I like to read "Alfred Hitchcock's 'Tales of Terror'.

I've read "To Build A fire and other stories like 5 times. Love Jack London.

Not a Faulkner fan, but understand why it's a must read.

Love Jane Austen books. Would love to dress like they did in that century.

To relieve stress, I like to re-read one of my childhood favorites.

What an original idea for a thread!

1. I never enjoyed George Eliot

2. Can easily ignore every other responsibility in my life, including food, in favor of reading.

3. I am totally anal about lists and keeping track of reading. Lists of what I have read, lists of what I want to read, large index cards with my favorite authors' bibliographies so I can check them off as read.

4. I, too, have far more books than I could ever read yet I keep adding more.

5. Even though I own one and understand the allure, I secretly hope that e-readers fail and people always buy real books.

6. I don't "get" poetry and do not like to read plays.

7. Will not read anything "abridged".

8. Sometimes feel that doing other activities is wasting time that I could be reading.

9. ALWAYS have a book with me even though I know I will not have even a minute to read. My boyfriend thinks my books are kind of like security blankets to me. (he's right)

10. I really don't care who wrote the Shakespeare plays.

11. Simply do not understand how people can not like to read. How do they make it through life????

That's it for now... I am late for a dinner date.

PAM

1. I hate to admit it but I tend to think just very slightly less of someone if they don't read books for pleasure.

2. I really can't love reading classics.

3. I am not a re-reader.

If I had no self-discipline at all, I would eat a box of good chocolates with every book I read (and that's a lot).

I don't like science fiction.

I'm another who could read all day and not do anything else.

I think people who don't read are weird.

The word "best-seller" makes me instantly dislike a book a little bit-even if I have not read one page. Best-sellers have to work extra hard to get me to even pick them up, much less open them. I offer The DaVinci Code as exhibit A and The Emperor's Children as exhibit B to explain my skepticism.

I will reread certain books at the same time each year: Little Women each Christmas, ...and Ladies of the Club every summer, In This House of Brede every autumn.

find stream of consciousness writing incredibly annoying: also books without punctuation, a la Andersonville and The Virgin's Knot. Would a quotation mark here and there really ruin the flow? I think not.

Magical realism is obnoxious to me.

I don't like series and consider writers of such as very narrow in imagination and talent. Sometimes trilogies and quartets are warranted, but after that I think the writers get lazy or probably cave in to their publishers and fans who want 'more of the same'. Quality always seems to diminish.
When I have houseguests, for the first two or three days of their visit I will try to give them most of my attention. But if they stay longer, they get my now-that-you-live-here treatment (no, ill-will intended or diminution of pleasure with their company). I will return to my reading in their presence. Of course they are welcome to read whatever they want, too. If they don't want to read, they can find something else to amuse them. When I am a guest in turn, I am not insulted when my hosts go on with their normal routines. I actually prefer it, and many of my guests do as well. Still, there are a few who get miffed when they are treated like family. So sorry!

My lurid reading confessions, as follows:

I did not read as a child, consequently I have read only a handful of the famous books for children.

I read contemporary fiction only rarely. I find most of it predictable, thin, and self-conscious.

I feel sorry for people who can only read one type of book, especially genre fiction.

I consciously avoid books which deal with cruelty and brutal violence, not matter how "important" they may be deemed by the critics. It's bad enough that such things happen in the world. Do I have to read about them in my leisure time as well?

I am not a "grammar nazi", but I find it almost impossible not to correct the spelling errors of others, most of whom do not appreciate my zeal.

Writers whom I consider to be over-rated: Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Edith Wharton, E. M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Alice Walker, and probably many more.

What's a 'confession'.....? OK:

When ill I re-read Enid Blyton's 'Famous Five' books and Crompton's 'William' books.

I love poetry - read it for pleasure and consolation - but can't take Sylvia Plath even in small doses.

There are too many novels being published now so I've given up on moderns altogether. Too many people who have little to say, have been taught to write prose.

