The Rory Gilmore Book Club discussion
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Where is your favorite place to read a book?
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The dog ear thing got me in trouble the same way, I'd have to re-read the entire page and try and REMEMBER what I wanted. I am uber curious about the magnetic book markers though and think one of you fantastic people should inform me...
That being said, I tend to use either a highlighter, a pencil or a pen depending on what kind of book it is, and what the text is. If that makes any sense lol.
Mod
They have a really, really cute line of magnetic bookmarks at B&N. You get 4 in one. They totally rock! I was looking for them online, but only find kind of lame ones. I'll have to look at the brand when I go back to the store and let you know.
Mod
Dee, I got them at B&N. There are really fun designs (for kids and adults). They're about the size of a stamp and kind of flip open to fit the page(s) inbetween (I'm going from memory here as I bought them for everyone else but myself. doh!)I like them because of their fun designs. But it's good to know that they work well too. If memory serves as well, they weren't unreasonably priced either. But I never actually buy bookmarks so I really don't know what unreasonable is--I just use whatever scrap of paper is lying around (usually an old receipt or postcard or used envelope).
I used to dog-ear (even library books, sorry!). But I tended to do that with only paperbacks. I still reserve a certain reverence for hardcover. Now I use paper, but I may have to invest in those magnet thingys because paper always falls out.
Mod
I use scraps of paper or receipts or whatever i have around. I don't usually dog-ear or use bookmarks (unless that's what's lying around). The only books I've ever marked up are textbooks. Otherwise, I have a journal I write notes and quotes in while I'm reading.
I'll dog-ear a page that has something I've underlined (no highliters for me either). I really like the idea of the journal Arctic - I think you just inspired me to get one so I can write my favorite quotes in it. =)
Same here, Tiffany. The dog-earring is in addition to the underlining, not instead of it. But it's easier to go to a dog-eared page than to flip through the book to try and find the underlining.The nice thing about the magnets is that they came in a set of four, so I can either mark four different places in the same book, or use one to mark my page in four different books. I like them because they can't fall out like a regular bookmark or a scrap of paper.
That same brilliant and fabulous person also gave me a really special bookmark from China, and once I was using it on a plane and it fell out and I didn't notice it. Another passenger picked it up and gave it to me. I would have been really upset if I'd lost it. Now I only use it in my bedside book, which is a book I don't take out of the house.
Mod
Yep! I just haven't had a chance to use it yet so no stories. But they will come eventually! :)
My wonderful husband just built me a new bookshelf! So today I'm going to spend some quality time fixing up the room and making it my little reading den. There's a desk and a daybed and two bookshelves in there. I want to go to Target and get a bunch of pillows and some great lamps and candles and stuff and make it a comfy place to sit and read. Plus I get to rearrange the bookshelves! That's always fun. The OCD in me loves rearranging things.Anyone have any ideas for making it a cozy library-like room?
Oh Sarah, your comment about rearranging the bookshelves for fun made me laugh because I'm constantly shuffling my books around. I can never quite get them "just so." What a doll your husband is, building you a bookshelf - now that says LOVE. Have fun fixing up your library!
Well, it was a bookshelf from Target, but he put it together! He was so proud of himself too. He's a creative-brain type, so when he does something with his hands he feels all manly. It's cute.
Mod
Ooh, a quilt's a great idea, Alison! I have one my mom made when I was little.Any other ideas? I'm going to Target later. All I can think of are aromatherapy candles and lots of good lighting.
You should totally get cute frames for some favorite pictures of loved ones, or special places, or whatever. They can perch on the bookshelf or on the wall and remind you of all of your favorite things, which will relax and happify you in your special nook.
A good lamp. Reading light is essential. And definitely a place for coffee and a plate of cookies (or whatever muchies). I hate reading hungry! You need your sustenance!
Mod
I think candles are a great idea, and a little table for the refreshments is key, like Meghan said. I have too many books to add pictures on my shelves (though I do have one of a cutie patootie named Jade in front of my books on my one deeper shelf). I really like a less-is-more environment because all that stuff can be a distraction... just a clean, comfortable space is perfection. Comfortable is obviously paramount, but it sounds like you have that covered.
I'm total OCD when it comes to organizing and decorating, too... but I did have a Home & Office organization business once, so that was probably a good thing for me at that time at least. However, having a really incredibly small space makes it VERY hard to do. So I'm also constantly arranging my books. Unfortunately I have boxes of them in storage. So annoying! One thing that having a small space does for me, since I cannot abide clutter, is to cause me to continually purge. It's so refreshing! Just not my books. Can't possibly do without them.
