I read, therefore I am

I made an interesting discovery today: my voracious reading habits are actually useful. The current pick for my book club is The Plague by Albert Camus and, while reading it, I have been able to pick out instances of absurdism (as a literary device, not just as absurdity) as well as indirect references to George Orwell (who is listed as an influence for Camus in the Wikipedia entry).

Had I not been forced to read 1984 in Grade 12 or chose to study Edward Albee in one OAC English class, I would not be nearly as knowledgeable on absurdity or the Orwellian view of society as I am now. And - voila! - I now have an example of how this is helping me. Hurrah!

There. Now I feel so much better about my booknerdishness.

So proud!

Today on my lunch hour, I went into a bookstore and I purchased...nothing. Nada. Not one single, solitary book. I walked in, I looked around, I picked up books, I read descriptions, I perused the remainder table and then I walked away.

I. Am. So. Proud.

That's not to say I wasn't tempted. I contemplated a few books today:

Night by Elie Wiesel

The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

Invisible Prey by John Sanford

Our Gods Wear Spandex: Secret History of Comic Book Superheroes by Christopher Knowles (this was actually considered for my beau, not myself, but I would totally steal it from him and read it cover to cover)

I also discovered this book and what is one of my favourite covers in recent history. I would buy this book for the cover. Seriously. I have done that before. The fact that I am also interested in reading the book doesn't hurt either.

I purchased this book based primarily on its cover, but it's a Roald Dahl book, so was there really any worry about quality? It should also be noted that I HATE snakes. But Roald Dahl is worth it. That said, everyone should go buy this book now. NOW. Don't be strong like me. Cave to the pressure of the written word!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!

Why hardcover is hard

I'm still slogging my way through Late Nights on Air and I don't know why, but this book just hasn't grabbed my attention the way I hoped it would. I can handle books that move a little slowly or that spend time developing characters and showing character interaction. In fact, I appreciate a well-written book that does this, and Late Nights is one of them. But it just isn't grabbing me.

Wait...scratch that "I don't know why" bit from the last paragraph...I have a pretty good idea why I'm not getting into this book as readily as most and it has nothing to do with how it's written; as petty as this might sound, it is the format of the book that is holding me back. My copy of Late Nights on Air is hardcover. Generally, I don't do hardcover. (For the record, the book was a Christmas gift from my mother and I did request the title, knowing if I received it, it would be in hardcover. So I guess I did bring this on myself.)

Don't get me wrong - I can appreciate the beauty of a hardcover book, complete with dust jacket. And with the various finishing techniques that are used on the jackets and covers, hardcover books are often very pretty to look at. One recent book of note is The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, which has a sturdy cover with a die-cut shark and no dust jacket. Even though I have not yet bought this book, I may have to buy the hardcover version just because it's so damn cool.

Cool or not, I just find hardcovers awkward to read. I like to read in bed and holding up a hardcover is tedious and sometimes more effort that it's worth, particularly when I'm tired. But since I like to read before going to bed, I'm more likely to grab my latest issue of The Hockey News than Late Nights. And hardcover books can be heavier, meaning carrying them with me to read on transit or in a coffee shop is (literally) a bit of a pain.

My preferred format is trade paperback and I will often wait for books to be published in this format before buying them. Okay, trade paperbacks tend to be the same size as the hardcover version, but the spine is softer so it's easier to hold the book open and they are a bit lighter so it's easier for me to transport them and the covers (sans dust jacket, which I always remove anyways) can be just as neat as the hardcover predecessor.

But I've already got Late Nights on Air in hardcover and I've already begun reading it, so I will soldier on and finish. It just might take me a bit longer than I'd like.

The List #1 - Some of the worst

I'm in a list-y kind of mood, as noted in a post on my autre blog so I thought I'd carry on here.
Here I give you...

10 BOOKS THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED
(In the order that they pop into my head)

10. Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen
9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
8. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
7. The Revenge of Kali-Ra by K.K. Beck
6. Bleeding Hearts by Jack Harvey (who is really Ian Rankin)
5. Roughing It in the Bush by Susanna Moodie
4. That really bad book of poetry by Margaret Atwood I had to read in university.
3. Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth
2. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

This list was much harder to make than I had originally anticipated. Funny how that is. I've read a fair amount of books and plenty of them have been not-so-great, but since this list is books I think should never have been published, that's a new level of badness. Although it will be equally as hard to put together a list of the best books, as it takes a certain kind of specialness to be considered "the best". I'll have to start on that list now and see where I end up...