Ii find it difficult to get into most novels. I tail off on a lot and simply forget to pick them up again.

I have a Kindle which I read from but also use books. But: I have a Kindle attachment for my iphone and often read it while having a quiet drink in pubs. Useful for the kind of work I do - dramatisations.

I genuinely love Shakespeare and I know he wrote the plays, so there!

Of Dickens' work, I've only ever read Chrismas Carol - and that at school when I was eleven. I don't even want to watch beautiful TV adaptations of his classics.

Enough!

Dido

My reading "secrets" are much the same as many above, something I find very comforting!

* I won't read anything endorsed by Oprah, though I have quite liked several books that fall into the "best seller" category.

* I confess to thoroughly enjoying The DaVinci Code, despite its shortcomings.

* I will also go out of my way to avoid books with brutal violence and/or unspeakable things done to women and children. There are some scenes from books that are still in my head years later that I wish I could simply scrub away.

* I can't stand Faulkner and I don't like John Updike at all.

* I still love Nora Roberts, even though her newer books are shadows of her older ones.

* I hate my Kindle. I love my iPad. Jane Austen can be downloaded for free on both :)

* One bad experience with an author will put me off them forever; with an author I like, I will go out of my way to try to read (and sometimes own) the entire backlist in an only slightly obsessive/compulsive manner. This is made all the more challenging when some of the books are OOP, then it becomes a book hunting adventure.

* I always try to keep my books looking like new -- no broken spines, no missing dust jackets, no dog-eared pages in hardcovers.

I share many of the confessions above, including not reading series, not caring for Dickens (or any of the famous Southern writers either. I will never, ever make any kind of a mark in a book, but use post-it notes to claim ownership when I loan a book.

In trying to rationalize eating fried onion rings (a real guilty pleasure!) I feel that once in a while my reading diet should have some trash. I'm usually sorry for partaking of both afterward, though.

I will not read a book in which the heroine is described as "beautiful" in the jacket notes, and I will roll my eyes when reading that she has a "mop of unruly . . . curls".

A mystery to me: Why do so many characters tend to wink? I assume this is a just a vehicle (probably there is some literary term for it) that writers use to convey something unsaid in the conversation. However to me it seems so artificial. About as bas as "a mop of unruly. . ."

I think Anne Rivers Siddons, Pat Conroy, and Charles Dickens are greatly overrated.

I will occasionally make marks in the books I own, if I like the quote, or use a sticky note to bookmark a page.

I adore bookplates and used to collect them, taking pride in placing them inside the covers.

I dislike the idea of a Kindle and will never buy one. I adore the feel and smell of a book and enjoy turning pages.

I used to buy books in Paris that needed to be cut with a knife. This task made the pleasure of reading the book all the greater.

I do care who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

I frequently re-read childhood favorites, such as the poems of R.L. Stevenson and A.A. Milne, and "The Secret Garden." I'm planning to revisit "Peter Pan."

Although I got rid of tons of books before I relocated, I have bought more since moving here. And people keep on giving me books. It's hopeless!

Like some of you, I deplore people who do not read books. I don't understand them at all.

I read poetry continually. When I'm waiting for someone, or have a few minutes to spare, it's a good way to fill up that space of time.

I also deplore the lack of proofreaders nowadays and get irate when I find a spelling error.

In RP company, probably my dirtiest reading secret is that I DO understand why some people do not read. I know plenty of them. Their most common explanation is they prefer "doing something real in life" over reading, which is vicarious. I do not necessarily agree with them - not for myself anyway (I like vicarious experiences) - but I understand what they mean. I do not think less of these people - different strokes...

Although I belong to two RL book groups, I do not like reading books that RL book groups like to read. For that reason, I too do not wish to read anything Oprah endorses. I learned the hard way. I still have scars on my psyche from reading "Beloved" and "The Road". I will never pick up another book by the book group darling, Jodi Picoult, either.

