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fpbHardback or Paperback? I am profoundly indifferent to the difference.
Highlight or Underline? Underline. In pencil. Never do anything to a book that you cannot delete; you might change your mind. Some of the ballpoint pen notes I wrote in my early twenties have come back to haunt me.
Lewis or Tolkien? Is it necessary to choose? Tolkien had the greater imagination, but Lewis had a more all-round genius - essayist and critic. And he was right more often than Tolkien, who supported Franco and thought that World War Two had been caused by Stalin (you know, the old "Hitler is someone else's puppet" line). I love Tolkien, but the Italian Fascists have taken up his novels with enthusiasm, and you can see why.
E.B. White or A.A. Milne? Haven't read either.
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings? There is a choice? Cummings is an interesting poet; Eliot is one of the greatest poets, playwrights, essay writers, etc., of the twentieth century.
Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Haven't read either, but the vibes I get suggest that King is a genuine writer and Koontz a genre hack. I might be wrong, of course.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? Oi! Some of us don't live in Yankeeland!
Waldenbooks or B. Dalton? Ditto
Fantasy or Science Fiction? Both, of course.
Horror or Suspense? Ditto.
Bookmark or Dogear? Books get damaged fast enough; don't do anything that might actually increase the damage. Bookmark.
Hemingway or Faulkner? Both.
Fitzgerald or Steinbeck? Probably both, though it is a long time since I read either. This meme is beginning to turn into a sequel of motiveless oppositions.
Homer or Plato? And even by the standards of motiveless oppositions, this one takes the cake.
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser? And this one takes a decorated birthday cake with candles.
Pen or Pencil? Computer.
Loose-leaf or Notepad? Computer.
Alphabetise? With a computer, inevitably.
Dust jacket? My boots would like a few minutes with the arse of whoever invented these abominations.
Novella or Epic? Whatever works.
John Grisham or Scott Turow? Andrew Vachss.
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket? Not a serious question, is it?
John Irving or John Updike? That's only a question worth answering if you are American.
Fiction or Non-fiction? I do actually have a preference for non-fiction, especially narrative history.
Historical Biography or Historical Romance? Biography - unless the romance is written by Georgette Heyer or Mary Renault or someone of similar class.
A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter? If you're not still reading by the time you should be going to bed, forget it.
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay? There is a magnificent essay-writing tradition in the English language... Dr.Johnson, Chesterton, Orwell, C.S.Lewis... I am a fan and occasionally try to emulate it. But why deny oneself good short story writing too?
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Out of sheer perversity, "It was a dark and stormy night." Besides, it's an opening I haven't used yet.
Buy or Borrow? Borrowed books have to be returned. Buy.
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth? Word of mouth is just a review that hasn't made it to paper yet.
Highlight or Underline? Underline. In pencil. Never do anything to a book that you cannot delete; you might change your mind. Some of the ballpoint pen notes I wrote in my early twenties have come back to haunt me.
Lewis or Tolkien? Is it necessary to choose? Tolkien had the greater imagination, but Lewis had a more all-round genius - essayist and critic. And he was right more often than Tolkien, who supported Franco and thought that World War Two had been caused by Stalin (you know, the old "Hitler is someone else's puppet" line). I love Tolkien, but the Italian Fascists have taken up his novels with enthusiasm, and you can see why.
E.B. White or A.A. Milne? Haven't read either.
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings? There is a choice? Cummings is an interesting poet; Eliot is one of the greatest poets, playwrights, essay writers, etc., of the twentieth century.
Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Haven't read either, but the vibes I get suggest that King is a genuine writer and Koontz a genre hack. I might be wrong, of course.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? Oi! Some of us don't live in Yankeeland!
Waldenbooks or B. Dalton? Ditto
Fantasy or Science Fiction? Both, of course.
Horror or Suspense? Ditto.
Bookmark or Dogear? Books get damaged fast enough; don't do anything that might actually increase the damage. Bookmark.
Hemingway or Faulkner? Both.
Fitzgerald or Steinbeck? Probably both, though it is a long time since I read either. This meme is beginning to turn into a sequel of motiveless oppositions.
Homer or Plato? And even by the standards of motiveless oppositions, this one takes the cake.
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser? And this one takes a decorated birthday cake with candles.
Pen or Pencil? Computer.
Loose-leaf or Notepad? Computer.
Alphabetise? With a computer, inevitably.
Dust jacket? My boots would like a few minutes with the arse of whoever invented these abominations.
Novella or Epic? Whatever works.
John Grisham or Scott Turow? Andrew Vachss.
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket? Not a serious question, is it?
John Irving or John Updike? That's only a question worth answering if you are American.
Fiction or Non-fiction? I do actually have a preference for non-fiction, especially narrative history.
Historical Biography or Historical Romance? Biography - unless the romance is written by Georgette Heyer or Mary Renault or someone of similar class.
A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter? If you're not still reading by the time you should be going to bed, forget it.
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay? There is a magnificent essay-writing tradition in the English language... Dr.Johnson, Chesterton, Orwell, C.S.Lewis... I am a fan and occasionally try to emulate it. But why deny oneself good short story writing too?
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Out of sheer perversity, "It was a dark and stormy night." Besides, it's an opening I haven't used yet.
Buy or Borrow? Borrowed books have to be returned. Buy.
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth? Word of mouth is just a review that hasn't made it to paper yet.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 05:10 pm (UTC)I'm a Brit and I've shopped in Barnes & Nobles and Borders before. Maybe they're just not around your bit of Britain? Because they're certainly around mine. :)