it on to a friend, leave it on a bus, leave it at a hotel when you are on holiday). Eventually, someone will login and let you know where the book has got to, so it is not “lost forever”. I found the anticipation of hearing from my traveling book gave me permission to clear out hundreds of books that were just taking up space.
Anyway, as an offshoot of Bookcrossing, the community shares books it likes with like-minded people in a sort of virtual bookclub. Through the forums, one reader will offer a book to lend to others and you can “sign up” with the agreement that you will read the book and send it on to the next in line. There are all sorts of variations on this theme, and if you are really lucky, someone may even choose to offer you a book you are wishing for with no obligation involved.
Not only a great way to get books, but an excellent way to make friends. Have a look at the Aussie Bookcrossing site here.
2. Share your “must read as soon as it comes out” purchases with friends.
There are about three people in my family who like the sort of books I like. My Dad is a hoarder of books from way back and he always has something interesting to read. Unfortunately, as I have tried to expand my reading tastes, I don’t have enough time to read the thrillers, science fiction and fantasy. However, as we both like fantasy, we will normally both read all the books in a series. So now we tend to buy the books between us - whoever sees the new book in the series buys it and we both read through them. This effectively halves the cost of buying series fiction, where I want to read it as soon as it comes out. We have done this with the Harry Potters, all Robin Hobb’s books and Lian Hearn’s Otori books.
Through bookcrossing, I have also been involved with a group who are reading this year’s Booker short list. All six have been bought by one of the participants, and sent around the circle. You get your own book back at the end, and also get the chance to read all the nominees and discuss them with like-minded readers. This is infinitely better than buying six full-price books that I will never read again, and trying to persuade my husband to read them so I can discuss them (not his genre at all)!
3. Buy from second hand booksales.
I attended our church book sale today, which usually runs twice a year. Average paperbacks and hardbacks were $1, and big books were $2. Kids books for the young addicts were 50c. So I had a nice relaxing morning and walked out with a bag of books for $14. Not a big haul, as my to-be-read pile is about to fall on my children and seriously injure them, but enough to feel I won’t run out for a while.
But dedicated book sales are not the only source of cheap second-hand books. Remember opportunity (charity) shops, with their paperbacks often less than a dollar. We have a great one nearby that even arranges the books by author, so it is particularly easy browsing.
Also, trawl your local libraries for library sales. These are the premium of cheap books - often hardcover and lots of “literature” titles, already protected by adhesive covering, and dirt cheap (20c or less). You do have to watch for broken spines and missing pages, but the libraries around here often sell books that simply aren’t getting borrowed enough to make space.
Remember that popular books are popular, os they are usually pretty easy to find if you look regularly. You can also find a lot of rubbish, and you don’t have to look that regularly for that.
There are a lot of online book trading sites out there, but this is the one that I use, as it has the “currency” right and it is truly international. List all the books that you are willing to send to others and you get points. List ten books and you have enough points to mooch a book from someone else in your country. You pay (and receive) more points for international mooches. In Australia, a book costs $5 to post, so you are effectively getting another book for maximum of $5. And if you agree to post books overseas, you get three points, and it is uncommon for a book to cost $15 to send OS.
Remember that there are over 10000 books listed by Australians alone. This is an excellent source of books on your wishlist - books you can’t find second hand but really want to read.
5. Other trading sites
If you have the space, and believe in the power of clutter, then check out bulk book lots on ebay or freecycle. You can wild release or trade those you aren’t interested in, and you still get some good books to read.
6. Advanced Reading copies of New releases
I spoke about Early Reviewers in a previous post. If you get really excited by reading unsullied books, then give yourself a chance to get one of these books. Write a request each month, and eventually, you could win. (These books are not for resale, but you can trade them through bookcrossing or bookmooch, and get a “postage-only” book in return.