I do not think Charles Dickens is overrated. His influence has been profound. I DO understand that he can be difficult to read.

On the other hand, I do not like most 19th/20th century British children's books. I am thinking of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Peter Pan" in particular.

Ha, Lydia. Your mention of Beloved made me remember that I read it one weekend when I was home caring for my mother. After she began to develop macular degeneration, she subscribed to the Large Print Book Club and just let the books come. One of them was Beloved. I started it, hated it, kept reading, and fussed about it so much that my sister asked me why I didn't stop reading it. I told her I had to find out what happened to those poor people, and ever since then when I hear someone say they love the book, it makes me laugh.

I love to read really good long books; 800 pages is not too many.

I read many best sellers and don't feel guilty.

I have a built-in resistance to "book club" books.

I take it rather personally when someone does not like a book I think is great, even though I understand.

Like many others, I have more books in my house and on my Kindle than I will ever read.

As I've said before, I listen to more books than I read because of my need to multitask.

Reading library books does not work for me because I don't like having a time limit. This ridiculous attitude also applied to reading assignments in school.

I hated literature classes in college.

I enjoy reading textbooks on a wide variety of subjects just for fun.

I occasionally indulge in books with sex scenes and skip those bits! Too old to get interested!
If there is danger to an animal in a mystery book, I turn to the end to see if it is all right before I can read any more of the story!
I also like to track backlists of a newly discovered old author. Bless the ABE books website!
I keep a reread next to my armchair to dip into during commercial breaks. Some of the breaks during popular shows can take up a chapter!
I have more secret vices but....... ssshhh!

My dirty little secret is that I actually worry about my books. What will happen to them when I'm gone? Who will love them? Will someone take care of them? It is almost like they are alive, like a beloved pet. I wish I had someone to leave them to.

hmmm..
I do like many best sellers and books being written today.
I confess to not enjoying many of the classics, but do love Shakespeare's plays.
I make lists too-books read, books I want to read, etc.
I could sit and read all day and now that I am retired I many times do just that.
I must have a time to read daily-even if on vacation, have visitors present or am visiting someone.
I read in the car.
I always carry a book and knitting.
I also knit in the car.
I hate to find errors in books-spelling and grammar. I wish I could proofread books and get paid.
I hate the Kindle etc.
I worry about the demise of books and what will happen as my grandchildren get older.
I still have many many too many books even though I clean out frequently (donate to library book sale) and mostly go to the library nowadays.

I really want to want a Kindle, but just can't.

I try everything I can to make my grandchildren love books as much as I do -- about 50% successful.

I AM a member of the grammar police and have been known to make corrections even in library books. (I'm a poor speller myself, so tend to not notice those mistakes.)

I no longer finish every book I start.

I will check to see if the dog/horse/cat/child dies and, if so, will not read the book. Adult humans are on their own.

I buy books -- usually non-fiction -- that I think I should read and then do not.

I weed my books by asking myself if I will ever want to read them again. If not, off to a new home for them.

I love, love our library since it has allowed me to order books via computer.

1. My favorite novel is Moby Dick. And yes it has some horrific animal cruelty scenes--I do skim over them.
2. I really don't like Pride and Prejudice--or any Austen for that matter. The conventional society/domestic marriage plot is a bore (There, I said it!) I'll take the passion and vigor of all three Brontes over Austen any day!
3. I re-read the entire "Little House" series at least once a year--my favorite childhood books.
4. I love T. S. Eliot's poetry, especially Four Quartets.
5. I know The Divine Comedy--all of it--backwards and forwards(from years of teaching it).
6. Against all odds, I really like my Kindle.

This is all very interesting.

