My good friend, Dianne, started this nifty little poll about our book and reading habits. Since I am a book fanatic, I couldn’t pass it up. So without further ado…

1. Where do you most often buy your books? Online? Secondhand stores? Big name bookstores? I get most of them online, but anytime I’m in any other bookstore (Borders or B&N, usually), I find myself tempted and often pick up “a little something.”
2. If you buy online, which do you prefer – B&N or Amazon.com? Ebay? Christianbook.com? or elsewhere? Usually Amazon.com. But I use Christianbook.com fairly regularly too. I’ve also gotten books from Half.com at a great price, but I’ve only done that a few times.
3. Do you put your name in your books? If so, are you a bookplate or stamp person? I’m pretty sporadic about this. Sometimes I write my name in them, sometimes not. I’d love to find a really nice book stamp, but I just haven’t come across one that fits what I want yet.
4. How do you feel about loaning books to others? I’m pretty good about this, although it’s hard sometimes — with books that I really love or consult regularly. There are a few people that I know I can trust to return them and I have no problem lending them books. As for other people – those who haven’t proven themselves as trustworthy book-returners – I tend to be a little hesitant. But I’ll be the first person to admit that I’ve had Dianne‘s copy of Songbird way too long (and if I have others, Dianne, let me know!).
5. Do you highlight or mark your books as you read? Yes, although it took me a while to be able to do this. I used to want to keep them perfect and pristine, but I so often found myself leafing through books looking for that one phrase that I was trying to remember… it’s so much better to retain and later find information when you have it marked!
6. How often do you visit your local library? I cannot answer this question. Because then I’d have to admit that it’s been over a year since I went to the library. I really need to get on the ball about that.
7. Do you collect any certain kind of book? No, but I have a sizable “collection” of parenting books. We also have my mom’s hardcovers of Zane Grey westerns and her collection of classics… so I guess she did the collecting for us!
8. What do you do when you’re done with a book and no longer want it? I just sold a whole bunch of stuff on Amazon.com. It’s kind of a pain to have to get a book to the post office within 48 hours of getting the notice that it sold (I mean, I know that’s reasonable, but it’s not always easy with a baby around), but I made quite a bit of money – over $40 – on books that I knew I’d never touch again. I also sometimes take things to the half-price bookstore, but I never seem to get much there. Mostly, I pass books along — to friends, to my mom, etc.
9. Do you keep a list of or catalog the books you own? I have tried cataloguing our books — many times! But I never get very far. I still hold out hope that I’ll do it someday, though…
10. Any other weird book habits you’d like to share? Besides the fact that I’m always reading 3-10 books at the same time? Or that any purse I use must be large enough to accommodate at least a paperback? Or that there are books-in-progress near any spot in our house where I regularly sit? Or that I’d rather have books than jewelry or shoes? No, I don’t think I have anything else to share.

I had fun answering these questions and would love to see others answer them too! If you do, let me know in the comments, so I can come check it out!

I’ve been known to be a tiny bit obsessive. And on top of that, once I challenge myself to something, I pride myself on doing all I can to meet that challenge. So it is with great pain and reluctance that I admit that… there’s a book I just can’t finish. Or perhaps I should say, there’s a book that I just can’t read in its entirety. It’s a book that’s on my Fall into Reading Challenge List. It’s a book I had looked forward too. But it’s time to face it: it’s just not going to happen.

Here’s the book:

Nancy Drew was a key part of my formative years. In fact, at one point, I was determined to be Nancy Drew when I grew up. She had it all: the independent spirit, a quick mind, and countless mysteries that plunged her into adventure and carefully planted clues. My parents fostered my love of Nancy Drew and Christmas or my birthday would often produce yet another of Nancy’s mysteries for my reading enjoyment. But if not, no matter. I’d just read one of the ones I already had again. I didn’t care that I knew “whodunit”; I’d enjoy it the second (or third or fourth or fifth…) time, anyway.

So I was very excited a few months ago when I saw Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her at the bookstore. I was sure it would be a great read for an all-grown-up Nancy Drew fan.

But alas, I just cannot read the whole thing.

First, the good:

The author seriously did her homework. It’s clear that she learned everything – everything - she could about the initial creator and pseudonymous authors of the Nancy Drew mysteries. Letters, newspaper articles, education, childhood anecdotes — she dug it all up.

But:

I’m afraid the author put way too much stuff in the book that is simply not needed. For example, as one of the key contributors to the Nancy Drew phenomenon began college, the women’s suffrage movement was in full swing. So the author pulled back from the immediate story and spent many pages talking about the history of the women’s suffrage movement, going all the way back to Abigail Adams. Unnecessary. Another time, when telling us about the first Nancy Drew author’s involvement in college athletics, we must take some time to learn about “women in sports,” female Olympiads, etc. Why? I’m not sure. All I know is that there were far more details than necessary for someone who really just wanted to know about Nancy Drew and the women who wrote her stories.

The book got high reviews on Amazon, so don’t take my word for it. Clearly, many readers aren’t bothered by rabbit trails and tangents, or extraneous information. Maybe it’s my natural aversion to reading all things history, I don’t know. (But in my defense, even my history-major husband assured me that when he’s reading a book on a certain topic, he appreciates the author actually staying on that topic.)

I will say that I’ve tried to read this book. I’ve made it the only book on my night-stand. I’ve forced myself to try to read a chapter a day. But it isn’t working. I cannot abide all the extra stuff.

And so, I’ve decided that I will skim and skip, reading passages that scratch my itch to know the story behind Nancy Drew (there are many of these) and ignoring passages that tell me things I didn’t really need to know about World War II, the Great Depression, or great leaps for women-kind (there are many of these, too). I don’t think I’ll be able to bring myself to actually cross the book off my Challenge list, since I’m not technically reading the whole thing. But for my own sanity, I just have to get through Girl Sleuth this way. Otherwise, I fear I’ll be stuck on this book forever.