Thursday, September 10, 2015

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic - Randomness

Because sometimes my brain just wanders off on its own when it gets tired of thinking about all of the things it should be thinking about, I've had all of these random bookish thoughts of late. Which, of course, I will now foist off on you. Because you're there. And maybe, by sharing, I can get them to stop rattling around in my head.

* As much as I hated the job I had for years that had become so mindless, I kind of miss it in a way because I used to be able to listen to books while I was working. Hours of listening to books guilt free! Now it can take me a month to finish listening to a book as opposed to the one week I listened to all 38 hours of Edgar Sawtelle.

* I was twelve, yes only twelve, pages into Black-Eyed Susans the other night when I knew that it was going to be a book I was not able to read in bed lest I have nightmares. Yep, that's how susceptible I am to being frightened by a book. Are you a scary book reader? If so, how do you keep from having dreams about them?

* I wish Goodreads made it possible to print off a copy of my to-read shelf so I could keep that with me when I'm in bookstores. Or is there a way and I just haven't figured it out yet?

* Speaking of Goodreads, I hardly use it any more other than as a way to track the number of books I've read. Which is kind of a shame given that it was one of my favorite sites for a long time and how I met so many of you. But, there's only so much time in a day and Amazon. Y'all know how much I'm not a fan of Amazon.

This shelf, at least, has been
reorganized!
* Half-Price Books may be my best ally in keeping my bookshelves culled. No, really. Every time I'm going to take books there to sell, I make a quick pass over my shelves to see if there's anything that I'm just not going to get to and add that to my box. Last time I went I took 20 books in and only came home with two new ones. Win, win. What's your best trick for keeping your book inventory under control?

* I keep thinking that I'm going to do a thorough reorganization and culling of our books but the fact that there are books on all three floors of my house is a major stumbling block. That's a serious workout I've got to be committed to before I can even do the mental work involved. All of this rearranging in my house lately has meant some shelves got a going over but not nearly everything. Do you keep all of your books in one place?

*Sometimes I go to my local library sale and don't come away with much. Although, to be honest, I'm really only looking at the audiobooks and latest releases. If I let myself go, I could easily come home with a wagon load every week. I like to stick to books that are already on my wish list and really like to find audiobooks which will allow me to get to a book that's already on my physical bookshelves.

This week I feel like I really did well. I found A Visit From The Goon Squad and Finn (which are both on my bookshelves), as well as Cry, The Beloved Country which I've been wanting to read for a long time. I found Revenge Wears Prada on the new release shelf for $2.50 but my big score was Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage. I must admit I got a little swoon to find Murakami!

6 comments:

  1. I do keep all my books in one place - my office/library. I am not a scary reader - and by that I mean that I don't seem to have nightmares from books. Not any more anyway. I'm just lucky if I sleep uninterrupted - hazard of getting older. Love Half Price books. Don't use Goodreads. And I love listening to books now. I've done it for many years, but moving to the country and the driving it takes to get anywhere has made my audio numbers go up and up. Have a good weekend!

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  2. I use paperbackswap to get rid of my read books but I'm not sure how helpful they are at helping me cull my bookshelves. I get as many from there as I get rid of! I keep my books in my bedroom on a few bookcases (and in some boxes under the bed) (and just under the bed wedged around the boxes)(and in some bags in the closest)(okay this is kind of a problem!) and it does make it a little easier to have them in one basic area but the quanitity is still a bit overwhelming. We also have lots of books downstairs but they're keeper shelf books that both my husband and I enjoy.

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  3. All my books are currently in one room and I can't imagine them being spread around the house! But I must know your Half Price Books secret--I always get so annoyed when I take a box of books in there and am offered like $5. So much so that I just took 4 boxes to the library instead.

    And yes to the audiobooks. I usually listen at 1.25-1.5x speed so that helps a bit but I know that when I'm home most of next year with the baby my listening will plummet again. Can you listen while you do stuff around the house? This week I've been listening in the evenings since Scott is gone--folding laundry, sweeping, tidying, handwashing dishes, meal prepping. It's been nice!

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  4. I'm not really into scary, scary books but I do like gothic style books which don't tend to have an impact on my dreams.

    However when I read The Historian when I was at uni I kept waking up at night thinking that there was someone in my room. I lived in the front room of a bungalow, and my room have a built in wardrobe with about 5 cupboards. I had too check all the cupboards to make sure nobody was hiding in them.

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  5. Goodreads: You can export your entire bookshelf to a spreadsheet and then use filters in Excel to show only books in the to-read shelf. You can export by going to your bookshelf and then click on import/export below the list of shelves on the left. Let me know if that doesn't work. :-)

    I just went to a library sale the other day and bought a whole bag of books. :-/ Not that I needed any of them, but you know.

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  6. I don't often read during actual work time, but during the summer on occasion I could sneak in some reading when it was slow. This time of year, that's impossible. I don't always even get time to read during my lunch break. :-( I'm already missing the easier pass of summer.

    I don't often dream about the books I am reading unless I am able to spend a huge chunk of time on the book right before bed. That so rarely happens anymore. Scary books don't necessarily bother me before bed, with a few minor exceptions like Elizabeth Haynes' Into the Darkest Corner.

    I generally only use Goodreads to keep track of books I've read. I belong to a couple of groups, but am not active in them.

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