Weekly Poll 12/16/09: Favorite Genres

Getting back on my blog feels like coming home after a long trip--I've missed my blog while I've been busy the past week grading, preparing for finals, writing a presentation, and presenting at a conference in Poland.  Even though I returned from Poland just in time to attack ten stacks of grading work that I need to do, I feel quite calm now that I was able to take the preparation work for the conference off my to-do list.  I can return to a more normal schedule, one that includes visiting my beloved blog more often.  It's so lovely to click on the website and know that my blog will be there waiting for me. . .  And I thank all my readers for their patience while I was away (both physically and mentally).

The poll question from two weeks ago was this:

When it comes to your reading choices, do you have a favorite genre?

Naturally, the two answers to choose from were "yes" and "no."  The results are in (and have been in for a week), and 100% of responders answered "no."

I find this interesting because going into the question, I thought that most readers would have one genre that they preferred reading in over others.  My initial response to the question was that I was sure I had a favorite genre--I just had to put some thought into which one I preferred most.  I thought and thought and realize my so-called favorite genre changed with my reading mood.  Some days I prefer reading young adult books, other days I prefer reading any kind of fantasy book, and yet other days I prefer reading books that fit into a genre all on their own.  I used to be the type of reader that picked up one book and read it from start to finish before starting another book.  Now I've turned into the type of reader that has several books started and reads whichever book suits her fancy for the day.  I'm currently reading The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman (and still loving it), Sherlock Holmes by Sir Conan Doyle (I'm making my way through the complete works), and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.  These three books only have one thing in common when it comes to genre: They are all works of fiction.  So perhaps my favorite genre is simply "Fiction," as I tend to read much more fiction than non-fiction when I read for fun.  But can "Fiction" be a label for reading choices?  I feel like it's entirely too broad to say much about my reading habits (and I feel like using it as an answer is kind of cheating), yet it's the only one broad enough to fit in all my favorites.

The next poll question is up (or will be in about five minutes), so be sure to head over to the left-hand sidebar to get your answer involved in the next weekly poll discussion.

Happy reading in whatever genre suits your fancy!

My Love Affair with THE ICE QUEEN

Read sometimes for the story....  Don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that.  Read sometimes for the words--the language.  Don't be like the play-it-safers that won't do that.  But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.  --Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis

This quote from Stephen King makes my breath stop--it does more than just take it away, it makes it impossible for me to breathe while my body processes the words.  I am the type of reader that gets carried away with books and their words and their stories.  When I read a good book, I forget that there is a world outside, and I crawl inside the book and live there until I'm finished with it.  I have posted before about how my favorite books are those that have both content and style; I take King's advice and treasure those books.  A while ago, a colleague of mine recommended that I read The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman, and I started reading it a few weeks ago.  The book is so beautiful that I find I'm picking it up in spurts and enjoying it slowly, much like I would a gourmet dessert that I want to make last as long as possible.  I read a few pages, type out all the memorable quotes I encountered in those pages, and then reflect.  I can't push myself to go any faster because I don't want the book to be over too soon.  It's 'joie de lire' at its best.

The book is about a woman who is struck by lightning and survives; her story really begins after the lightning strike, which allows her to open herself up to another person--a fellow lightning strike survivor.  The story is intriguing because it revolves around a woman whose life is mundane at best, yet Hoffman crafts it with such love that I find myself drawn to this woman's story.  The book is so well written, that I find myself wanting to know what it feels like to be struck by lightning so that I can better commiserate with the main character.  I think that's one of the highest recommendations I can give a book--it makes me want to be struck by lightning, and not in a bad way.  The book has rendered me speechless, so instead of focusing on my own musings, I'm going to let Hoffman's words speak for themselves.

Hoffman's descriptions of characters rarely rely on physical traits but rather on personality quirks and beliefs and actions.  One such instance of character description through thought is the following paragraph, which is told from the main character's viewpoint:

I didn't believe that people got what they deserved.  I didn't believe in a rational, benevolent world that could be ordered to suit us, an existence presumed to fit snugly into an invented logic.  I had no faith in pie charts or diagrams of humanity wherein the wicked were divided from the good and the forever after was in direct opposition to the here and now.

As a person who doesn't regularly focus on outward appearances as the definition of people, I appreciate her attention to providing truer descriptions.  Later on in the book, she describes a man as beautiful, but never once stops to justify that description physically but instead focuses on how he is beautiful because of his energy--his raw magnetism.

The main character is a librarian, so Hoffman also provides descriptions of books, reading habits, and libraries.  One description that got my attention is how the character defined her brother in terms of his reading choices; while she is a fan of fairy tales (Grimms' fairy tales--not Andersen's), her brother is not.

He'd always had some comment to make: Genetically impossible for men to turn into beasts.  Ridiculous to imagine that a woman could sleep for a hundred years.  Absurd to think the dead could speak in rhymes and the living could make wishes that come true.  But the logic of fairy tales was that there was no logic: bad things happened to the innocent, children were set out in the woods by their parents, fear walked hand in hand with experience, a wish spoken aloud could make it so.

