Booking Through Thursday: Should Books Have Content Ratings?

Today's prompt: Movies have a rating system to help guide the consumer weed out adult/violent/inappropriate knds of films. Video games do, too. Do you think BOOKS should have a ratings system?

Interesting question! As much as I read and feel that I have a grasp on what kind of content I will find in a book, even I am sometimes surprised, so some kind of ratings system would be worthwhile. I can definitely see where it would be helpful if you want to make sure your child isn't reading something that isn't appropriate for their age. I think it would have to be a system that specified the type of content, such as V for violence, S for sex, etc. I don't think you can always define something by an age range, though that might not hurt, either. Even some books classified as YA should probably be considered mature YA. So many books fall into many different categories and may have a lot of subject matter going on, so I think you'd have to be able to provide some specificity as to the adult/mature content in question. I think it would be something worthwhile to consider, but how to go about doing it is a whole different ballgame!

Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Deb. Be sure to visit today's post and check out other people's responses or link up your own!

Booking Through Thursday: Spring

Today's prompt: Happy Spring Equinox, everyone! What book are YOU choosing to celebrate with?

I'm actually not quite sure what book I am going to read next. I just finished My Stubborn Heart yesterday and haven't decided what I'm in the mood to read next. I have a full day on the floor at our trade show today and then I'll be heading to the airport to fly home, so perhaps I will figure out exactly what I want to read when I'm on the plane. I was pondering getting started with a mystery by Georgette Heyer, maybe Behold, Here's Poison? We shall see if that is what I decide to go with...

Here's the synopsis:

When Gregory Matthews, patriarch of the Poplars is found dead one morning, imperious Aunt Harriet blames it on the roast duck he ate for supper. After all, she had warned him about his blood pressure. But a post-mortem determines that the cause of death is much more sinister. Murder. By poison.

Suspicion falls immediately amongst his bitter, quarrelsome family. Each has a motive; each, opportunity. It falls to Superintendent Hannasyde to sift through all the secrets and lies and discover just who killed Gregory Matthews, before the killer strikes again...

Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Deb. Be sure to click on over to see other people's responses!

Booking Through Thursday: Mood Reading

Today's prompt: Does your current mood affect your reading? Affect your choices? I know there are plenty of books I enjoy, but only if Im in a particular kind of mood–or books that can lift me out of a bad mood without fail. Surely I’m not alone?

I was recently thinking about this very thing! I was looking through my TBR stack for my next read and as I was mulling over choices, I kept thinking, no, I'm not in the mood for that book, or that author, or whatever the case may have been. I even thought, well, what exactly IS it about my mood that I don't want to read these books? Sometimes I just want a simple, uncomplicated read, other times I'm not ready to commit to a series and just want a stand-alone story. But I'm not sure I could pinpoint a specific mood I have to be in to read a certain book. Of course, if I am feeling a bit down, I will usually look for an author that I know will either cheer me up or make me laugh. I think it may be more difficult to assess why I may NOT want to read a particular book at any given time... Perhaps I should pay more attention to how I'm feeling and what's going on in my life when I'm making my reading selections -- it would probably be an interesting study!

Booking Through Thursday is hosted by Deb. Be sure to click on over to see other people's responses!

Booking Through Thursday: The Time Change

Here's this week's topic of discussion:

Clocks change this weekend here in the US, which means one less hour to read … does anybody else begrudge that hour like I do? Wish the Powers That Be would just pick a time-frame and stick to it instead of inflicting clock-driven jet lag on an innocent public twice a year?

(Yeah, so not a question so much about reading … except, of course, you do need to use your electric light to be able to read, so the hour it gets dark IS relevant!)

You know, it's a funny thing about the time change... Before I had a child, I honestly didn't care that much about it. Losing the extra hour in the Spring wasn't my favorite, though I did love gaining the hour in the Fall (and still do).

Since Laura was born, though, the time change has had more of an effect on our lives. I am never quite sure how Laura will fare and how long it will take to work her way back into her usual sleeping pattern. I am hopeful that with "springing forward," she won't feel the effects too much and that we'll be able to get her back into her normal sleep schedule pretty quickly. Somehow it seems more easy to control this time change, as opposed to "falling back" when she wakes up at an hour earlier than her usual time. I guess we will find out soon enough!

