Note To Self

Note to Self:  Do not read zombie book before going to sleep.  Two nights of disturbed sleep is enough.  I have been reading "The Creepers" by Norman Dixon.  It has a good premise and reasonable post-apocalyptic situation.  However, it is too disturbing and I realized why.  It is too horribly realistic.  I cannot denigrate Mr. Dixon's writing ability but I am not going to finish this book.  

On the other hand, I just finished W. Somerset Maugham's "The Razor's Edge".  I loved it.  It is an older book, and the copy I had was falling apart.  I literally had to hold it together to read it.  Maugham relates the story of a man who was disillusioned by war and sought the meaning of life.  You feel as though Maugham is sitting at a table with you telling the story.  You feel as though you know the people he talks about. He writes in an unhurried way, which I find refreshing.  I wish I had discovered this author earlier.  I thought it was interesting to read about his life.  It helps to see where he is coming from in his writing.  I am going to search for more of his books.

Desperate For Something to Read

     On a recent trip to a third world country, we rented a house.  Wi-fi service and electricity were not a constant.  In searching the house for books to read, I found that most of the ones there were written before the 60's.  Okay, there were authors that I had wanted to read so was not destitute.  I read "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemmingway.  The book was about when he lived in Paris.  Only he was writing it 20 to 30 years later.  It makes you wonder how accurate his memories were.  His descriptions of some of the famous people he knew then-could the intervening years have changed his opinion of them?  Hard to draw the line at what you think of someone 25 years ago.  I enjoyed the book.  His deceptively simple method of writing hit on some things that made me think.  That is a good thing. 
     Another book I have always been curious about was "Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen.  The tone of the book struck me as a very rose-colored view of Africa and its people.  She did have a marvelous way of creating pictures with words.  Shame on me, but I did not finish that book.  It was not something I could read a lot of at once and ran out of time.
     There were 4 other books I read but only one of them really stayed in my memory.  That was "Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal" by Conor Grennan. The desperate straits of children during war is heart-rending.  He did an admirable job of describing his frivolous reasons for volunteering at an orphanage in Nepal and the painful journey to the point where he had lost his heart to the orphans and was compelled to help them.  Hmmm-this was about a third world country.  I wonder how often our current circumstances effect what we are drawn to read.

Criteria

Have been thinking a lot lately of the criteria that I subconsciously use to determine if I like a book or not.  When you are an omnivorous (bless spellchecker!) reader, are there certain characteristics in all types of books make it a good read? 
1.  Before you even start reading, does the review of the book sound like a thinly veiled copy of another best seller?  It may be a good book, but sorry - I am tired of teenage girl who's boyfriend is a vampire, werewolf, etc.  Also tired of Harry Potter clones where the boy is pitifully downtrodden and finds he has magic powers. Even the Hunger Games theme is starting to wear thin. I will use the book I just finished for my model, since it is the one that coalesced my criteria train of thought.  The book "Past Perfect" by Susan Isaacs was one I traded for at the campground laundry room so did not get on Amazon.  Love it that at most campgrounds they have books you can trade.  Okay, the cover review stated that the heroine had been fired from the CIA but was never told why.  It is now 15 years later and she is writing scripts for a tv spy show.  A semi-fresh plot, okay!
2.  As I read, do I want to know what the ending is?  Do I even care?  If I am well into the book and still don't care how it ends, I usually stop reading it.  This one I wanted to know why she got fired.  It was something you could really relate to.
3.  Can I relate to the hero?  Sometimes they are so obnoxious you don't care what happens to them.  You don't want someone perfect.  That gets boring fast. So, yes, the woman in this book was believable and likable, even with her flaws.  I loved that in her thoughts she would think worst case scenarios and best case scenarios.  Too human.  There was humor, but not overdone.
4.  Did I think about the book when I was not reading it?  Did I ponder what might happen and what the end might be?  Yes.
5.  Was I really into the story and did not put the book down?  Translation:  Did I snarl at anyone who bothered me while I was reading?  Did I put off doing other things so I could read one more chapter?  Yep!
 6.  Was there enough typos and grammatical errors that it really detracted from the flow of the book?  That can become quite annoying.  Too many errors pull you back to the surface of the book.  If this book had them, I did not notice.  
7.  Did I like the ending? Was it satisfying?  Some books really let you down at the end.  I don't care how realistic it may be, I want a decent ending.  In "The Hunger Games" third and final book, it was the best ending that could come out of the situation.  Through the book, I kept thinking this just can't have a good ending.  It was definitely an anticlimax. Jules Verne was known to have written very depressing endings to his stories, and his publisher would make him rewrite them on a more upbeat note.  As to "Past Perfect", the ending was quite satisfying.
I was going to add an 8th item, but changed my mind.  It would have been, "Was I helped by others' reviews?  Sometimes.  Ironically, since I did not get this on line, I had not read the reviews.  I was dismayed when I later did, and they were pretty negative.   Would I have read this book if I had read the reviews first? I don't know.
Is there anything else that might determine the worth of a book? 

Cowardly Reader

Do you find that sometimes you are afraid to continue reading because you know something bad is going to happen?  I call it my cowardly streak.  I just want to yell, "Don't go in there!" or "Don't do that!"  Now it seems that I am really into the story but could it be that not enough of my conscious is caught in the story that I can still think rationally?  Ah, yes, blame it on the author.  I did finish one book like that called "Kinesis" by Ethan Spier.  It has a very interesting premise that people who discover they have telekinetic abilities, deteriorate into madness, so anyone with that ability is put into a special prison.  Of course, there is always the fear of people that are not just different but have extra abilities.  It was a good story and I do recommend it but Oh, My!  I knew what was coming.  Okay, so now should I go finish the third book in the Hunger Games, "Mockingjay"?  I can't see any good way out of this.  And too many characters that I had grown to like have died.  However, a charming young man has told me it comes out well at the end.  We will see.