I like how she boils it down to "the logic of fairy tales was that there was no logic."  This analysis provides more description of the character by showcasing her belief that life is not fair and people do not get what they deserve.  It also shows the distinction between her and her brother: her brother prefers logic while she prefers the illogical.

Hoffman's descriptions of events are also spell-binding.  In the following passage, she describes the moments just before a man (a roofer) got struck by lightning:

Halfway through his work, he heard a hissing sound, and he found himself thinking of hell and whether or not he might end up there, if such a place existed.  His fingers started to tingle.  And then he saw what he thought was the moon falling from the sky.  But the moon had a tail, and that was surely a bad sign.  It was ball lightning; it fell on the roof and rolled down toward him.  It looked like a comet headed straight for him, a blue-black thing that was as solid and real as a truck or boot or a living, breathing man.  The roofer thought he might be face-to-face with the devil himself, that fallen angel.  He thought about everything he hadn't yet done in his life.  All of a sudden owning a dog seemed like the most important thing in the world.

Hoffman is realistic in her depictions of what people think, and I love how the man's last moments before being struck go not toward his family or his life or anything of great importance but instead toward the fact that he had never owned a dog.  I tend to wonder if lives actually flash before people's eyes or if people who say that are just too afraid to admit that their thoughts zoomed in on something insignificant during what could have been the last moment of their lives.

Hoffman also poses fascinating questions through the character's thoughts:

Could you walk into fear as one person and come back as someone else entirely?

If an ice age could be triggered by trivial shifts in the earth's orbit, what might be wrought by a woman in tears?

Are people drawn to each other because of the stories they carry inside?

When I come to questions in the book, I have to stop reading and put the book down to give myself time to think about what is being asked and how I would respond.  Oftentimes, the questions will be followed by the character's thoughts on the issue, and I like to work out how I feel about the questions before I find out how the character answers them.  It's a great thinking practice, and the book is making me more philosophical than I often am.

Happy reading and savoring your treasured books!

Weekly Poll 12/2/09

The voting for the last poll question I asked closed a week ago, but I am just now getting around to writing about the results.  With the holidays and the end of the semester and life in general, I let my blogging slide--so much so that I barely remembered to write this post today, and I only have 46 minutes left before it's no longer Wednesday.

The question asked what you would like to receive if you were to win a contest on a book blog (one much like mine); out of the four choices, which were a book, book paraphernalia, a gift certificate, and other, all the votes were for the same one: a gift certificate.  I find that a wise choice, seeing as how it's not much fun to win a book if you've already got it or if you're not interested in reading it.  With a gift certificate, you get the power to choose, and isn't that something we Americans treasure?

The reason I asked that particular question is that I'm toying with the idea of doing a contest on my blog, and I wanted to find out what my readers would be most interested in receiving as a prize.  With only two votes, I only know what two of my readers want, but I have a sneaky suspicion most readers would agree with the assessment that we'd rather get money to spend however we'd like than get a specific prize.  It's like being on a game show and having the ability to take $15,000 in cash rather than the car that you don't really want.  When I decide exactly what I want to do with the contest, I will keep in mind the fact that my readers would appreciate gift certificates.

Thank you to those who voted, and remember to check out this week's question, which is posted in the left-hand sidebar.

Happy reading and voting!

A Short Break

Between the holiday week and the end of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I disappeared for the past few days (if you hadn't noticed).  I plan on getting back on schedule next week, once I take the rest of the weekend to celebrate my completion of writing a novel in one month and to breathe before the short holiday break is over.  Thank you for being patient while I celebrate/breathe.

I'll see you again next week, when my normal posting schedule will resume.

Happy Thanksgiving!

MadLib Monday 8: 11/23/09

It's the beginning of a new week, which means it is time for the weekly edition of MadLib Monday.  At this point, I'm assuming you know what to do, but if you need a refresher, check out past postings of MadLib Monday.

1. verb
2. subject (in school)
3. noun (plural)
4. noun (plural)
5. verb (present participle [-ing])
6. adjective
7. place
8. subject (same as #2)
9. noun
10. noun (plural)
11. adjective
12. adjective
13. noun (singular)
14. verb
15. noun (plural)
16. adjective
17. adjective
18. verb
19. noun (plural)
20. noun (plural)
21. noun (plural)
22. noun (singular)
23. location
24. verb
25. adjective
26. verb (present participle)
27. noun (plural)
28. noun
29. adjective
30. noun

As an interruption in the MadLib fun, please remember to check out the poll question of the week that is located in the left-hand sidebar of the blog; as usual, I will be posting the results of that poll on Wednesday.

