Now this week’s Booking Through Thursday question is near and dear to my heart, and you’ll see why from the answer I give to the question.

What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The “gift aura?”

My favorite book I ever got as a gift was “Nancy Drew The Mystery of Crocodile Island.” It was the first Nancy Drew book I ever got, and our next door neighbor gave it to me for my birthday. She’d actually noticed that most of the time when I was in the yard, I had a book with me instead of playing on my swing set, and decided since I loved to read, a book would be the perfect gift. She was right and the gift inspired a love of Nancy Drew books. I was a mystery kid from the word go!

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Ok, so here are the questions for this weeks Booking Through Thursday….

What was the last book you bought?

“Kisscut” by Karin Slaughter

Name a book you have read MORE than once

Stephen King’s “The Stand” Uncut version

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

Wicca - A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Scott Cunningham

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

Usually whatever catches my eye as I walk by.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Fiction - I have enough reality to deal with. LOL

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

Gripping plot - I can’t finish the book of the plot sucks.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

Lestat/ Vampire Chronicles

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

“The Friday Night Knitting Club”

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

“A Faint Cold Fear” by Karin Slaughter - finished it on 10/10/2008.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

Yes I have - several times.

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Well well, here we are, another Thursday and for once I am on time for Booking Through Thursday.

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?

And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

The first Sci-Fi book I ever read was a very strange one. I can’t remember the name of it anymore, but it was very very weird. It involved the telling of a story 3 times, in 3 different ways, and all I remember about it was that the title involved some sort of cat and that it had a lot of extremely odd sexual scenes in it. It was extremely odd in my opinion and I never read it again - I can definitely say I shut it with a shudder the instant I was done.

I’m not opposed to new books, new authors, new genres. I just get a little weirded out when things are REALLY in left field.

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It’s time again for another Booking Through Thursday post. This week’s question is a good one.

Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school–does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

I find that since I don’t have kids, my reading time stays about the same all year long. Right now however, I am finding that with Halloween approaching, I’m more inclined to curl up with a mystery or horror novel, but I’ll read just about anything any time of year.

The only real change is that with Christmas fast approaching, I find myself doing a little less reading and more crocheting and knitting as I try to get Christmas projects finished in time for wrapping before they go under the tree. But all in all, my reading time stays about the same all year long, as do my habits for what I read.

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This week’s Booking Through Thursday question really got me thinking about the kinds of books I read. Here’s the question:

Today is the 7th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I know that not all of you who read are in the U.S., but still, it’s vital that none of us who are decent people forget the scope of disaster that a few, evil people can cause–anywhere in the world. It’s not about religion, it’s not about politics, it’s about the acknowledgment that humans should try to work together, not tear each other apart, even when they disagree.

So, feeling my way to a question here … Terrorists aren’t just movie villains any more. Do real-world catastrophes such as 9/11 (and the bombs in Madrid, and the ones in London, and the war in Darfur, and … really, all the human-driven, mass loss-of-life events) affect what you choose to read? Personally, I used to enjoy reading Tom Clancy, but haven’t been able to stomach his fight-terrorist kinds of books since.

And, does the reality of that kind of heartless, vicious attack–which happen on smaller scales ALL the time–change the way you feel about villains in the books you read? Are they scarier? Or more two-dimensional and cookie-cutter in the face of the things you see on the news?

Truthfully, the majority of books I read that have actual villains in them are usually “supernatural” in nature. The villains are usually vampires, warlocks, witches, or people with some sort of psychic powers that they’re using for evil not for good. Or it is just plain Evil that is the villain in the book.

I’ve never been one for Tom Clancy books or his type of books. Most of my books involve things that although in some cases it *is* possible to do those things, most of them are so far-fetched that there’s not a possibility of it. So I would have to say that 9/11 has not affected the types of books I read at all.

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Here is this week’s Booking Through Thursday question -

I was looking through books yesterday at the shops and saw all the Twilight books, which I know basically nothing about. What I do know is that I’m beginning to feel like I’m the *only* person who knows nothing about them.

Despite being almost broke and trying to save money, I almost bought the expensive book (Australian book prices are often completely nutty) just because I felt the need to be ‘up’ on what everyone else was reading.

Have you ever felt pressured to read something because ‘everyone else’ was reading it? Have you ever given in and read the book(s) in question or do you resist? If you are a reviewer, etc, do you feel it’s your duty to keep up on current trends?

Actually, yes I have felt pressured to read something because everyone else was reading it. When my strict Mormon friend started reading Harry Potter books, I finally decided it was time for me to read them. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with them, and although I managed to read all the way through the first 2, I have never finished the series. Other than that, it was the Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal back in elementary and middle schools that I read, because everyone else was reading them. The difference there was, I enjoyed the Sweet Valley and Canby Hall series books, as well as Babysitters Club books.

Right now, I want to read the Twilight series, not because it’s popular but because upon reading a blurb on the Twilight book, I wanted to read it. My only issue is I can’t afford the books right now, and they’re not available on PaperBack Swap. LOL

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This week’s BTT question is:

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really have one. Most of the books I read focus mainly on female characters. If I honestly HAD to choose one, I’d probably have to say Lestat. He’s arrogant, he thinks he’s always right, he’s vicious, and he’s a vampire. What more can you ask for? And….Stuart Townsend played him in Queen of the Damned. YES!

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Well, late though I am, it’s time for yet another Booking Through Thursday. This time, there’s an interesting question.

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

If price and storage space were equal for paperbacks and hardbacks, I’d still pick the paperbacks. They fit in a purse, they don’t have dust jackets that get lost, and they’re easier to hold in my hands. I agree with Joana that for display purposes when it comes to collecting an author or series, that hardback looks nicer, but other than that, I’m not a fan of hardback books.

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Yes, it’s late. Oh well. Here’s the Valentine’s Day version of Booking Through Thursday.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

Well, frankly, I’ve fallen out of love with Danielle Steele. I used to love her books and I collected them as each came out. However, over the years, I’ve come to notice that the scenery and characters change, but the general gist of the stories don’t. Huge tragedy in which someone finds love in the ashes. After a bit, it got boring to me. So I quit reading her books. She became, to me, a read one - read ‘em all author.

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