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Ellie wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "Kinkajou said>>So if we could apply that to reading, to stop at the exact moment we pull a book off the shelf and take another moment to analyze why we are making that choice it..."

I attempted to do this today when pondering which of 3 books to begin next. I wanted something that carried on the theme of individual and group bodies, the relationship between them. One was sci fi, one a biography, and one an illustrated novel.

The deciding factor was the gorgeous illustrations in the sensualist of old anatomical drawings. I have been putting this one off, as I know it is a demanding read, but today at the pivitol moment it stood out. In fact, it rather intruded, for it was not the book I had actually planned to read next, from my bedside pile. It was on the shelves at the store, a hardcover, I had browsed it earlier with satisfaction but decided it was to heavy for summer reading and certainly not a beach book, considering that, unless I loved it enough to want my own copy, I will have to return to the store in prisitne condition.


The biography I will read next. It just came into the store, another hardcover, not a beach book, but totally on topic. I had just about decided that I was not in the mood for sci fi, and instead of the book I had, to read the bio first... when I reasoned that, as long as I was reading a hc non beach book, I really should grab the sensualist, which has been calling me for months now, first.

Its been really interesting reconstructing the process. All those words represent about an hour that passed this morning while I made the decision.

Magdelanye wrote: "Ellie wrote: "Magdelanye wrote: "Kinkajou said>>So if we could apply that to reading, to stop at the exact moment we pull a book off the shelf and take another moment to analyze why we are making ..."

I enjoyed reading this and am pleased to know others have the internal struggling conversations with themselves. :-)

Her Royal Orangeness wrote: "Questions to discuss:

1. How do you choose what books to add to your TBR list?

I am still scracthing my fur over this one.

But I think a process of self observation might be a good way to evaluate this - Thanks Magdelanye.

after giving up my decades long aversion for this book, feeling the support of my dearest new friends, I chose to pick up Servant of the Bones

I told myself I could throw it across the room if I hated it.
I am totally absorbed....

At the moment, I'm "casting my line" so it was interesting to think again about my process. I am way too busy at work-it's that old, "only a few days in & I'm already behind" at school-only from the teacher's perspective! and sort of a nervous semi-wreck. So I'm reading a little of this & a little of that trying to see where my psychic body can settle itself & feel comfortable. I'm testing (& liking) Cybill Disobedience : How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think and Lawrence Block's Afterthoughts, both on my kindle. I think (& thanks to the topic I am thinking about it- that I'm not up to the demands of fiction. When I'm this edgy I turn to non-fiction & of a certain kind. A kind of conversation. More accurately, a monologue of a person, usually a writer, sometimes a performer, with whose voice I in some way resonate, that settles me down, almost like a written lullaby.

Thanks.

why does it seem harder to pick a next book after a terrific one? Is it because we just want to keep reading the terrific one? Or that the risk of disappointment is exacerbated, like, how could any book replace the wonderful one just put down??
I guess this is where wedge books come in.

Before writing this I reread this entire thread, and found it helped me focus on my convolted process so as to be able to articulate the above question. Because after a great roll and some terrific books read over the last while, and others right here in my bedside pile, I could not decide what to read next after sweetness in the belly
which left me feeling restless and disturbed.I was grateful for the hopeful ending, but I am still reeling from the world that Camilla Gibb revealed.
Like Ellie, when I am feeling edgy, I need a voice that settles me down, some affirmation.

More resonance, please!

I'm getting backed up! I'm so loving this book I'm reading I don't want to finish it, yet that library man keeps on bringing me more! Panic! Panic! And the books are staring at me when I walk by them; they're calling out my name: "KJ! KJ! Pick me next." "No, pick ME!" Augh!!!!!!!

I'm so happy: Haruki Murakami's new work, 1Q84 is everything I hoped it would by (so far *fingers crossed hoping*). I actually am only reading 2 other books (a fun mystery Two Wrongs Don't Make a Write by Cathy Wiley, whose first mystery, Dead to Writes, I loved; and a non-fiction spiritual book on the computer-so I can take "reading breaks" when I'm on GR- Mysteries of the Jesus Prayer: Experiencing the Mysteries of God and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of an Ancient Spirituality by Norris Chumley which I think is a very nice book, valuable for me, anyway).