I have been told to ___(1)___ the ___(2)___ curriculum relevant to the ___(3)___ of my ___(4)___.  I am ___(5)___, though, that my ___(6)___ girls at ___(7)___ like ___(8)___ precisely because it has no ___(9)___ to their ___(10)___.  They like nothing better than a(n) ___(11)___, ___(12)___ ___(13)___ to ___(14)___.  They write the ___(15)___ on their palms in ___(16)___ ___(17)___ ink and ___(18)___ the ___(19)___ . . . like ___(20)___ counting their ___(21)___.

When it comes time for a(n) ___(22)___ they line up at the ___(23)___ to ___(24)___.  I lean against the ___(25)___ tile wall ___(26)___ them as the ___(27)___ fill with pale blue ___(28)___ and the ___(29)___ words run down the ___(30)___.

Can you guess what book the above picture and passage were taken from?

Answer to last week's MadLib Monday: The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman.

Happy reading!

Ingredients of a Reader

Not too long ago, I overheard a student speaking with a fellow English professor; he said he knew he was meant to be an English major because he could "read a book--any book--in three days or less."  I had to stifle a laugh when I saw he was being serious.  It is interesting to me that students have these misconceptions that to be able to study English successfully, one simply needs to be able to read fast.  Thinking about that misconception started the spinning of my metaphorical hamster wheel, and I began thinking about being a reader in general, specifically about how many of us tend to live under the misconception that reading fast and reading a lot is all it takes to be a reader.  Unfortunately, we tend to forget to ask the important questions like, "Do you interact with the books?" or "What about reading is important?" or "What changed after you read that?"

Lately, I haven't had time to read as much as I would like to.  I barely made it through Something Wicked This Way Comes in time for an evening book group discussion on it.  Now that I've finished that, though, I've only been able to make it through the first three chapters of the next book that was on my reading list.  When life moves too fast, my reading time suffers.  I worried that not reading enough would somehow make me less of a reader.  I worried that I couldn't claim to be a reader if I didn't have time to read.

Yet when I do talk or write about books, a passion blooms inside me and leaves me feeling satisfied yet more open to possibilities.  Reading books fulfills me yet pushes me to start new journeys.  There is a certain inspiration borne from reading that I can't duplicate in any other activity, and that is what makes me a reader.

So I don't count how many books I read in a week, a month, or a year.  I don't care if the person next to me is reading faster than I am (unless that person is reading out loud and spoiling the ending for me).  What I care about is that I spend quality reading time with my books.  I want to know that what I am reading is making a difference in how I think about language or relationships or authors or maybe even life.  I want to know that when I do have the time to curl up with a book, I breathe in the 'joie de lire' that comes with it.

What makes you a reader?

Happy reading!

Weekly Poll 11/18/09: What Attracts Us to Books

Which part of the cover attracts you most to a new book?


1.  The blurb on the back cover.
2.  The picture/design on the front cover.
3.  The font used on the cover.



After a slight decrease in votes (eek!), the results show that 25% of voters are most attracted by the blurb on the back cover while the remaining 75% are most attracted by the picture/design on the front cover.

Part of my motivation for asking this question is that I wanted to make sure I wasn't alone in defying the whole "don't judge a book by its cover" warning.  First impressions are huge for me, though, which is something I think authors need to be hyper-aware of when it comes to choosing designs for their book covers.  I am, in fact, not alone because other readers are also attracted (or repelled) by the book cover (*sigh of relief*).  The blurb on the back does help, but it is typically the cover that initially draws me in.

The first time I saw the cover of The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman, I wanted to buy it.  In fact, I loved the design of the cover so much (and the title helped, too, since I am infatuated by dead languages) that I bought the other book the store had on its shelves of Carol Goodman's: The Seduction of Water.  After I bought the books, they sat on my shelves at home for nearly a year before I read them, but when I did, I was delighted to find that the stories held between both books' covers outshined the covers themselves.

You may not be able to tell from the picture above, but the water on the cover creates a shiny surface.  Between the dark color scheme and the shiny surface, I wanted to buy the book if for no other reason to decorate my shelves.

Another cover that attracted me to the book is the cover of Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  Again, once I got the book, it sat on my shelf for a while before I picked it up to read (a sad side-effect of having too many books, I suppose); however, when I did read it, I fell in love.

The girl hugging her knees in the middle of a fantastical garden is what grabbed my eye on this cover.  She looked so lonely, yet I wanted to be her.

Throughout my postings, you may have noticed that I tend to gravitate toward certain authors; I know I do, but I am not ashamed of my bias.  As a reader who only has so much free time to devote to reading new books, I am grateful to my list of favorite authors, who I can count on to produce books worth the time it takes to read them.  Because of that, I shamelessly plug for them every chance I get.

What books' covers have attracted you the most?


As a side note, the new poll question is in the left-hand sidebar and will be there until next Wednesday at noon.  In preparing for doing my first ever blog giveaway, I want your feedback on what type of prize you would most like to win on a blog giveaway.  This could affect you if you are the winner, so please make sure you vote!