*I love my Kindle. (I'm sorry if that makes me a bad book person.)
*I also love the library, though, so maybe that redeems me.
* I actually enjoy many of the books that are popular with book clubs.
* I also enjoyed reading "The DaVinci Code," even though I thought the writing was weak. Go figure.
* Like others, I can't stand for kids and animals to be mistreated and I don't like extreme violence against adult humans, either -- especially women.
* I don't read bestsellers, but have nothing against them. I do, however, resent that two or three authors always take up the entire fiction list.
* Although my degree is in English/American lit, I never read Faulkner -- and that's okay by me.
* I can't seem to get excited about most non-fiction -- but I keep trying.
* I like memoirs but rarely read them for some reason.
* I have to read at least a page or two of a book every night or I can't go to sleep.

I don't like any poetry that doesn't rhyme. "Poems" that don't rhyme are, in my opinion, very short prose.
I hate Shakespeare. I had to read several of his plays in high school and, because I lived in Stratford, CT I attended several of his plays. Stratford, CT is on the Housatonic River and when I was young a theater was built for his plays, but also served for some really great concerts of classical music.
I can't remember when I wasn't a voracious reader. I have never had many friends and the friends I do have are all readers.
I have reread very few books in my lifetime. I don't see the reason to keep books once I have read them so I give them away.
I am extremely irritated by poor grammar and pronunciation. I pass over errors if they occur in dialog because the speaker might be meant to be ignorant, but I almost always underline the authors' errors. I hope any spelling errors are the result of poor proof reading and donâÂÂt reflect the errors of the author.
I would love to be a proofreader and accost the author with any and all mistakes. Factual errors also make me angry.
I love reading almost as much as eating and a really good book can make me forget food until I am truly hungry. I frequently record a TV program that I believe will be interesting if I am currently reading a book. I can wait for the TV offerings, but the book always takes precedence.
I worked very diligently to make my children learn to love reading. One decent thing I can say about my ex and his parents is that they often read to my kids when they were little. Both my children, now adults, love to read.
A favorite gift for me to give to my kids is a book.
Whenever I am not reading or forced to do work I am an avid listener of NPR. I frequently find books I want to read or give to my kids because Diane Rhem or Terry Gross discuss them. I also become aware of history or political books featured in the afternoon programs that I buy for my younger son.
I own a Kindle and love the convenience of it. I buy purses only if they are roomy enough to hold my Kindle.
I believe I should be able to share e-books with other Kindle owners. I can buy a paper back or hard cover, read it, and then give it to anyone, so why can't I email a Kindle book to a friend?
I think e-books are terribly over priced and I sometimes refuse to pay Amazon's high price for a must read and find a used copy (often available for only a penny) and pay the $3.99 shipping.
I am honestly sorry that some people hate to read. They are missing countless hours of pleasure and enlightenment. I hope all teachers work to instill a love of reading in their students.

I am thoroughly Jane Austened-out. Marita40 beat me to that! I would much rather re-read Jane Eyre than anything Austen.
I have never read nor seen a Shakespeare comedy and this doesn't worry me at all.
I think "Othello" is a clunker about a thick-skulled man who took things at face value.
I have tried and given up on Moby Dick, War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo, and certain other classics.
But I love Anna Karenina and most of Dostoevsky.
I am in awe of Simone de Beauvoir and could talk about her endlessly. Most younger people have never heard of her! The Mandarins is a favorite book. Her lover, Jean-Paul Sartre, OTOH, was a wretch and a bore.
I still intend to read Proust.
I too am an awful grammar-nanny, probably because of years of teaching language. DH is used to rants about the written word and even more, what is heard on TV these days.
Tomorrow evening I will put down whichever book and watch Dancing With The Stars. Can't help it, must watch. I suspect that Len is a reader!