Personal Life

I have always preferred that bloggers leave as much of their personal lives as possible out of their blogs if it had a particular theme.  Now I see that is pretty hard to do.  It seems that what we experience in life affects what we read.  What started me thinking in this direction was reading "Murder Takes A Bow" by Liz Marvin. It was a fairly good mystery but was so much about diabetes-the guilt of having it, the hereditary factors, what to eat, how to cook, symptoms.  Enough, already!  I would have much preferred the book if it had been a little more subtle.  However, I did read it all and was disappointed with the ending.  Bummer!

Back to personal lives.  I think one of the reasons I so like "The Hunger Games" was that I could relate to the poverty and finding things in the woods for food.  I just finished the second book in that series - "Catching Fire".  Loved it and could not put it down or get it out of my mind, even if the end left me hanging.  I will definitely read the third one. 

Since, in two days, I will start selling for two weeks, I will try to finish some of the books I have started because there is very little time for reading during that period, plus I don't want to get into a really good book and read half the night.  Oh, yes, I have been known to do that.

Yes, I am going to pay more attention to why certain books catch and hold my interest.  That does not include what I read because there is nothing else around to read.  Uh, that leads to another train of thought to pick up later. 

Unexpected

Yes, I read "The Hunger Games".  I had not planned to but my sister assured me I would like it.  I really did not want to read about children having to kill other children.  Much to my surprise, it was so good I could not put it down.  It was one of a few books that really stay in my mind and I will pull out parts to mull over.  It was well done and handled with finesse.  I did realize that there were parts that I related to only too well as having grown up in a poor rural environment.  Now I am ready for the next book.  Can it be as good?

Different Genre

Started a book I thought was about archeology called "Canyon of Bones" by Richard S. Wheeler. As I read, I realized it was a western.  I rarely read westerns, but by the time I realized, I was hooked and had to finish the book.  It was well-written and really kept my interest.  Have I learned a lesson here-not to judge a book by its genre?

Lots of Time to Read

Being ill and impending surgery looming, I find I have time to read.  In fact, read the other two Andrew Mayne books - 'Public Enemy Zero' and 'The Grendel's Shadow'.  Both were really good and was hoping he would write more.  Well, he just came out with 'The Chronological Man - The Martian Emperor'.  am into it but have not held my breath yet.  I guess if I am going to be incapacitated, I might as well take advantage of it.  

All for Kids?

Lately it seems the books that sound good to me turn out to be clones of "Twilight" and aimed at early teens.  I finally broke that jinx when I got "The Chronological Man - The Monster in the Mist" by Andrew Mayne.  Good steampunk, good mystery, and the price was right-zero.  I caught myself holding my breath.  Yep-I really liked the book.  I have just down-loaded two others by him.  I actually had to pay .99 for them.  Hope they are as good.  My Kindle has really spoiled me.  It is way too easy to download a book and have it right away.  Was really disheartened when I got a Kindle Fire and it caused migraines.  When I did some researching on the net, I found out I was not the only one.  I am returning mine since it is less than a month-actually only a week.  The person at Amazon said she had never heard of it causing migraines.  Hmmmmm.

Old Friend or Boring

I can read some authors' books and feel like it is going back to an old friend while others I get tired of and it just seems like the same old thing.  Wonder what makes the difference.  Andre Norton's books are in the friend category.  I know I have read over a hundred of her books and will even re-read some, which I almost never do.  Where as Sue Grafton's alphabet novels were enjoyable at first but eventually I felt like they were the same old thing and quit reading the last one about half way through.  I just finished one of the Dragon Lance Chronicles Vol 3 Dragons of Spring Dawning.  It was enjoyable and had new adventures even though it was populated with characters I knew.  What is the difference?  Is it me or the authors?

When to Quit a Book

Began reading a book called "Centaurs  (Parallel Worlds)".  The dialog was so stiff and preachy.  I stopped reading it before my usual stop of 1/4 of the book or 50 pages.  At that point, if I don't care how the book ends, it is not worth my time.  What other criteria have you used?  Well, I must confess, if I have paid for a book, I feel compelled to get my money's worth and read all of it.  Used to think if an author went to the trouble of writing the book, I should finish it. Too many good ones out there I want to read.

Start of Sci-Fi Reading

Was thinking about the books that hooked me on Sci-Fi.  Zenna Henderson's books on The People.  They are low key but had aliens in them.  She was the only Sci-Fi writer  'way back then'  that didn't use a male name.  Do you remember what author or book started you on the path to your favorite genre?

Price Limit

Several months-okay, maybe a year or so-ago Daughter told me "The Help" was a really good book.  I was too tight-wad to spring for the cost.  Now they have made a movie of it-aaaargh!  I know I cringe at paying more than a few dollars for a fiction book.  However, non-fiction books that I plan on keeping even though I have limited space, I will pay up to $35.00.  Why I came up with that limit I do not know.  Of course, trading books for free or second hand books for very little is one of my preferences.  Unless I count the free books I get on my Kindle.  Do you have limits?

Omniverous Reading

We all have our favorite genera that we read-mine being sci-fi and fantasy.  However, there are so many other types of books that I like-mysteries, positive attitude, new age, herbs, frugality, craft...  Are we all like that?  Is it the book-a-holic tendency to read whatever we can get our hands on-even if it is a cereal box?  That may be a cliche but there are grounds for thinking there may be a reason for it.