I rarely read only 3 books at a time, & really most of my time with Murakami. Sometimes I turn to the others just so I won't finish the Murakami too soon, though at nearly 1,000 pages that does seem possible. I usually find it one of the disadvantages of the Kindle-not being able to feel where I am in a book but in this book it may be (at least at the moment) something of a blessing. I'm nearly a quarter of the way through & neither the story-or stories-nor I am losing any steam.

I choose books often if they're written by a favorite author of mine: I feel that even if I don't like a particular work of theirs, I want to support their career. And often since I am comfortable in or at least fascinated by the worlds these writers create, I find the book of worth, even if it's not my favorite.

But with the Murakami I feel like I hit pay dirt-it's almost too> good: how will I ever match this?

I'll have to read junk for a month so my mind can really be open to another work of good fiction!

KJ wrote: "I'm getting backed up! I'm so loving this book I'm reading... Panic! Panic! And the books are staring at me when I walk by...and the books are staring at me; and their calling out my name...Arghh "

Its good to know theres someone or two here that feel much as I do....

I find if I pay attention to my books they dont reproach me so much. I get a lot of pleasure in fact, in reading their titles, dusting and occassionally taking out one that I feel I have forgotten and checking it out, renewing old acquaintances, and my intention to one day read those that have been with me so long.

Hmm, I guess I enjoy browsing my library and, seeing as we are into truth here, I like to play with the ones that have made it to the bedside pile, during times when I'm having a hesitation about what to read next.

This may seem shocking to some, but one of the advantages of living alone is not having someone remind you how daft you are. I have six piles of books along the side of my bed, not counting the ones that permantly live at the far back of my night table. Each pile has about 15 books: fiction, fantasy,spiritual/philosophical,travel, political/ biography and then there is the pile of books that I have read but not yet entered my notes. I will pull a whole pile onto my bed and arrange in some kind of order, then decide on a shortlist if one doesnt immediately present itself.

Ellie wrote: "I'm so happy: Haruki Murakami's new work, 1Q84 is everything I hoped it would by (so far *fingers crossed hoping*). I actually am only reading 2 other books (a fun mys..."

Ah Ellie, I am jealous of your Murakami, glad that it is living up to spec. You should connect with Ian who is over the moon having just aquired it.(see our members list) We should definately add to our authors as I,m sure others will be interested in discussing.

That said, I cant imagine reading a book of that size and not being able to riff through the pages I've read, checking out scenarios and people as I wish. Nor can I visualize reading a book without my post its. Well, there must be some electronic way of bookmarking. Still, Murakami on kindle #-(

But Ellie! You are too kind. I get that you read some books out of loyalty, not to hurt the authors feelings :-)

I have a copy of IQ84 sitting on my shelf (yes, it's one of the screaming books!) and I'm eager to get started on it. Did you happen to catch the NYT review this week? Did you agree/disagree?

Thanks for posting the review-I have not yet gotten the paper so it was good to read it. I haven't reached the sections the critic describes so I can't really comment yet. From the point I'm at, it's a close-to-perfect book.

Murakami always seems, to me, at a slight remove from the feeling level. It doesn't, for the most part, bother me. I'll see how I feel about this in this book since it is obviously a particularly sensitive subject.

I have reflected on my process of selecting my next book, it is flexible but not random. I bit like eating if something is open I like to see it finished. So unread books around the house tend to get priority before library selections or purchases.
As reading is a major hobby I feel comfortable with my favorite genre's, have a need to insert some classics and have a habit of borrowing books from family members, or at least first pick before they go to libraries / charity shops.

Ellie wrote: "Process?

I see something, I want it, I get it if I can. I read it, if I get distracted I read something else. Usually if I like something I get back to it.

Not much process I regret to say."

