10.02.2012

Book Confessions

My favorite book of all time is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

I wanted to be just like Francie Nolan and read all the books in the library, starting from authors who's names start with "A". 

I used to go to Barnes and Noble and write down quotes from my favorite books. My friend and I would spend hours doing this some nights.  

My dad used to leave me at the library as he ran errands. I used to love chilling in the beanbag chairs and reading Choose Your Own Adventure books (the only ones short enough to "finish" before he picked me up). 

My aunt is a librarian. I want to be just like her when I grow up. 

Even when I go camping and have to carry all my things on my back, I always carry a book (and sometimes two!) I carried a book while hiking the Himalayas. 

I own about two dozen Lonely Planet books.

I am a member of two online book clubs.

My first library card was a piece of paper with my name typed on it. I recently went back to my childhood library and asked them if they would still take that one. They made me get a new one (I still have the old one though!) 

My mom is my reading inspiration.

My grandma is too. Plus her house smells good.

I remember going to visit my grandma in Massachusetts in the summertime and we would take a walk to go to the pond to feed the ducks, to the penny candy for some loot, and always to the Library! 

My favorite books I had to read in High School: The Three Musketeers, To Kill a Mockingbird

The Jungle made me become a vegetarian. For 15 years.

Some of my other favorites not from high school: Les Miserables, Hiroshima, Corelli's Mandolin

In 2011 I read 66 books.

I never read the Babysitters Club.

I did read Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and lots of VC Andrews.

My favorite childhood authors/books were probably Beatrix Potter, CS Lewis, Shel Silverstein, Charlotte's Web, Winne the Pooh, and Paddington Bear

Childhood Books

This year I have spent $0 on books. That is not to say I haven't WANTED to spend money, but so far, I have abstained.

I went to Oscar Wilde's grave site in Paris.

My brother got me a Kindle for my birthday last year. I love it, but I still love real books!

My next book on deck for reading is  Alice Schroeder. It weighs about 47 pounds. It is NOT on my Kindle. I may need a chiropractor when I am done lugging it around in my purse. Hopefully it will be a quick read. It's only about 700 pages.

I cannot read more than one book at a time. I don't understand people who are reading two or three at once. 

There are 218 titles on my Goodreads "to-read" list. For every one I take off, I add two more.

I read the Red Badge of Courage in Spanish.  It took me about 8 months.

Little Women made me cry the second time I read it. I was on an airplane. It was a little bit embarrassing. 

I do read books more than once.

I have never read Moby Dick. It's on my Kindle though.

I am a late bloomer. I don't usually read books until they have been out for a while (I just read The Handmaidens Tale this year).

I will read anything. I do love a good murder mystery, WWII historical fiction and books that teach me something without being boring.

I am a book hoarder. I recently gave away 4 boxes of books. I still have plenty more.

Some of the Plenty More

I just checked 6 books out from the library. It was not on purpose. They were all put on the hold shelf at the same time. I probably will not finish them all before they are due.



Current Library Haul -- Run + Buffett

I think I've read almost all of Stephen King, John Grisham and  Elizabeth George's books.

I am currently reading

I almost always finish the book I am reading, even if I don't like it. There have only been a couple books I did not finish. One of them was Catch 22

I keep a list of the books I've read each year.

Right now the only reading I am doing is on the bus. This equals about a half an hour a day. It is not enough.

I love how the Kindle has a built in dictionary. No more penciling in the margins!

*Inspired by Amy and Rachel.

Are you a reader? What's your favorite book? Confess your reading "sins"!

12 comments:

  1. I love love love reading books. I have 11 boxes on my basement full of books. I read favorite books sometimes once a year or every couple of years. They are like old friends. My husband is not a reader and I think he gets jealous of how much time I can spend reading. I really do adore it though and adore you so much more since I know you are a bookworm too :)

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  2. I love love love to read too. Lately I haven't been reading as much. I need to get back to it and step away from the computer and read a book instead. For some reason I can't focus on a book. Maybe I just need the right book.

    I keep track of my books too, I use Good Reads to keep track.

    I used to have a book club, and I was usually the only one that read the book every time.

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  3. Love love love that I read this post this morning. As a reading/writing teacher, YOU are what I dream about my students becoming...Life long readers/writer. I wish I were more like this...I do write but I've dropped the ball on reading so much lately. Quit my book club, I'm in 5 different books at once and getting through 0 of them! But this was the week I made a goal to read again...more often. So good for the brain. And I rarely read blogs the past couple months...at least not avidly...lots going on. But in my skim of my blog role YOURS was the one I decided to read before picking up my book. And you know what book is right next to me that I'm about to read? A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Ha! yay! A sign that it is a good pick for me. Oh, and Chi Running...I know, more than one book. I'm trying the 1 fiction 1 nonfiction things. :) And I wish I kept a list of what a read...maybe I'll do that too...I have my students do that (when I was teaching)...they had a list of books they read, liked, loved, ....all sorts of lists in their reader's notebook...a place to write quotes and parts that touched them deeply, etc. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration. :) I might have to share this on fb in a bit. xo

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  4. I am a huger reader, so I loved this post! My favorite book, geez I like people history of the US by Zinn for history, what to eat for nutrition and my all time favorite would probably be East of Eden!

    great post!

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  5. I will absolutely stop reading a book if I don't like it! I figure there are plenty of great books out there and I don't need to waste my time by reading ones I'm not crazy about :) I also have about 9 books out from the library right now because all my holds became available at once!

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  6. I've heard about a tree grows in Brooklyn, but haven't read it yet. Will have to check it out now! :)

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  7. My favorite book of all time is The Lord of the Rings.

    I *did* become a librarian. I came to it late, but better late than never.

    Marshall Ulrich's book is next on my reading-about-running list.

    Right now I'm listening to the audio of To Kill a Mockingbird on my commute. It's so good.

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  8. Oh, books! I love them so! I'm not surprised that you spent so much time in libraries and bookstores in your younger days. I loved when I was a kid and we would go to visit my granny because we got to go to the bookstore and get one new book. My favorite book is probably The Baron in the Trees. I'm hoping that in about a year my Italian is good enough to read it in the original.

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  9. You already know I'm a big reader too and that I love World War II historical fiction as well. I read Nancy Drew and Sweet Valley when I was younger too. I'm about to get a Kindle. I've held off for a long time because I love real books but a few publishers I review for offer digital versions that I could immediately download to my Kindle so I think it will be worth it. Do you like yours?

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  10. I love this post! I wish I read more than I do. To Kill a Mockingbird was also my favorite "assigned" book, but I had already read it before it was assigned :-) And I read the Babysitters Club *and* Sweet Valley High books. My favorite was the Sweet Valley saga that spanned generations and was a little bit historical. Most of the books I read these days are chewable, but you've inspired me to try to read some more grown-up material.

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  11. Lol re: Snowball. I would need to get that on my nook or I'd need to visit a chiro after reading it. ;)

    I loved the Babysitters Club books when I was young, especially the super specials that were extra long! I also love the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but only read it 4 years ago so was a late bloomer when it comes to that book. I love Tuesdays with Morrie and try to read it once a year.

    I will have to do this on my blog!

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  12. I am a bookworm and always have been. Since I got my Nook earlier this year, I read so much more. Even the paper books. It's kind of funny.

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