what we have here is a failure to communicate

Today’s BBAW meme is all about your own personal reading-related quirks. I’m going to try to answer this list of questions using just 5 words. Practicing brevity. 🙂

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?
Not usually, but sometimes twizzlers!
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
Before: horrified. Now: yellow highlighter.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
Dog-ears???!! Never. Tattered old bookmark. (Is “dog-ear” one word? Oh well.)
Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
The best (hopefully) of both.
Hard copy or audiobooks?
Hard copy – and NEVER electronic!
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
Any point, but always reluctantly.
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Hmm, should start doing so…
What are you currently reading?
The Guermantes Way – Marcel Proust
What is the last book you bought?
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
Sometimes two, more is overwhelming.
Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Reading at work is fun! (Cute answer, but of course I prefer reading while lying around in the afternoon sun, or tucked up in bed in the middle of the night.)
Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?
Stand alone – hate cliff-hangers.
Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?
Ursula K. LeGuin=totally terrific.
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
Right now? It’s completely random. (But someday I want my books to be organized alphabetically by author’s last name, and grouped into fiction/non-fiction. I want the non-fiction to be sub-categorized by topic. I also like the totally opposite idea of organizing my books by size, or color. If I ever get my “library room” I have the feeling it will be organized in a variety of ways as time passes. That scene from High Fidelity comes to mind, when Rob is reorganizing his records, backwards chronologically, or something!)

I want to add my own question to this – do you keep reading-related lists? I LOVE making lists, and throughout my life I’ve kept lists of the books I’ve read. They used to be more elaborate – I copied the form used in bibliographies and supplied all kinds of information. I often rated books, using various systems. Right now I simply write down the title, author’s name, and date published, organized by month. I’m also keep a second list, where I keep track of the country of origin of the author (I got this idea from One Swede Read). So far this year I’ve read books by authors from 14 countries. Not bad!

What kind of lists, if any, do you keep?

Happy reading!