Just reading this old thread and laughing at my utter naivite. There certainly was some process in action.

This comment of Ellies seems like a template.
But why do we like something, why do we bond with some books and some books fail to hold our interest?
I know writing has a lot to do with it but we discover that as we read along there is something else influencing our attention.

And what makes us want what we do?

I've been thinking about this post for several days.

I thinking writing has something to do with it but that being said, there can be several books with equally good writing & yet I find myself drawn only to one or able to sustain attention only to one.

And that may not even be the one with the writing I most admire.

And I find that the older I get, the less I'm able to force my attention to something that doesn't click right away.

"What makes us want what we do?" In reading or in life, Magdelanye: what a huge question for either sphere. And both perhaps related.

Life pressures or preoccupations may drive me to escape reading and/or (because sometimes simultaneously) to books that explore the source of my stress or my current obsession.

Or boredom or stress can make me want to flee into highly abstract writing-pure (as much as we as humans can be) of emotion.

I'm going to go think some more on this.

Ellie wrote: "And I find that the older I get, the less I'm able to force my attention to something that doesn't click right away." <

Ellie, you just hit that nail head!

In the past, once I started reading a book, there was some vague reason why I had to finish it. Whether because I should finish what I start, or give the author a chance, or just because "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" Who knows.

At some point in the last few years, I've realized how precious my time is--if the book doesn't fit what I want to read, I just quit and move on.

If I'm in the wrong mood, and the book is rejected, it just gathers dust forever because I hold an irrational bias. If there is a book that I chose to quit after very few pages (not due to poor writing, just mood). Later, when in the right mood for that "type", I'm reluctant to try that particular book again. I tend to regard the book as stale, it isn't virgin anymore, I just feel sure it will be boring.

Wish I could overcome that.

Luckily for us, there are so many wonderful choices out there! :D

I just wanted to say that I am entranced by the image of M sitting on the be d surrounded by piles of books (earlier in this thread). Perhaps we addicts should just go for it and sleep with the books. ;)

what do you mean "perhaps we should"
like, uh, haven't you ever...?
I have a different one a couple of times a week :_)

My bed is so covered with books, that some nights I just kick a bunch to the floor to make room for me (looking out for my Kindle, of course).

I often wake up with a book as my pillow.

Always looking for a way to keep reading, even while asleep, I suppose.

Me find friends on GR with similar tastes. Me check out reviews, comments, groups who shelve books I always knew should have read but haven't.

See book looks good, click on search button at Amazon or other online store. If price ok, click on 'buy' or... find book in library.

OR

Me feel down. Me go to used bookstore. Me perk up. Me go to fave shelves, History, literature, classics, science, fantasy/sci-fi. Me see; "Oh, looks interesting! Look at price.

If price low, put in basket. If price high, me write on list, go see GR, if reviews = "say : my kinda book" me go back to shop and buy book.

OR.
Me see book sale. Me go aha! Me go in with trolley. Me spend many many hours looking through "SALE" shelves. Be late for work, for supper, for stuff. Get messages on mobile phone, get angry calls on mobile phone. Voices from phone say: "Where are you! You're late!"

Me say: "Sorry, sorry - I sick". Use hoarse voice, cough. *cough cough*

After many many hours, spent with happy smile on face,me realize: "Must go now" Look at pile in trolley, realize perhaps too big. Me work out rough budget in head, then go through books one by one - pack in pile.

Two piles - no, 3 piles. One pile -definitely getting. Second pile maybe getting. Third pile: "Boo-hoo, catcha later alligator!"

Me balance budget in head with pile and adjust second pile accordingly.

Me go home with big smile and put books on shelf.

Now.. problem with deciding to whom to listen to from all of the hundreds of little book voices calling: "Read me!" "Read Me!" - that is a big problem.

Usually try go with some group read, because then at least there's a bigger chance of discussing the book with someone.

Fave authors are of course another factor, but fave authors can start feeling "old" and can also disappoint.

There are so many factors involved in choosing my next read that I invariably end up with anything from 6 -10 books on my "currently-reading" shelf at a given time.

