Sean’s Comments (group member since Nov 05, 2007)

Sean’s comments from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.

In my time, I've attended five colleges (UW-Stout, UW-Whitewater, Winona State U, St. Mary's University of Winona, and UW-LaX)...none of them had anything that I'd consider "light reading" in their libraries...just a bunch of heavy, deep texts and non-fiction reference.

And if you're wondering, yes, my student loan debt is crushing me...

Come to think of it--if you're going to a larger school (or even a decent smaller school), there will be a second-hand bookseller within a short walk of campus.

Don't bring any books...just start a new collection once you get there. ;)

Second-hand stores are beautiful because you can collect cans on the side of the road and find enough for pocket change to get a decent read from a second-hand store.

...And in college, at times, that may be necessary.

Don't bother taking any books you've already read. Take small, lightweight paperbacks...and save shelf space. Textbooks take up available areas.

As far as recommendations: Grab a couple classics (to make people think you're smart).

I want to finish and publish at least two of the four books I'm currently writing. This will become much easier after I get done with all the headaches that go with trying to sell a house and buy a new one...

I've had times where I've picked up a book at the second-hand store on a splurge, tried to read it and struggled and gave up. Then, later on, when life was changing around me, I'd try to read the book again and it would really relate to my frame of mind, such as it would reinforce something I was feeling or give me something to rage against.

As a reader and an author, I hate eBooks. If you want to buy a copy of my book to read on your computer, more power to you, but there's something so sterile, so cold about reading a book via computer.

To me, a book is a relationship. An author writes it on paper, prints it on paper, and you as a reader connect with paper to read. There's something more appealing about a book...and a book's batteries never die on a New York to L.A. flight...

I try to get most of my books second-hand. I usually hit Book Review in Rochester, MN. once a week. When I lived in Madison, WI. there is no better store for that than the Book Peddler just off Mineral Point Road. If you're ever in the area, drop in--that's a place for people who truly put books in a place of honor.

If I can't find a book I want in a second-hand store, I order off internet sites. It's fast and I don't have to actually go near a mall. (Which I believe to be Satan's experiment in shopping...)

I live in Rochester, MN. and their library has a great second-floor lounge with chairs that face out toward the busy street and the river beyond it. I like going there because you feel you're above the noise, plus when you need a break, you can look up and watch people and cars.

When I lived in Wisconsin, I used to go to Food Court at West Towne Mall and read there. I like some background noise when I read. Plus, again--when you need to take a break, people watching rules. I also liked to go to Blue Mounds State Park. There was a campsite with a picnic table that overlooked the valley. I would sit there on weekdays. That site was never used during the week.

I have written about 15 books. Fourteen of those were utter dreck and never saw the light of day. The one I did publish (self-published) has gotten good reviews, even though I still feel like it was dreck, just not utter dreck.

I self-published it because I had been hacking away keyboards with the goal of writing a novel since I was in 7th grade. I figured I needed to finally get one out (I'm 33 now) or else I would never forgive myself if I was killed in a car accident or something.

I'm glad I published it; I'm happy for the reviews that I've gotten and I'm happy that I've done more than twice the sales of the average self-published book.

I'm working on four other books currently (one being a sequel to the first one), and I'm growing as a writer.

My desire to write a book came directly out of my love for reading, my envy of the genius of good authors, and my contempt for what I've felt have been horrid books that have still, somehow, been able to be published. (The "I-can-do-better-than-that factor.)

I think very few authors write their first book because of spectral voices "telling" them to do it. I think 99.9998% of writers write because they read...and they want to inspire the same imagination in others.

I won't loan out my hardcovers or my favorite paperbacks, but paperbacks that I've bought secondhand or don't care for, I either lend out believing I'll never see them again (if I get them back, it's a pleasant surprise), or I leave them in public places with one of those "take this and read it" book plates in the front.

Share the wealth, after all.

I have two copies of Tristan Egolf's "Lord of the Barnyard" (a talent that left this world far too early...). I also have two copies of "Jingo" by Terry Prachett, one paperback which I read, and one first ed. hardcover that was signed. I have multiple copies of several Shakespeare plays, as well. Bought because of the apocryphal information in the back, really. I also have two versions of Dante's "Infero."--one regular text, one illustrated.

Seth--incorrect. It was any of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire mysteries.

I just picked up "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss and I am loving it. I also have a couple of R.A. Salvatore novels and Craig Johnson's "Death Without Company."

"The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss

Next: Henry Standing Bear

I carry a book with me everywhere, even if I'm going someplace where I know I won't be able to read. I take one to the movies and I sit on the side of the theater, under one of the sconces until the movie starts, then I move to the middle of the theater. Sometimes, when I'm really bored, I go to the mall and sit in the food court and read just so I won't feel alone. When I'm reading something really good, I will purposely ignore my wife when she speaks. I'm also usually reading 3-4 books at any given moment. Right now, I have a fantasy novel going, a police procedural, a graphic novel, and I'm reading a YA novel to my daughter.

IS that "Fuzz" by Ed McBain?
I'm not 100% sure...

My favorite character name of all time:

Hiro Protagonist