I hate to lose the hour of reading, especially since my week has been so crazy that I haven't really had much time to read. That said, I do look forward to it being lighter in the evenings now -- this weekend's time change is a herald of Spring, so that's a good thing, in my opinion!

Booking Through Thursday: Currently Reading?

My goodness, it has been a long time since I have participated in this meme, but I'm so glad to be back!

Here is this week's question: What are you reading right now? (And, is it good? Would you recommend it? How did you choose it?)

Right now, I am reading the Kindle edition of Untraceable by S.R. Johannes, an independent author. Here's the cover and blurb:

Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival. When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he's dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father.

Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she's enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it's going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves.

I have to admit that I'm only about 10% of the way through this book, so I've barely just begun it and it may be a little too soon to recommend it one way or the other. However, what I can say is that I am really enjoying the way S.R. Johannes writes -- she is very descriptive and puts a lot of imagery in your head without being over the top. So in that respect, this book is off to a great start, but I just haven't gotten into the meat of the story to be able to tell you if I'm going to love or hate (or just feel "meh" about) the book. :-)

In fact, the story of how I chose this book is probably much more interesting than what I can say about it so far! I heard about an upcoming Indie Author event that is actually going to be in a town about 15 minutes from where I live. I live in a suburb well north of Atlanta, Georgia, and it seems author events just usually don't happen close by, or I don't know about them enough in advance to make plans to attend. So when I heard about this one, even though I'd only read books by one of the authors who was going to be there, Nichole Chase, I decided I wanted to familiarize myself with the rest before going. Johannes's book is the last one I'm reading in preparation for the Meet & Mingle, which is a two-day event March 9th - 10th. I can't wait! If you live anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Woodstock, Georgia, you should think about going! See all the details at Into The Night Reviews!

Thanks for stopping by today and happy reading!

Booking Through Thursday: Series or Stand Alone?

Um, wow, can't remember the last time I participate in this meme, but when I saw today's question, "Series or Stand Alone?", I couldn't resist participating this week!

And the funny thing is, I don't really have a firm answer one way or the other. I appreciate and love both types of books just about equally.

On the one hand, I love serial books because they keep the story going and I enjoy remaining in worlds and visiting with characters that I have come to know and love (and sometimes hate, haha). Of course, there are times when after a couple of books, a series might start to fall flat for me, and that is certainly disappointing in the few instances I've experienced it. And sometimes a series might just be one book too long. Naturally, when I hit the end of a favorite series, it is bittersweet, but I know that down the road I might immerse myself in the world again with a good re-reading. And there is a certain satisfaction with turning the final page in a series. I'll never forget the way I felt when the Harry Potter books ended -- so sad to leave Harry and Hogwarts, but truly satisfied with the way J. K. Rowling wrapped up her seven-book series. Hmm, just thinking about it makes me want to re-read them, if only I had the time to right now!

All of that said, sometimes it is just nice to read a book and know that all loose ends are resolved and the story is over. Maybe I don't have time to devote to a series or maybe I just want to be able to read a book and move on to something completely different.

So in summary, I really think there are merits to both kinds of books and I have favorites among them both, as well. I do seem to gravitate towards series, though I sometimes think that's because it seems like every author I read is writing these days. Even books that could stand alone are often part of a series that switches points of view to different characters within the same world/family/whatever. But I do love a good Georgette Heyer one-book read or a stand-alone mystery, as well!

How about you? Are you more decisive than I am with your preference?

Booking Through Thursday (4.09.09)

For something different, I’m borrowing a question from … here! One of the very first questions ever at Booking Through Thursday. Back from 2005 when Laura owned the blog but, because it was so new, it didn’t get as many responses as it does now … so, why not revisit?

Here’s the question:
Some people read one book at a time. Some people have a number of them on the go at any given time, perhaps a reading in bed book, a breakfast table book, a bathroom book, and so on, which leads me to…

(1) Are you currently reading more than one book?

No, I'm not. I actually have never been very good at reading more than one book at a time, so I don't find myself doing that too often. The only recent case was when I got about a chapter of the way through The Host, set it down, and started reading other books. But since I never got back to The Host until after reading other books, I don't really consider that the same thing :-)

(2) If so, how many books are you currently reading?