I openly admit that I don't feel compelled to finish books I started. If I for some reason have to and I found the book tedious, I could easily end up hating the thing.

I think this last post has managed to escape from the reading addiction clinic.

Step 1 Me (this week's dear diary), enjoying crime & mystery, missing SF/Fantasy, raid tbr and order from library.

6 weeks before holiday raid online.

Day of travel, arrive early at airport and become over critical of lack of choice in airport mall.

Holiday, raid local library

Post holiday, come back with a lighter suitcase, having left books at destination.

Back at work, trundle through technical reading, review tbr, select at random and back to step 1.

Heh, My name is Traveller and I am a book addict... as Paul Bryant said elsewhere: "They're so pretty! ..even if they are about mean things". LOL

Yes, thank heavens for libraries. On the other hand, I do so love arranging books on my shelves ...pretty pretty books.

Talking of reading while on holiday, the background setting of wherever you are, can sometimes stick with you.

When thinking of holiday reads, I'm always strongly reminded of one of my holiday reads that I borrowed from a local holiday venue (at the seaside!) library while I was still a teen, which was a terrible, terrible book about the Countess Erzabeth Bathory.

The book and it's content is etched in my memory forever, I think... :( and lends a dark surreal air to my memories of that particular seaside vacation.

Rack my brain as I might, I cannot remember the exact title of the book, though: Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania or Countess Dracula: Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess?? Hmm, and yet I seem to remember the book was written by a woman.

It's been bugging me for a long time that the book disturbed me so much but that I can't remember the exact title and author. Oh well, perhaps not important, I suppose.

Sorry, just another "dear diary" entry ... :P

Was the author of your book about Elisabeth Bathory Kimberly L. Craft? I think she's written two factual books about her and one fictional memoir. The only title I can remember is Infamous Lady.

have just read and laughed a lot at the funny things we have in common...or not!
now I am totally distracted from why I called up this old file,one of the most important in the group actually as being one of the signal purposes of Flipa
(only the original members will remember the discussions and the fate if THAT acronym)

But I wanted to document an obscure observation I had when choosing my next book. Because I am limited to the dozen books or so,its easy to notice how I shuffle them.First I put aside the ones I am nort ready for,then the one I ant to read the most.

Last trip I made some very good choices and also had some amazing random luck in finding things to read in English...way more challanging than you might think.
This time I used the same principle in choosing what to take.
The best books are older vintage pocket books,with thin paper and small print. Thus a lot of words in a smaller space. And this time I packed more fiction (never enough science fiction) and even,to please my sense of random continuity,brought two books on my shelves for over a decade by now.

So when I found myself in the semi-byzantiane situation on the terraces of seville I realized it was the moment for Evening In Byzantium which I found surprisingly terrific
and now am just about to begin Ancient Evenings by another libertine,who I have oft argued with and railed against,but in keeping witht he spirit of Jack and the times, I keep coming back to.

I love to read how people discover books-this is one way (I know want to read the Shaw). Also, when I'm reading books, at least if it's a book I like, books that are mentioned go on the list. And if I like a book by an author, then I go read their other books. And sometimes other authors in some way related to them (when I was reading a lot of Woolf, I also read Vita Sackville-West, etc.). Also lists of "must read" books.

Reviews often lead me to books-more based on what is said about the book than whether the writer liked the book. Sometimes just walking through a bookstore (back in the days before Amazon and kindle which makes it hard to pay full hard-cover price). Sometimes friends' recommendations.

But it's actually kind of a mystery how books come to me, which is how I actually feel it happens more than my going to them. It's what makes reading lists hard for me to follow-it's like my reading life has a path of its own that I'm somehow led along.

Ellie wrote: "I love to read how people discover books-this is one way (I know want to read the Shaw). Also, when I'm reading books, at least if it's a book I like, books that are mentioned go on the list. And i..."

I could have written this!

