If reading is a Thing (with a capital letter) that I am setting aside special Time (also with a capital) for, then snacking is a delightful way to make something fun even... funner. But if I'm reading just in a spare moment here or there (which is mostly) then I don't always snack. Normally it's the other way around: I need to stop for a snack, so I will grab a book for company. Today I read and sipped a banana smoothie.
2. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?
I say writing in books is super! Having said that, however, I confess I tend only to write or mark non-fiction. Somehow non-fiction seems to be more of an experience to be entered into alongside the writer, whereas fiction seems to stand alone as its own complete little world and I don't want my markings to intrude on that. With non-fiction, I want to remember how I was moved or challenged or inspired. With fiction, I want to forget all of that and remember or learn it anew when I re-read.
3. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?
I confess: I am a book-abuser. However, I am also -- shamefully -- a respecter of book persons. If the book is new or special (or borrowed from someone else), I make myself find a bookmark. If it's already worn and torn, dog ears or laying the book spreadeagled on a desk is fine by me.
4. Fiction, non-fiction, or both?
I don't believe that one can cancel out the other. Must they be exclusive? They are two separate art forms in and of themselves. Non-fiction teaches me about life and love and faith -- and so does good fiction. But both provide that education in their own unique ways, and I love that. I definitely read more fiction than non-fiction, and that's what I'd love most to write, too -- but one can rub up against another's world much more easily than changing one's own, and I think that's the reason fiction tends to be more readable than non-fiction.
5. Hardcopy or audiobooks?
I don't really call audiobooks reading, you know. Sorry.
6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
Definitely an end-of-chapter person. It hurts me to stop partway through, even if I'm not enjoying the book.
8. What are you currently reading?
Always too many at once:
- The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket
- Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
- Secret Scribbled Notebooks by Joanne Horniman
- Desiring God by John Piper
- She by Rebecca St. James and Lynda Hunter Bjorklund
- Blink of an Eye by Ted Dekker
- Get Married by Candice Watters, and
- Dear Writer by Carmel Bird
9. What is the last book you bought?
I just ordered The History of Christianity by Jonathan Hill. Textbook; does that count?
10. Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can read more than one at a time?
I think my answer to question nine covers this one, too. The longer explanation is that I ought to read one book at a time (or even just one fiction and one non-fiction at once), but I simply don't. It's a lack of discipline more than anything. And sometimes, at night, when I'm in my bed and winding down, I just want a certain sort of book and I have to find the right one, whether I'm currently reading half a dozen others or not.
11. Do you like re-reading books?
I used to re-read a lot more than I do now. Nowadays, I go to beloved favourites and hunt down my favourite chapters and passages for re-reading on their own. This is an especially lovely, comforting, homey thing to do when you are sick.
You know I'd like to see your answers, right?