I too watch Dancing With The Stars-which is about all I watch-unless it's football season

I read in the loo.
I read everywhere, really, have even attempted to read in the shower. Used to take long baths with a stack of books next to the bath :-)
I really like Jane Austen. I like the Brontes as well.
I tried to read Faulkner and couldn't. Similarly I got about a third of the way into Moby Dick before I gave it up as a bad job: the going off on a tangent was driving me nuts.
I read children's books.
I generally don't like books with a heavy religious slant. The Bible is an exception :-)
I am leery of any books that have on the cover anything like "Winner of the X Prize"; similarly books which have no synopsis on the back/inside cover, and reviews by questionable sources along the lines of "Truly magnificent epic- Podunk Herald".
I love science fiction and fantasy. I have gone dressed in public as an SF character more than once...
Probably heaps more I haven't thought of :-)

One of my neighbors reads while she walks-I wish I could do that-does anyone? or read on a treadmill?-perhaps I would be better about exercise if I could do that... but I'm not coordinated enough!

I do enjoy reading whilst I am working out on the elliptical machine at the gym. It just takes a bit of practice, and is a great way to get a good chunk of reading in. :-)

My list:
- I love all poetry, rhyming and not. I read a poem every day; it's like meditation.
- I love Dickens, Faulkner, Austen and Shakespeare. New fiction, BG fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, short stories--nearly all comers except science fiction and fantasy. Not crazy about mysteries, either.
- Sometimes I would rather read my book than have dinner conversation. Don't tell my husband.
- Our many, many bookshelves are laden. A friend was told by her moving company that books are terribly expensive to haul--they charge by weight--so now I worry about that. Getting rid of books is hard for me.
- I take a book everywhere, on the chance I might get a page or two of reading in. Sometimes I'm annoyed when the wait at the doctor's office, for example, is too brief.
-I work full time (freelance editor) and I've taken to knocking off at 6PM to read for an hour. It feels like I'm getting away with something.

I used to read during aerobics. When the multi tasking became too difficult, I quit aerobics. Took up martial arts... plenty of philosophy to read about it.

I read while walking. BF thinks I will get injured or attacked someday if I do not become more aware of my surroundings.

Once, I read while waiting in line at Disney World. I was about 15. I had my mother in front of me and my father behind me. When the line moved, my father gave me a little gentle shove. I walked until I ran into my mother. I read eight books that week... just waiting in line. One of them was The Grapes of Wrath.

PAM

PAM -- I love that story about Disney World. You sound like me. My sister and roommate used to get so irritated with me when they would try to talk to me while I was reading a book. I never even heard them.

I also adore that Disney story. Those lines are Sooooooo long that it would make perfect sense. I can't think why I didn't do that same thing while I was there. Will remember for next time. :-)

My list:

* I have Kindle for PC, but I never use it.
* If I go anywhere, I take two books. What if I got stuck and finished one!
* When reading or looking for books, I almost go into a dream state. It is like a mental vacation.
* Despite my English degree, I have some middle-brow tastes. I like early to mid twentieth-century womens' fiction. Think Faith Baldwin or Kathleen Norris. I also like early Harlequin romances particularly Mary Burchell. I am under fifty,btw!
* On my mother's side are readers. My dad's side features non-readers who are naturally good at math. You can guess which side I fall on!
* I love journals and volumes of letters.
* When I couldn't watch a program ("Jewel in the Crown"), I read the books instead.
* I felt sorry for old books in the library that were never checked out.
* I become incredibly excited when I hear about an upcoming book sale.
* One of my first memories is trying to reach a book on my mother's book shelf.
* It took me forever to get around to getting a driver's license, but I was in the library on my twelfth birthday to get the adult library card ( I had my mother checking things out for me before that).
* I have stacks of books (to be read) sitting behind me as I write this.
* I still like to smell and feel the spines of my books ( I guess this is where a Kindle falls short).
* Sometimes when I eat lunch by myself, I imagine a lunch scenario with some of my favorite characters.
* I love a wide variety of genres-fiction and non-fiction EXCEPT for horror, science-fiction and political thrillers. I have a phobia for any shape-changing theme.

I could go on and on...

May I add one more?
My favorite part of back-to-school was always buying school supplies. I loved getting new pens and notebooks.

