It’s been a long while since I participated in Booking Through Thursday, so here we go!

How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

As long as they relate to the text and illuminate it in some way, then I am fine with illustrations. I really enjoy when they add to the reading, such as the illustrated Book of Negroes; you read about a plant you don’t know of in the story, and there is a lovely illustration of it. Where I didn’t enjoy sidebar images and asides was Generation X; some of the stuff were just little doodles, cartoons, random witty headings. The problem was they only made sense if you read the text, read the sidebar notes, then reread the text to see how it applied.

I love illustrated non-fiction. My favourite flipping/read-randomly book is The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. There are so many themes and play-on-words within Shakespeares’ plays as well as period-references that lend very well to an illustrated companion.

I don’t like illustrations when they dictate what the characters look like or exactly what a scene looks like. I think that the writing should be able to do this and stand alone. However, I recall my Literature 12 textbook having a number of illustrations, particularly for The Canterbury Tales. In this sense, I felt that illustrations of people were very poignant because the text itself is ironically flattering.

On the other hand, I also have to say that I would never buy a cookbook or knitting/craft book that didn’t have photos. And, in the case of illustrated young adult books, I think that it is fantastic to be able to visually balance the text, especially for reluctant readers.

I suggested a question for Booking Through Thursday back in March when I saw an article online: “2 out of 3 Britons have lied about the books they’ve read“. I am flattered to have another question of mine chosen for Booking Through Thursday.

Two-thirds of Brits have lied about reading books they haven’t. Have you? Why? What book?

I want to take the high-and-mighty road and say I haven’t, but truth is I probably have. Normally it’s because I haven’t read the book and I’m embarrassed and just kinda nod and smile in the conversation, agreeing like I have read the book. The second circumstance is where I’ve not finished and I’ll lie and say that I have. It’s a shameful thing… but I don’t know why we feel we need to lie. There are hundreds of thousands of great books out there, and there is no way we’ve read them all.

According to the article, the most commonly lied about books are: “1984 – George Orwell (42%),War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (31%),Ulysses – James Joyce (25%),and The Bible (24%)… Many admitted wrongly claiming they had read other “classics” including Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Herman Melville.”

I’ve actually read 1984 (no lies!), I’ve not read War and Peace or Ulysses but they are both on my “Classics TBR” list. I’ve not read The Bible from cover to cover, but I have read passages from it. In fact, my copy is the copy my mom used when she was a little girl in school. I will admit that I’ve not yet read any Jane Austen, but I desperately want to. I’ve ready some poetry by Emily Bronte and I definitely want to read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I think I started several Charles Dickens novels when I was younger (ambitious Elementary school kid) but they were beyond my reading level and I put them down. I have read a few Hemingway books though.

There are several excerpts of great works that we read in Literature 12 in high school that I would love to go back and read completely, including Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales. If you take a look at my TBR List here on the blog, I am quite honest about what I have read, want to read, and own (but not yet read).

Well, I haven’t participated in Booking Through Thursday for a while! Here’s a quick one because I gotta get back to work.

Which do you prefer? Yes, I know, some of these we’ve touched on before, and some of these we might address in-depth in the future, but for today–just quick answers!

• Reading something frivolous OR something serious? —— depends on my mood
• Paperbacks OR hardcovers? —— both
• Fiction OR Nonfiction? —— fiction
• Poetry OR Prose? —— prose
• Biographies OR Autobiographies? —— neither
• History OR Historical Fiction? —— historical fiction if we’re talking about novels
• Series OR Stand-alones? —— both
• Classics OR best-sellers? —— both
• Lurid, fruity prose OR straight-forward, basic prose? —— depends on the book
• Plots OR Stream-of-Consciousness? —— plots
• Long books OR Short?—— medium I suppose. 300-500 pages is a good length. but if it’s a good book, it doesn’t matter really
• Illustrated OR Non-illustrated? —— no preference
• Borrowed OR Owned? —— depends on the book
• New OR Used? —— no preference

I missed last week due to crazyness, and I haven’t blogged much this week just because I haven’t felt the desire too. However, both last week’s and this week’s Booking Through Thursday questions were great, and I’d love to share my thoughts.

“How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?” (02/19/09)

I may be a total nerd (well, maybe not considered so in the literary community) but I arrange my books by Author Last Name. I like that I can easily find whoever I’m looking for. I have two long shelves that run the length of my bedroom’s northern and eastern walls near the top crown moulding. They’re nearly full, and I’ll be moving soon so I’m thinking of getting floor-to-ceiling shelves, but I suppose I’ll have to see how much space my new apartment(!) has.

ETA: Marina brought up TBR (To Be Read) books! Those don’t go into my regular shelves until I’ve decided that I want to keep it. Those are piled all inside my bedside table, which is just a 2-shelf table on wheels that was supposed to be a printer/office sidetable.

Collectibles: Hardcover? Or paperback? Illustrations? Or just text? First editions? Or you don’t care? Signed by the author? Or not?

I only have a few books I would consider collectibles, and it’s usually just a book I cherish. Is it sacreligious that I would read my ‘collectibles’? I would definitely recomment hardcover for collectibles just because they’ll last longer and are often more attractive with a dust jacket. If I was going to go to the trouble to get something signed by the author (we don’t get many big names doing readings here) I would make sure it was a first edition hard cover copy.

Since “Inspiration” is (or should) the theme this week … what is your reading inspired by?

This is such a fantastic question, but I’m a little ashamed of my answer. I’m heavily influenced by media, rave reviews, and recommendations. It’s not that embarrassing as it can be a great way to get book suggestions; however, I used to just go to the library/bookstore and pick what looked interesting. Nowadays I am wary of wasting my time and money on something that doesn’t bring enjoyment.

In the past year or so, as I’ve gotten more involved in the book blogging and publishing communities, I have found I’m reading more popular fiction. Because of the line of work I’ve gotten into, I’m being exposed to more local British Columbia and Canadian authors. This is absolutely fantastic actually. There are a number of books I hear about in the book blogging community that just don’t tickle my fancy, and I do use my personal judgement when it comes to reviews and media attention. I guess I’m just not finding as many “unknown gems” as I used to.

On the flip side, my reading is inspired by the stories, the journey, and the love of words. When I read an extremely well written book, I always feel inspired to write my own hidden novel. My reading is inspired by books; as soon as I finish a story, I’m already considering what I want to read next. I tend to enjoy variety (unless it’s a series), so if I read a fantasy novel, the next novel I choose might be something historical.

I could go on and on and on about reading inspirations and inspirations to read… but I have to get back to work. This has been a long bathroom break. ;)