This is an interesting question, interested me enough to join this group, though I have only a few routines to follow to decide what to read. I read a lot. always have, though it used to be art, art history, architecture, and the few fiction journals. Now that that newsstand is no longer so near the coffeehouse, I carry books.

What books? Anything that I notice through blogs visited, though I am trying to read more women authors, who are very under-represented in literary sites of fiction. Also, I like to read translations, as I live in a monolingual part of the world, as this is often the first glance way to decide if it is good- good enough to translate- because there is so much published in English that we do not need to translate bad books. Sometimes this does not work. Sometimes it is a dreaded International Bestseller, and this is not always any better than NY Times Bestseller...

I also like to read Philosophy, but this is usually according to authors and philosophy previously read. I read Continental as a style, mostly, and it has been many years since whatever read at university. I discover for myself, not told by any prof, and this is how I came to Henri Bergson, for example, though I have read survey texts from first year lectures. I cannot claim an organized pedagogical system with these books. Other nonfiction are mostly by glance, by chance, if I have seen a film as discussed, eg. Terance Malick work, Groundhog Day, if I have read a book critiqued, if I remember certain architects and works or artists and works. Once upon a time I did think of becoming an architect...

Fiction? This is less certain that I will rate highly. Genre is not actually to start but to end, though all those internet lists of Hundred Best SF or Fantasy or Crime, were useful when I would interrogate first: the city library website, the university library website, the used bookstores which had many, only now the GR ratings, and if not anywhere I would now put it on the TBR list. I keep the list deliberately at 100 or less, and here I often go by authors previously read. Usually, I will decide to purchase but if I do not read it in a hundred... I might replace it on the list. I do often find books by certain writers I would not have known of by major awards- the Man Booker, the Nobel, eg. Jose Saramago, JMG Le Clezio- but then it becomes by author...

I do find the library books useful, read them first because they have due dates, but because they are not bought they are easier to make a mistake. Bought books pile up at home, such that I threw out about fifty when I moved. If I am uncertain how a book will go, it is better for me to read say a collection or other book by said author, first, then it becomes by name recognition, eg. Angela Carter, and so there are many multiple readings for each name. I like to read philosophically interesting, or literary interesting, work- ideas are cool for me...

It has taken me some time, but GR is most useful for me in allowing myself to just stop reading, if I am some pages in yet not entranced I can see what others have said and if it gets better. I have been able to just stop reading, when I noticed I have read 62 books that were bad! My idea of what is a good book is not necessarily very common, but is very wide in source and language and genre. I like to read Philosophy, eg. Merleau-Ponty, but I also like mid-century crime pulps. Literary SF and Fantasy, eg. William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, JG Ballard, but also Literary Literature- post modern or fractured or experimental, eg. Paul Auster, Alain Robbe-Grillet. All else fails, my tolerance for not good writing is greater if the ideas, moments, eye or mind candy, are cool, as in SF or Fantasy, eg. Philip K Dick...

Forgot to mention graphics work, the daily strips are just ones I have liked and are essentially comic, while the graphic novels are mostly by recommendation from a friend who illustrates graphic novels...

Welcome Gift!
Finally I have had access to a bit of free and clear computer time and the chance to read your process and reading biography. The only taste we so not share is crime-pulps. I detest violence,and these books teem with it so casually I dont care who did it.But there are exceptions. Travelling, I pick up any book in English,except fot thrillers,crime and porn. And a book I brought with me,meant for airports and frequent interruptions and called Bombay IceBombay Icewas very engaging for me,the murders almost incidental (as if that cancels out he disturbing aspect of murder)


Bergson is hard to find,overlooked by almost everybody.I find him still amazing.
Would you say he was a precurser to Heidegger?

I hope you find much of interest here and feel free to add your opinion to any thread.
This isnt exactly a fast paced group,but we are insightful and enduring.

putting this comment in this slot because one kind of choice is made by winning. Yes, after entering and never winning a GR giveaway I was informed last night that I have actually won Sacred Nature: The Recovery of Integrity by Karen Armstrong who I love.
I hope the book arrives before I have to leave end of October.

Congratulations, Magdelanye!