Hanging photos is a great idea. I have tons of cutie patootie Jade (my goddaughter!) and friends and family.I just rearranged my books!! They're probably organized in a way that only makes sense to me, though. All my classics and modern classics are together, followed by literary fiction. All my Christian fiction series are together (Left Behind, etc.). All my childrens/young adult fantasy series are together (A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, Narnia, LOTR, Artemis Fowl, Golden Compass) followed by other children's/young adult books and all my L.M. Montgomery books. All my self help-type books are together, followed by other nonfiction (like my memoirs, collections of essays, and politics). Finally I have all my fluff books together: my chick lit, my mysteries, my John Grishams, my Dan Browns, etc.
I am pleased to report that my classics take up the most space! This is big progress for me. Once upon a time the fluff would have been the highest percentage. But classics and childrens/young adult seem to be what I have the most of.
I also cleaned out a boxful of books to sell or give away, books that I know I will never read again and have no reason to hold on to.
Thanks, Ashley. I haven't read most of my classics (just bought about 20 of them on B&N's clearance sale) but having them there means I will read them someday. I'm trying to read at least one a month. January was Northanger Abbey and February is Cannery Row.
I think the secret to filling those bookshelves with classics is to opt for the really big multi volume hardcover sets--i.e. Sir Winston's 6 volume history of WWII (I have the Chartwell edition) or Dumas Malone's 6 volume biography of Thomas Jefferson, also in hardback.Is this cheating?
;)
Tom
Mod
I know, Alison! I have Volumes I and II of The Complete Sherlock Holmes and I never feel I'm done!
Well but with Holmes you're done after each story!I actually *am* done with the Jefferson biography; However I'm in 1941 in Sir Winston's book--just before Pearl Harbor. Loooong way to go...
T
Getting back on topic tho, my fave place to read a book now is my brand new sleigh bed with all new bedding picked out the "guy way" -- you find a bed in the store with bedding you like and say "give me that stuff"!;)
It is so much better than my old bed which had a tendency to fall apart (when i was in it *alone* i hasten to add!!!)
Tom
I love to read AT THE BEACH!! Definitely my favorite place..but I don't get to read there often.Next, I love to read in:
my bed :) preferably with my dog next to me :)
my bathtub :)
I love to have the TV on, too...I'm not really listening to it, but it's comforting somehow.
I love to read on a comfortable chair with my feet up, a cup of hot tea and with no one around. I actually get alittle pissed off if someone disturbs me or I have interrupt my book to eat, sleep or do something constructive. This happens mainly because I'm an college student so the only time I get to read for pleasure is over breaks. So when those precious moments come, I'm always reading a book I've had my eye on for months. Don't get me wrong, I'm an English major so I get my fill of reading over the semesters but sometimes the reading list is just not my cup of tea.
I have a 1 1/2 year old little boy who is very active. My only chance to read is when he asleep. I greatly look forward to his nap time. I put him down and immediately go to my bedroom to read on my bed. I usually fall asleep after an hour. My bed just relaxes me to read. I also enjoy reading on my belly a lot because when I was pregnant I couldn't lay on my belly. That is usually the only way I read. My reading time is a luxury and I don't take advantage of it.
Mod
But tonight with the rain outside is the best. If only I had a comfy chair to curl up in. :( And some tiny marshmallows for some hot chocolate! Well, I'll figure something out.
i have the best lawn chairs, and every night during the summer, I'll grab a beer or a glass of wine and sit outside (no phone!) until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. It's so relaxing, which makes it easier to concentrate and enjoy the book.
Michele, I love reading while it's raining, too. It's so relaxing. We don't get much rain down here in So Cal but when we do (like last night) I take advantage of it.
1. In bed with a big cup of tea or coffee near me2. In a municipal transport (buses or trams), if I find a good place and there is no lot of people.
3. On a bench at Planty Park in Cracow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planty_Park)
4. When spring is warm enough and in summer on Błonia Park (biggest meadow in the middle of a large city - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%82o...)
I would have to say that looking back my absolute favorite place to read was in my bedroom (at that time) in front of my open window ((if winter with a cup of tea and wrapped with a blanket)) with Enya or Nora Jones playing in the background. Next would have to be at a park I would always walk to. I would sit on the steps and just enjoy the good weather. **That was when I was in High School.**Now I love to lay in bed with my husband and read together. Or we sit in the backyard on a nice day.
My favorite weather to read in would also be rain. Tiffany, I also live in So. Cal. so I also understand how precious rain is and you have to take advantage of it when you can!!! :-)
When I was a teen, my favorite place to read was on my bed in my room--my own little world and sanctuary. I think most of all I liked the quiet--I do not like noise while I am reading (and even though I love music, that counts as "noise" when I read; don't know why since I love music in movies to help set the tone...) The only thing I am okay with is the sounds of nature; I also used to love reading outside on the porch as my family has five acres in the country and it was very peaceful and beautiful. Now, I like to read on the couch in our living room (if my husband isn't home (absense of noise, haha!)) or in my den if he is, though I do still like the bed for night-time reading. So snuggly!
