Hardback if I have my druthers
2. Amazon or brick and mortar?
Amazon, most likely, though there is something missing from shopping online and not getting to touch and smell the books, so sometimes we must indulge and give in to the sensory parts of our bibliophile selves and trundle off to the bookstore…
3. Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Depends whose house I want to be close to…I guess Borders because it’s by D&B, and because I have fond memories of that specific location from my own college days.
4. Bookmark or dog eared?
Bookmark! Say it with me…”Books are our friends. We don’t BEND or DESTROY our FRIENDS!” (There must have been a librarian in my family tree somewhere.)
5. Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
Usually by author, though the way things are NOW, it’s all random (thank you, Small Fry, for helping reorganize the bookshelves; they do LOOK better this way, I can’t help but agree!)
6. Keep, throw away, or sell?
Keep, keep, keep. Even the horrible books I can’t finish (though the Clutter Police are coming this weekend and might talk me out of some of my books, especially those that fall into the Hated It or Couldn’t Finish categories).
7. Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Keep it. It’s part of the book!
8. Read with dust jacket or remove it?
Most of the time, I remove it. I harbor a secret dislike of the dust jackets, though I refuse to just pitch them, because they get all wrinkled and ruined if I take the book with me in my handbag and read it at every given opportunity, and yet they have all the art and the information on them. So usually, I tuck them somewhere and then when I’m finished with the book, I hunt around for days trying to find where I tucked it.
9. Short story or novel?
Both. Either. One’s good before bed, the other’s good during TV. (Either could be either.) It’s like asking chocolate or milk? Well, BOTH, of course!
10.Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
See #9.
11. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Eek, I don’t know that I can pick, except that Book the Thirteenth was a huge disappointment to me, and I haven’t yet been disappointed by the last HP book. So I guess that leaves it at Harry.
12. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
In theory, at chapter breaks, thus leading to dog ears and wrinkled pages and much grumbling and hectic weighting down to take out said imperfections. In reality, when I fall asleep and the book clunks to the ground or bonks the dog.
13. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
Hmm, you could do interesting things with either, couldn’t you? (Or terribly predictable things.)
14. Buy or borrow?
In theory, buy. In reality, borrow. (Then make a long list of what to buy later.)
15. New or used?
Either way, it’s a book!
16. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?
Yes please. I have found the blogging reviews I’ve read to be most helpful and some have introduced me to books I never even knew existed. Before blogging, I was a browser, but I will always take a good recommendation and add it to my (never-ending) list.
17. Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
Again, you can do interesting things with either, and I’m all for a little variety in my reading. (In theory, I’m probably more of a tidy ending person. In reality, I savor cliffhangers and spend weeks composing my own theories and possibilities, and that’s part of the fun!)
18. Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?
Anytime I can stay awake long enough, here lately!
19. Stand-alone or series?
The thing with series is that I can’t just read one or two; I have to read the whole thing. Now this is where sci-fi really annoys me. Everything is a series of like 30 books! Why is that? I would just like a good book, thank you. But no, we have series. So I am learning to love them, but not without the sort of grudge I have against dust jackets.
20. Favorite series?
Nothing original here: Chronicles of Narnia, Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books (which we are slowly collecting so Daughter can read them – she loves to take them off the shelf and look at the covers of the horsies), Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter. (What, did you think there would be just one?)
21. Favorite children’s book?
Right now, it’s a tie between “You’re My I Love You” and “Angel in the Waters,” though we have a book of poems by John Updike for each month with beautiful illustrations that I also love reading to the Girl and any other child who will sit still for it. (Because if we start the listing of young adult in this category, my answer will get long and tiresome…)
22. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Einstein’s Dreams or Innumeracy, and they’re books I share (and have somehow, miraculously, kept original copies of)
23. Favorite book read last year?
(You had to suspect that I would have more than one answer, right? So this list won’t come as a surprise, right?)
Canticle of Leibowitz, by Walter Miller (OK, so science fiction is something I really need to explore more, I’m sold!)
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
Go in Peace, by John Paul II
The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis
The Joy of Worshipping Together, by Fr. Rod Damico
24. Favorite books of all time?
Theology of the Body, by John Paul II
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos
Einstein’s Dreams, by Alan LightmanMother Tongue, by Bill Bryson
25. Least favorite book you finished last year?
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
26. What are you reading right now?
See sidebar
27. What are you reading next?
See Spring Reading Challenge (in theory this is what I’m reading next, anyway)
No tags on this one (though I’m tempted, it’s Lent, and many of you are blogging less and doing more spiritual things than memes…) join the fun if you care to.
Tip o the hat to Catholic Mom in Hawaii
Here at Snoring Scholar, you'll find marriage and motherhood, book talk and rambling remarks, observations and distractions, in the midst of life in rural Ohio on a farm, with kids, critters, and Catholic flair.
Catholic Family Fun: A Guide for the Adventurous, Overwhelmed, Creative, or Clueless is now available for ordering! 
