21st Century Literature discussion
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Are you a book nerd?
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There should be a +1 for 'you are taking into account, when renovating your home, where to install shelving for many already read books'.
Terry wrote: "There should be a +1 for 'you are taking into account, when renovating your home, where to install shelving for many already read books'."Agree! Adding a library area with lots of bookshelves was a big consideration when we revamped the architect's plans for our home in Maine.
After moving books many times, I settled on re-purposing overhead kitchen cabinets. They can be stacked in different configurations; the doors keep the dust out and the must in.
Terry, that is hilarious - I totally do have a specific shelf where I put only unread books, separately from the rest.Lacewing, incidentally, I do the same. And then there are also childhood books holding up one cabinet because its legs got broken and it it just the perfect spot to hide the books cause I have nowhere else to put them anymore xD
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Kirsten wrote: "Anyone ever see those pics of Neil Gaiman's library? http://io9.com/5352953/take-a-peek-in..."Thanks Kirsten, that is impressive. And a stack of books in one chair and a cat in another. Perfect!
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Marc wrote: "It's a two-way tie for Ruler of Book Nerdom between Cassandra and Tiffany. May the best shelf win ;p":)
Just read An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine. Certainly a story about a "book nerd," a 72-year-old introvert living in Beirut. Single for most of her life, she worked in a bookstore and translated books into Arabic (for her own edification) by triangulating French and English translations. A poignant story with a chaotic setting. It was one of the five finalists for the 2014 National Book Award. If it sounds at all of interest, look at other reviews here on Goodreads and decide for yourself. I read it, quickly, in about a day. It is a book whose passages I could/will go back and savor.
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Lily, that is one of the nominations for our April Open Pick: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/5...
Whitney wrote: "Lily, that is one of the nominations for our April Open Pick: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/5...... ";-D Thx for reminding me, Whitney. I even had voted for it. [g] Sorry it doesn't appear likely to win. But, Station Eleven should be excellent (barring a last minute flurry). I just don't know if my April has room for much reading.
My score was 37. So glad I found Goodreads - after reading your comments, I feel quite at home! It's nice to be 'normal'.
Linda wrote: "30/51 ...I have roughly 50 unread books that I've accumulated in the past year or two since I've discovered the Goodreads reading groups, and have been grabbing used books on my TBR list as I come across them. ..."
Yep.. Goodreads definitely makes the TBR pile grow!
Annerlee wrote: "My score was 37. So glad I found Goodreads - after reading your comments, I feel quite at home! It's nice to be 'normal'."Yes, Annerlee, welcome to the land where your nerdiness is the norm :)
Tiffany wrote: "Yes, Annerlee, welcome to the land where your nerdiness ..."Sooo Cool!!
I read books which makes me a nerd.
39/51. You all have bookcases? I have stacks because I've been nearly killed by falling bookcases. I live like Homer & Langley, weaving around piles. Every now and again, a stack falls over and something wonderful is unearthed.
Question: Do you write in books? I can't bring myself to, I figure that's the author's job, and the next owner will hate me. On the other hand, I just looked at Nabokov's notes in his copy of Mansfield Park and was astounded. I fill mine with post-it notes.
Question: Do you write in books? I can't bring myself to, I figure that's the author's job, and the next owner will hate me. On the other hand, I just looked at Nabokov's notes in his copy of Mansfield Park and was astounded. I fill mine with post-it notes.
No, Ellen, I can't write in books. I keep lots of tabs handy to mark pages and often read a book with a pencil and paper to take notes, but write in a book? I don't think so. lol
Ellen wrote: "Question: Do you write in books? I can't bring myself to, I figure that's the author's job, and the next owner will hate me. ..."If it's a book I know I'll keep, and possibly refer to later, yes, I'll write in books. Otherwise, no.
I read once (possibly in How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading) that in order to "properly" engage with a book, you *must* write in it; otherwise, you're not really *thinking* and ingesting what the author is saying. I get that, in a way: you really want to think about what a book says, rather than just move your eyeballs back and forth; but I don't think I need to *write* in a book to properly be thinking about it. And it's not like I need to show my book to someone else as proof that I read and thought about it! This isn't high school!
Fiction books, though, I almost never write in, unless there's a passage that is particularly awesome, and I know I'm going to keep the book. But usually I just write down awesome passages in a journal.
Tiffany wrote: "Ellen wrote: "Question: Do you write in books? I can't bring myself to, I figure that's the author's job, and the next owner will hate me. ..."
If it's a book I know I'll keep, and possibly refer ..."
Precisely. Well put. Should I return in a future lifetime as Vladimir Nabokov, I will write with great abandon in my books. Until then, I'm with you. And on a re-read, I don't want to be wearing the cement galoshes of whatever thoughts I may have had on my first trek through the book.
If it's a book I know I'll keep, and possibly refer ..."
Precisely. Well put. Should I return in a future lifetime as Vladimir Nabokov, I will write with great abandon in my books. Until then, I'm with you. And on a re-read, I don't want to be wearing the cement galoshes of whatever thoughts I may have had on my first trek through the book.
Ellen wrote: "Precisely. Well put. Should I return in a future lifetime as Vladimir Nabokov, I will write with great abandon in my books. Until then, I'm with you. And on a re-read, I don't want to be wearing the cement galoshes of whatever thoughts I may have had on my first trek through the book.":)
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Oh, Marc, I can't dog-ear a page, either! lol Collecting book marks is rather fun.