PS I especially love to read when it is raining!(And, as I noted some threads got into bookmarks and such--I detest dog-earing and use post-its or bookmarks or postcards...or just remember where I was. For college I used post-its a lot! Thank goodness the sticky-stuff lasted or I would have spent a fortune!)
Due to recent back problems, I read mostly in bed. The other day I was wondering why, when I read in bed, I tend to extend my right leg but cock my left leg so that my left foot rests against my right knee. Then i realized that that's where my dog, Blue, whom we lost in June, would curl up. When we would get into position, we would both sigh - sometimes she'd sigh first, sometimes I would, sometimes we would do it together. It was our shorthand for the fact, even if one of us had gotten up the others nose during the day, that all was now forgiven, all was now right in our world.
I read In bed, on the couch, wherever I can, even walking on the street. This is a habit from my childhood and brought me a lots of bloody noses :)! But it never changed! I can´t say how many pages a day I read in average but if a book really grips me it´s finished in about 3 days. No matter how many pages there might be!
Either on my bed, or in this big red chair in my bedroom, or on one of my big blue recliner chairs in my office, or outside with my cat;) (actually, my cat will sit with me pretty much anytime I read;>)
Sigh, Deb. Yeah, I miss Munchkin any time I'm in bed or reading--he was always up for a snuggle and nap!
There's something about pets and books, isn't there? I think for them it's a time when they know "their people" won't be getting up and walking all around the house, and they can really relax because you're right there and won't be going anyplace for a while. And for "us people" (at least for me) it's equally relaxing to have a furry friend to keep you company. We lost one of our cats almost exactly a year ago now, and I still miss him (he was 19, so a very good life!). But, happily, I've still got another cat just as wonderful (and just as into books;>)
a few places I like to read:1) OUTSIDE..i really like reading outside..parks..on a blanket in my yard..on a bench..anywhere.
2) next to my fireplace
3) in this really comfy round chair I have with my blanket on me..especially nice if it is snowing outside and I can see it out my window or if i can hear the sound of rain.
I love reading in my comfy sofa in my livingroom or in my bed, just before going to sleep, but I have other favorites as well:1) a nearby park on a warm day
2) the library, because the library near me has a café and you can sit either on the terrace or inside in a sofa with a nice drink and read books there.
Which the sun would shine on more days, because it rains a lot in Belgium and although I like reading on rainy days, I can"t sit in the park and read quite enough.
Ohmygosh, Kristel, your library has a CAFE and a terrace!? That is so very cool. I will definitely have to visit a library if I ever make it to Belgium!
Ah, geez, Kristel -- you made me SO homesick for Belgie just now. The Provinciale Biblioteek (I think I messed up my Dutch spelling there -- but you know what it should be!) in Hasselt was remodeled and expanded while we were living there and there is the most wonderful glassed in reading and study room upstairs living room furnishings in one section and tables and chairs in the other -- and these open from the magazine and newspaper area which has coffee at one end to serve yourself -- and rainy lovely Belgie days were perfect when we went to hang out there and sip and read. I want to get back for a visit so badly I can almost taste it at times!
Mod
Mod
Most of the time I read on the bed or on the couch. But I also like to read in any place where I can. I get travelling sickness easily so I unfortunately can't read in cars, but I do read on trains, they don't cause the sickness for me (I take a train quite often to go to visit my dad). When I've had summer jobs etc. I've often read in the lunch break if I can escape needing to be sociable. And when the weather is warm and good (ie. not so often here in Finland) I like to read in parks. I live close to very nice little parks that are perfect for reading on a good day. I also have a balcony where I like to sit and read, but that also requires nice weather so that I'm not freezing...I use bookmarks a lot, and I like to have real, pretty bookmarks that I buy from museum shops when travelling or just from any bookshop that has something nice. But I'm always misplacing my bookmarks, so when I can't find a free one, I use a postcard or a theatre or movie ticket for a bookmark.
Katri, that totally reminds me of one of my favorite GG episodes, where Rory always reads during lunch at Chilton. Then the headmaster tells her she needs to be more sociable, and she tries, only to end up getting in trouble even though she'd never have socialized with that group of kids anyway. I love it because at the end she gets to go back to reading during her break - so perfect!!:D
Now I have those fantastic magnetic bookmarks too (thanks to a really brilliant and fabulous person) and I'm addicted. Seriously. What am I going to do with all my other really, really hip-and-cool bookmarks now?