Where have I been?

If you read my blog you may have noticed I haven’t posted in quite a while! Where have I been you ask? Have I forgotten how to read? Essentially I have just been really busy. I have taken a break from work to do a third degree and had a baby!

So, have I been reading? Yes, a lot actually, but it has mostly been textbooks unfortunately. In the last few weeks I have started reading for pleasure once more, (mostly in the middle of the night when I am up with the baby) so I will start updating the blog again!

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How do you read two books at once?

So, I accidentally started reading two books at once. Accidentally you say? Well, sort of. My husband had left a book lying around for a few months and it looked interesting so I picked it up just to quickly look at it. It turned out it was pretty good so I carried on reading it even though I was in the middle of another book.

Before this I have actively tried to read two books at the same time just once and I gave up pretty quickly. In that case I wasn’t really enjoying the book I was in the middle of so I thought starting another one would be a nice break and allow me to go back and enjoy the first one more. In the end I gave up on the first one pretty quickly after starting the second one. So, this leads me to wonder, how do people read two books at once regularly?

The online book community shows that a lot of people read multiple books at the same time really frequently but how does it work out? If you pick up two books, any two books, the chances are you will like one more than the other, so what stops you just giving up on the one you like the least like I did? Do you try to pick two you think you will like equally? If so how do you go about that? There are a couple of Mitch Albom books I would say I like equally but then there are a couple I like less than those ones, so even with the same author it can be hard to find books of equal interest to you. 

July Reading Wrap-Up

So, the end of another month….. This month I have posted only one book review and sadly no, it isn’t just because I have suddenly become terrible at getting around to writing reviews, I haven’t been reading. I do always have a book on the go, so I am in the middle of one but I just haven’t been getting through books the way I normally do. I’m not really sure why I’m not reading as much, I’m just not doing it. I guess I have been a little busier this month but still, one book is pretty lame for me. I think I just haven’t been finding books that interest me that much, and even those that seem quick and fun and like they might get me back into reading end up being far too long and just putting me off even more.

Anyway…. here is the link to my one review.

Hopefully August will be better!

Hidden Figures, Book Vs Movie

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So, I have recently come back from holiday and on the plane I watched the movie Hidden Figures. Now if you have read my review of the book, you will know that I was a bit disappointed by it. In general, I find books to be better than their movie counterpart, but not always, Lolita is an example of the movie being better than the book in my opinion, and Hidden Figures is another one.

With the book Hidden Figures, I felt there was too much maths for someone who isn’t a mathematician, and it made things just drag a bit. In the movie however, it was more limited and what was there was sort of romanticised. 

Why do so many adults read YA?

Personally I usually don’t really like YA (young adult), but I know a lot of adults do, why?

Now generally a book is considered YA if the main characters are adolescents, so in the book they are doing things that adolescents do. So, why do adults like reading about what kids are doing? Is it a nostalgia thing? Is it an escape from “adulting?”

The language in YA is usually very simple, so they are generally pretty easy reads. If you are reading for enjoyment you likely don’t want to slog through difficult text so it’s understandable to want something simple. Simple language also often makes things a quicker read which I guess could be another appeal. Adult books can be pretty easy reads too though so that can’t be the only reason some people choose YA?

Does age matter when reading?

Does your age matter when you are reading? Now by that I don’t mean should you only read at certain ages, I mean does how old you are have an impact on your enjoyment of reading particular books? Of course, adults aren’t going to love books meant for toddlers, but I’m talking about “proper” books.

Most books have a target audience, at least in terms of age, so if a book is aimed at people older or younger than you does that mean you wont enjoy it? Personally, I usually don’t like YA or “new adult” and of course I am not the target audience there. How about classics? They are forced on most kids at some point during school and “average” kids often don’t like them. Why? My guess would be the language. Usually it is more difficult than with modern books so can be an effort to get through to get to the actual story. When people go back to read classics as adults however, those same people often enjoy them. Why? By that stage they have been exposed to language a lot more so perhaps they just automatically find the language easier to understand and can focus on the story? So, that would suggest age really does matter.

What do you look for in a book cover?

So, I recently did a post about judging books by their covers, because lets face it, a lot of us do it. What is it though that you are looking for when you do that?

Another recent post was about different editions where I said that I basically pick the edition that is prettiest, but what makes a book “pretty” or not to you, what matters? Big words? An unusual font? Bright colours? Realistic pictures? More cartoon like pictures? Is it more just the general overall look rather than a specific thing you look for?

I think for me it’s more the overall look that makes me like a cover. I guess I wouldn’t be very helpful in a publishing focus group! If I compare the books I have with covers I love they are all actually really different. Most of them are all quite colourful but the colours really vary, as does the general artistry. There is one thing they have in common though….none of them have photos of people on the covers. The only ones that have people in any sense are the Penguin deluxe editions of the classics and some of the Harry Potter books.

Different editions…

So, when you see a book you like how do you decide which edition to buy? Obviously sometimes there isn’t a choice, at least in actual bookstores other than maybe hardcover or paperback, but when there is a choice what makes you pick one edition over another?

Take Harry Potter for example, there are so many editions! I actually don’t have a matching set of all seven books, I have a boxset of the first four and then bought the rest as they came out. I want a matching set of hardcovers and I have just picked the ones I find the prettiest, well the two sets actually and in each set I like all the covers. Two sets I suppose isn’t crazy but what if you like say five or six sets, what do you do? Buy them all? Just buy one set? How do you pick that one set? What if you love some of the covers in one edition, but don’t like others in the same edition? Do you buy some books in one edition and others in another?

Why am I thinking about this? Well, I have started getting a few classics. Classics, like Harry Potter come in a huge number of editions. Some are just boring and I would only buy them if I just wanted a really cheap one to see if I like the story, but there are a lot of really nice editions too.

Beautiful Bookstore

Like most in the online book community I love going into a bookstore (even though I love the convenience and prices of Amazon).

Recently I went to a bookstore in Bath, in the south of England that was really beautiful. I have also been to one of their other branches in St Andrews, in Scotland.

I thought I would just show a bunch of pretty pictures of the stores for you all to enjoy! The shop is called Topping and Company Booksellers and they have branches in Bath, Cambridge and St Andrews. They have a website with a few more pictures too. They aren’t the cheapest but they seem to have a lot of signed copies and they wrap all the books in clear plastic to protect them which I really like. I still have the plastic on my illustrated Harry Potter even though I read it ages ago! They even offer you tea to drink while you browse!

Bath

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Everyone knows the old saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” but do you stick to it?

Surely bookstores rely on people judging books by their covers? When you walk into a bookstore, what else makes you pick up a book if not the cover? With some books you might have heard about them somewhere or recognise the author’s name, but that can’t be the case for most books, for most people. So if not the cover what else is there, at least in terms of picking up a book to find out what it’s about?