All right. I'm new here, but I sense a metaphor coming on. When I was in school, before calculators became the norm (yes, before computers), you could tell a nerd because "he" (they were all he's) had a slide rule in the back pocket of his khacki slacks (pre-jeans!) and wore a plastic pocket protector in his shirt pocket where he kept all his pens and mechicanal and regular pencils, his compass, etc. I'm getting some sense here that there is a metaphor between these [largely] physics nerds and their accoutrements and a book nerd and their particular bookish practices. It seems we treat fiction differently from non-fiction; some of us seem to feel more free to write in a non-fiction book than in a book of fiction (or poetry? but no, one must mark accents, count syllables, denote internal rhyme, one MUST write in poetry books). This is some sort of priesthood, isn't it?
Book nerd question no. 1: Have you ever purposefully bought an out-of-print library binding of a book simply to see what library in the world it came from? My prize (one of them) is a non-ISBN-numbered Oxford University Press collection of Henry James Essays on Fiction with a bookplate from Howard University. Whose hands have held this book?
Book nerd question no. 2: Do you read library books with an unsharpened Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil in your hand to erase those unbelievable marks made by other people?
It's all right. (Book nerd question no. 3: Do you believe there's such a word as "alright"?) If I'm too much of a book nerd, I'll go...
Book nerd question no. 1: Have you ever purposefully bought an out-of-print library binding of a book simply to see what library in the world it came from? My prize (one of them) is a non-ISBN-numbered Oxford University Press collection of Henry James Essays on Fiction with a bookplate from Howard University. Whose hands have held this book?
Book nerd question no. 2: Do you read library books with an unsharpened Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil in your hand to erase those unbelievable marks made by other people?
It's all right. (Book nerd question no. 3: Do you believe there's such a word as "alright"?) If I'm too much of a book nerd, I'll go...
Ellen wrote: " ..."I'm trying to break myself of the habit of "alright." I'm trying SO hard to be a good grammar geek! (Wait, did we just start discussing a new category?)
I will sometimes erase pencil marks in library books, and I ALWAYS unfold dog-earred pages.
I've never bought a book just to find out what library it came from, but when I buy used books online, I do think it's a thrill to see what libraries they were in (So no, don't buy specifically for that purpose, but do enjoy the end result). I also like finding books with names in them--previous owners or library borrowers. Sometimes I'll google them and see who they are now :)
And yes, you MUST do the poetry scansion and rhyme scheme!!
Tiffany wrote: "Ellen wrote: " ..."
I'm trying to break myself of the habit of "alright." I'm trying SO hard to be a good grammar geek! (Wait, did we just start discussing a new category?)
I will sometimes erase..."
You guys are a lot of fun for nerds!!
I'm trying to break myself of the habit of "alright." I'm trying SO hard to be a good grammar geek! (Wait, did we just start discussing a new category?)
I will sometimes erase..."
You guys are a lot of fun for nerds!!
Ellen wrote: "You guys are a lot of fun for nerds!!":)
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Never made an effort to order a library binding, but I do adore libraries. I actually like seeing the markings/inscriptions in library or used books (as long as they don't obscure the text) and don't ever attempt to alter them. I will try to tape or repair damaged covers or bindings. I think of "alright" as a slang spelling...
I do find dog-earring or writing stars in the TOC helps me keep track of which poems or short stories I liked most in a single volume.
Bookmarks breed like bunnies!
I've never bought a book for the reason you asked, but I do adore libraries--actually, I buy very few books anymore as I am getting old and trying to downsize my life. I don't read with a pencil in hand, but do erase pencil marks when I find them.
My book mark hutch definitely needs downsizing, too.
Anita wrote: "I've never bought a book for the reason you asked, but I do adore libraries--actually, I buy very few books anymore as I am getting old and trying to downsize my life.
I don't read with a pencil ..."
Me, too, Anita. I had largely culled my book collection, and then somehow got it in my head that I had to own a copy of this, and that, and the other thing, when I moved into The Home for the Befuddled. I am terrified of sitting down in the day room with the rest of my Befuddledites without a book in hand. But I have to stop now, or they won't take me.
My bookmarks must be all male or all female; at least, they have no offspring. I'm always on the scramble for more.
I don't read with a pencil ..."
Me, too, Anita. I had largely culled my book collection, and then somehow got it in my head that I had to own a copy of this, and that, and the other thing, when I moved into The Home for the Befuddled. I am terrified of sitting down in the day room with the rest of my Befuddledites without a book in hand. But I have to stop now, or they won't take me.
My bookmarks must be all male or all female; at least, they have no offspring. I'm always on the scramble for more.
I am an adult, yet I read children's books. I am a thorough nerd.
21st Century Literature
Books mentioned in this topic
How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading (other topics)Homer & Langley (other topics)
Mansfield Park (other topics)
Seiobo There Below (other topics)
Station Eleven (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Rabih Alameddine (other topics)Rabih Alameddine (other topics)
Neil Gaiman (other topics)
Neil Gaiman (other topics)
Very dependent on the situation. Often the oldest among a bevvy of grandchildren, too young to be included in the adult conversations, too old to want to play the games of the younger children, I'd often find the quiet corner and read -- yet sometimes close enough to eavesdrop on the adults!