Booking Through Thursday: Travel

When you travel, how many books do you bring with you? Has this changed since the arrival of ebooks? 

I normally take 1 or 2 books, since I hardly get a chance to read them anyway (hey, it's vacation!)

I don't have an e-reader, but I do want one for travel. My last trip was one I took to Texas for a month-long vacation in August. I brought like... six books (which I didn't end up reading because my best friend kept me too busy), because that's normally the usual amount I can get through during a vacation. Maybe even more if I had more downtime. And don't forget the air-time travel.

So, I was coming back home from Texas and with all the souvenirs I bought, my bag was overweight. My purse and backpack were already stuffed with other things; I couldn't possibly put my books anywhere else. I did NOT want to spend $25 overweight fee's over a $7 book! I had to carry my six books in my arms (which was a total hassle during security) and onto the plane. This problem would have tooootally been avoided if I had had an e-reader. My horrible experience is pretty much what's making me really, really want an e-reader now. :(

Booking Through Thursday: Day and Night

“I couldn't sleep a wink, so I just read and read, day and night… it was there I began to divide books into day books and night books,” she went on. “Really, there are books meant for daytime reading and books that can be read only at night.” 

-The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera, p. 103.

Do you divide your books into day and night reads? How do you decide? 

I don't normally divide my books into day and night books. I just read one book at a time, usually. Whenever I can spare time to read, I'll read, regardless of time. I don't normally read all through the night, except for books that have me really hooked (the Vampire Academy and House of Night series come to mind :P). I do, however, try to save the more scary books for the daytime. I can't do horror or scary AT ALL, and I'm pretty sure I'd freak out too much if I read them during the night. Twilight scared me when I read it at night. Pathetic, right? 

What about you all? Do you guys divide your books into day and night? Let me know! :)

Booking Through Thursday: Disaster!

You’ve just dropped your favorite, out-of-print book into a bathtub, ruining it completely … What do you do now?

I'd turn into a Mexican soap opera celebrity. 

I'd try to catch it, screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" in slow motion. I'd nearly miss the book with my fingertips as it splashes into the steaming bath water. My thoughts would be paralyzed with panic and I'd stare at the place my book had submerged at, then once time and my mind unfroze, I'd fish it out as rapidly as I could. Without drying myself off, I'd lay the ruined book on the floor, get on my knees, and scream up at the ceiling, "POR QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?!?!??!?!?!". I'd start sobbing over the loss of my out-of-print book. RIP book.

Events are based on a true story.



I thankfully doubt this would happen, though, because I would never read in the bathtub. After my first mishap over my favorite book, I decided it'd be best to never try that again. 

Booking Through Thursday: Film to Paper

Even though it’s usually a mistake (grin) … do movies made out of books make you want to read the original?

 The short and simple answer I have for this is yes. 

While I normally try and avoid movie versions of books, I seem to find myself in the theater for those books, anyway. I like seeing the nuances of each version, and how the book is adapted onto the screen. Sometimes, even, a movie helps me get a visualization for a scene I found hard to imagine in my head. For example, castles. I'm a horrid visualizer of castles. If you all could see what I picture as a "castle" in my mind, I'm sure you'd all be appalled. I couldn't picture Hogwarts at all until I saw the movies.

Anyway, back to the question. Even if I don't particularly enjoy a movie adaption for a book, seeing it makes me want to run out of the theater and read the book right away. For example, upon watching the Twilight and Harry Potter movies, I had to go through marathons of their books within the next few days [if only to see what had been inevitably cut out, and to revisit certain scenes in the book and see how they were depicted]. If I hadn't read the book, but know a movie is adapted from a novel I haven't read (ex. Charlie St. Cloud), I'd want to go out and buy the book right away. I even become aware of the existence of some books/series through their movies's previews (ex. The Lightning Thief, based on Percy Jackson and the Olympians). So, yes, movies cause me to run like mad to the originals out of sheer curiosity (and love if I'm acquainted with a series before the movie).