Library Angel, I actually check out books that are seldom checked out (sadly, that is usually the classics) and bring them home for a "vacation". They stand less chance of being culled. My librarian friends laugh when I check out now because they know what I am up to.

THANK YOU for commenting on my Disney memory. It made the waiting ever so much more pleasant.

My boyfriend is not a reader. I thought it would bug me at first. But he tells me that somebody has to keep an eye on my while I am reading since I am oblivious to the world around me.

PAM

PAM -- Speaking of being oblivious, did you see that video of the woman walking in China who fell into a sinkhole that opened up in front of her? She wasn't reading - talking on a cell phone - but it reminds me to be more careful if I'm ever trying to walk and read at the same time - something I've been known to do. Good thing you have your boyfriend to watch out for you. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Girl Falls

OK.

I have TWO ebook readers - a Kindle and a Kobo Touch.

Like some others, I take it personally if someone doesn't like a book I love.

I don't approve of book-burning, but I would happily make an exception for any and all celebrity autobiographies.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Da Vinci code, even though it is rubbish. (However, his others are rubbish and not even enjoyable...)

I read every Harry Potter book from number 3 on the day it came out...

My turn.

* I feel sorry for people who don't read, but I don't care what tastes in reading someone has (except for true crime and the memoirs of abused childhoods, I really don't get those).
*I feel supremely lucky to work in a book shop.
*It's hardly a secret around here, but I hate Thomas Bloody Hardy.
*I am going to buy a Kindle very soon (bad thing to admit when I work in a book shop)
*My reading tastes are distinctly middle brow.
*I am a very plot driven reader, and tend to skim to get to the more interesting/action parts.
*I was reading 'Gone With the Wind' for the third time before I found the phrase 'gone with the wind' (see point above).
*I used to re-read a lot, but do so very little now I work with new books all the time.
*I have bought so many books that I haven't read, going into my study/library causes anxiety.
*I don't read as much as I should, because I spend too much time on the computer.
*My mother encouraged me to read, but has only ever read one book as an adult, and thinks reading is a waste of time, as she thinks 'it's all made up'. It doesn't stop her watching made up TV or films, though *g*
*My DH reads the books I put in his hand - he didn't read much at all until we started going out together, but luckily he was only 15 and it wasn't too late.

Astrokath, I hate Thomas Hardy too! "Jude the Obscure" made me want to jump off a cliff. I did throw it across the room and that is the only time I've done that. I remember thinking that it would be very dangerous in the hands of someone who was already depressed.

My first posting of confessions was truncated above, so I'll add a few more:
I like true crime of the historical variety; e.g., Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the murder of Marilyn Sheppard, the murder of Christopher Marlowe, etc. -- in other words, the great puzzles before the era of DNA-testing.

I think it's amusing when my dear S-I-L shudders when she picks up one of the historical true crime books I read; then she settles down to consume P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Minette Walters or whoever is the latest crime novelist. I would rather reread good old books than wade through much of the garbage available today.
I don't really like to recommend books. I will, if pressed, but with great hesitation. This is terribly unfair of me, because I take advantage of other readers' recommendations.
I don't care for the typical public library -- apologies to all you librarians. :-) They seldom have what I want when I want it. Interlibrary loans don't work for me either, because I'm usually long gone before they arrive. I am also terrible about losing library books because they get mixed in with my own books or I've accidentally carried them off to Buenos Aires or somewhere and left them. I have had to pay for too many lost and overdue library books. It's better that I just buy my own copies when I can. I don't borrow books from family and friends for the same reason. (I lend many of my own books that are not family treasures, but I really don't expect to get them back.)

PAM -

I also feel sorry for neglected library books and check them out just to make them feel better. :-)

Crazy but true, I'm afraid.

Martin - So true about the other Dan Brown books -- I couldn't finish the one I tried. I did finish the prequel(?) to DaVinci, but it was pretty weak.

Working in a large library was a sort of "readers paradise" for me. I worked in Technical Services, could note what new books were just coming in, and could reserve what I wanted and have "first dibs" on works that I'd read reviews of months before, in Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

And working in the bookshop was great for the same reasons....

