Thursday Thoughts ~ tagging some books

This "Rapid Fire Book Tag" meme was created by Kate at Girl Reading.  While I wasn’t tagged directly, Helen at Helen's Book Blog and Deb of Readerbuzz extended open invitations.

This meme is supposed to be quick bookish questions with quick bookish answers.  Fair warning:  I couldn't watch all of Kate's YouTube presentation as her constant hand waving was too distracting.  Following her YouTube video were several other young people doing "Rapid Fire Book Tag" videos, and I could not watch all of theirs, either.  I should have rearranged some of the questions because the order seemed way too random and illogical to me.  I also added reasons why I made some choices, so my answers aren't exactly quick or rapid.  On the other hand, the videos weren't rapid, either; Kate's original was 4.5 minutes, longer than it takes to read my answers below.  Other video answers ran even longer:  6 minutes, 11 minutes, 7.5 minutes, etc.  Okay, let's try it.

1.   E-book or physical book?

I prefer the physical book, unless I'm traveling.  Traveling is easier with my Kindle because I can take several books with me.

2.  Paperback or hardback?

Sometimes one, sometimes the other, according to how I'm using it.  I don't like holding heavy books when I read in bed.

3.  Online or in-store book shopping?

Online, because I can do it from home and I no longer have a car.

4.  Trilogies or series?

Neither.  I prefer stand-alone novels.  The original questions were composed by someone who apparently reads only fiction.  I read a lot of nonfiction:  memoirs, history, philosophy, theology, science.

5.  Heroes or villains?

Memoirs and nonfiction rarely have either of these.  I read for the ideas in book, not looking for heroes or villains.

6.  A book you want everyone to read?

My friends read different kinds of books, so I recommend favorites in various genres:

Social Science

• Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, 2014

Fiction

• Evensong by Gail Godwin, 1999

Memoir

• Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret, 1996

Speculative Fiction (SF)

• Time and Again by Jack Finney, 1970

Theology

• The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith by Marcus J. Borg, 2003

Children's Book

• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, 1982

YA Fiction

• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, 1962

Fiction (women's studies)

• Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1915

Memoir

• The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine by Sue Monk Kidd, 1996

7.  Recommend an underrated book?

I have no idea what is "underrated."  I recommend books I consider worth reading.

8.  The last book you finished?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 1868-1869  (in two parts:  Little Women in 1868 and Good Wives in 1869)

9.  The last book you bought?

Chair Yoga: Sit, Stretch, and Strengthen Your Way to a Happier, Healthier You by Kristin McGee, 2017.  I bought this exercise book for my Kindle.  I've been reading library books and books from my own shelves for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

10.  Weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark?

My Kindle, maybe?

11.  Used books:  Yes or No?

Sure, I was once co-owner of a bookstore selling used books.

12.  Top three favorite genres?

Literary fiction, memoirs, philosophical nonfiction

13.  Borrow or buy?

Buy, when I can.  Usually, I buy my nonfiction, but borrow fiction because I rarely re-read those.  Why waste money?  If I own a book, I can mark it up.  Or not.

14.  Characters or plot?

A novel needs both, but I especially look for interesting characters.

15.  Long or short books?

I prefer shorter novels that get into the story and keep moving.

16.  Long or short chapters?

Shorter ones, generally, though I am really tired of novels that follow different characters in alternate chapters.  That or alternating the main character in the present in one chapter and in an earlier time in the next chapter.  It's like trying to juggle two different novels at the same time.

17.  Name the first three books you think of:

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande .................... see all of
Time and Again by Jack Finney .................... these in my
The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg......... list above

18.  Books that make you laugh or cry?

Excellent books may do both.  Why should I choose?

19.  Our world or fictional worlds?

See?  The originator of this meme is thinking only of fiction.  Is it other-worldly to enjoy Jack Finney's Time and Again and travel into the past?  Or is that still "our world"?

20.  Audiobooks:  Yes or No?

No, I'm a visual person, and it's too much work to listen to an audiobook.

21.  Do you ever judge a book by its cover?

Sure, to warn me which books are too flighty to waste my time with.

22.  Book to movie or book to TV adaptations?

Not interested.

23.  A movie or TV-show you preferred to its book?

Not interested.

24.  Series or stand-alones?

Stand-alones.

I’m tagging anyone and everyone.  If you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.