See above :-)

(3) Is this normal for you?

Ok, apparently I only needed the first question. Or really, my problem is that I can't just answer a simple Yes or No question with just one word.

(4) Where do you keep your current reads?

My current reads are usually somewhere near at hand. I keep them in my purse during the week, so I have them at work and easily accessible once I get home. When I'm at home on weekends, I usually keep the book I'm reading by my side of the bed or downstairs where I read while sitting in the love seat in our living room.

Booking Through Thursday: The Library

This week's BTT post was suggested by Barbara:

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I became a member of our regional library system just a few short weeks ago. (I'm still embarrassed to admit that I lived in Georgia for over 5 years before joining a library.) I've only been a couple of times, but given the size of my TBR/Wishlist, I know that it will be imminently more practical to check some of these books out from the library. I can't be going brooke here!

I definitely used the library a lot when I was growing up in VA. We had two county libraries where I lived, and when I went to school I joined the regional library there as well. For one summer in high school, I served as a library volunteer. I have to confess that I don't remember it being a spectacular job, but it gave me a lot of time to become acquainted with the library's book collection. I can remember when they built the second library in my county and how excited I was about their larger selection of books. The downside was that it was WAY across the county and not very practical to get to, while I probably lived less than half a mile from the existing library.

As for the look and feel of the library, I guess I'm not picky--I'm really more concerned with the book selection. I definitely prefer for there to be a lot of seating, in case I want to stick around and read for a bit. Our library in Canton is among the sleek and new, but I wish it had a bigger book selection. Happily, as it turns out there are 7 libraries in the region, so I can have any other branches' books delivered to mine. I haven't taken advantage of that yet, but imagine I will sometime down the road.

I don't see how coffee shops and bookstores could truly replace the library. They aren't really based on the same concept, and after joining my library I have to say I'm a lot more inclined to support it more than I have been. I think libraries are instrumental in making books accessible to everyone and I'd never want to see them disappear.

Booking Through Thursday: Movie Potential

Tami inspired this week’s question:

What book do you think should be made into a movie? And do you have any suggestions for the producers?

Or, What book do you think should NEVER be made into a movie?

This is a great question!! I have to confess that I often feel like movies don't do the books justice, though there are a few exceptions--The Lord of the Rings being one that comes to mind. If they could be done right (like the A&E/BBC version of Pride and Prejudice) I would LOVE to see some of Georgette Heyer's books made into movies. My top two picks would be The Grand Sophy and These Old Shades.

Generally, if any book can be treated "right," I'd love to see the movie version. So often, though, the movies disappoint me (as was the case with Twilight--yes, I know, I'm probably in the minority). I was also disappointed with Eragon. Generally, I wish more fantasy books were made into movies, but again, you never know how they might turn out.

BTT - Collectibles

This week's Booking Through Thursday asks:

~ Hardcover? Or paperback?
~ Illustrations? Or just text?
~ First editions? Or you don’t care?
~ Signed by the author? Or not?

If I could afford to buy every book in hardcover, I would. At this point, I've limited myself to a few select series to try to collect in hardback. For example, Harry Potter, B&N Classics, The Twilight Saga, and Mary Higgins Clark mysteries are among those I try to collect in hardcover. In some instances, it's because I first started buying the books in hardcover and I'm just anal enough to want the entire collection to remain that way, in others it's because I can easily find used or bargain copies in hardcover. In a few cases, I've bought hardcover omnibus editions to replace (or instead of) paperbacks. I'd say the majority of my books are paperbacks, but I've been fortunate to collect quite a few hardcovers along the way.

I don't really care one way or another about illustrations. Put it this way--I don't go out of my way to buy books that DO have illustrations. And since I don't read too many (any) children's books, I don't have too many books that do have much in the way of illustrations.

As for the edition of the book, I haven't gotten too caught up in that. I buy the books more for the story than for the collectability anyway.

And lastly, I think I only have one book that is signed by an author--A National Party No More by Zell Miller. When I used to work for B&N College Bookstores at Georgia Tech, he did a signing at our store so I picked up a copy for myself and one for my grandparents. I used to have another book that was signed, but it was one I never read and knew I never would (and therefore will remain unnamed), so I ended up giving it away to someone who would value it more than I would.