Like Frieda, I find magical realism obnoxious.

Like Colleen, I read in the loo...but here in the States, you can call it the "john" and take in the line of books marketed for reading, um, in there, called Uncle John's Readers. (I don't do that.)

I love my Kindle and have kindle-ized my phone and I can read, enjoyably, on both.

I hate spending money on books and almost everything I read comes from the library as a book, ebook, or ARC. I love eating and reading at the same time.

The television puts me to sleep and I can't sustain interest in any serial programs (never even finished Downton Abbey) but I can read for hours upon hours, way past my bedtime. If I spent fewer hours reading, I could have a clean house and manicured gardens.

friedag, I am still chuckling over your SIL's reaction to the true crime classics you read about. It is the right of every reader to contradict herself, though. ;)

My dirtiest little secret of all:

Many years ago I checked out an out-of-print library book for which I lusted. This was back in the days when it was difficult to find out-of-print books. I thought about the fact that I could "lose" it, then pay for it and keep it. Then I decided that I was not that kind of person (there was never a real question; I merely report temptation). Then I really did lose it!

Worst of both worlds. All the guilt of sin, and none of the benefits.

Rosefolly

I like to read the last sentence of a book before I start it! I just want to know where things are headed and will usually proceed to forget that information before I get to the end of the book.

There's a lovely passage in Steinbeck's East of Eden about the Chinese cook/philosopher Lee's love of reading. I don't have the book in front of me but it is something to the effect that only a person who really loves books and has a thirst for knowledge steals them. . .or at least "borrows" them for indefinite periods with little regard to timelines. My guilty secret is that when I was young I never checked books out of our town library but just walked out with them for the same reason as Lee's "stealing" of others' books. This was a time long before bar codes and detection devices. Oh, I DID always return the books--eventually, when I was good and ready to!

A guilty secret of my teen years. There was a book I really liked that I "borrowed" without checking out from the school library. I kept it for quite a while (no, I don't remember how long, but it might have been until the start of the next school year) and then my guilty conscience made me return it. The funny thing is that to this day, I still don't own a copy of it.

Speaking of borrowing books, there is a scene in the movie Out Of Africa where Denys Finch Hatton is telling his friend, Berkeley, that he is upset with a friend who has borrowed one of his books, didn't return it and that he wants to sever the friendship. Berkeley says something like, "You're kidding...you'd lose a friend over a book?". Finch Hatton replies, 'Well, he did, didn't he!"

Hmm...great question!

There are some here I would have to say 'ditto' to, but that's redundant so I'll say this for myself:

I can't abide graphic sex or violence.

I love to read children's books...they actually inspire me in many ways.

I have certain times and places to read different genres: mysteries at night in bed or on rainy days while (locked) in my car at the lake, historical fiction and uncomplicated and light-hearted reading in the hammock rain or shine, devotions in my club chair next to the front window, magazines on the front porch with a note pad and pen to jot down ideas I get from them, paperbacks of short stories in the car parking lot while waiting for husband to run his errands and yes, I do read in the bathroom!

I look up books on amazon.com, ebay and then try to find them at the library if I think I don't want to own the book...I do buy lots of books both new and used; however.

I don't like to lend my books out to anyone...I've lost some irreplaceables that way.

I write in all my books...favorite sentences, paragraphs, dialogue, etc.

I use my stack of books as a coffee cup 'coaster' and have some rings on the covers, but I never turn down the corners, although I do turn fold the pages in on themselves for quick reference and I LOVE to make and use bookmarks...they are 'art' to me.

I never read without a cup of coffee or iced drink nearby...an afgan just in case it's chilly and I always kick off my shoes before opening a book to read.

I have many fictional 'friends and advisers'...oh gosh, I could go on and on about this, but I have got to get to the end of this book I'm reading right now...so, later!

nola_anne