Sunday, July 13, 2008

sunday salon- who are you? does it show in your reading?

The Sunday Salon.com

hey again all you reader peeps!
I have been reading today, and it has been good. I am almost done with Vanishing Moon, and it is really very good. The character development is divine, and life does not stop in the book, it is almost like there is a whole mid western world going on inside the cover that allows me to pick up where I left off when I closed the book last.The writing is so incredible, it turns me upside down. I'll finish that tonight:)

My goal is to read 12 books this month, and usually even in a good month I only get 8 books read....but so far it is looking good. This is my 5th book, so I am pretty much exactly where I need to be to do this craziness... I love it!


I just had a thought today, as I am finishing up this book and I want to know if other readers share it. Do you ever feel like you would rather not meet any more characters? I am a little bit of an introvert with new people, with people I know I have no problem, and I believe I take longer than some to warm up. This character trait carries through to my reading. I don't trust as easily, or let go so much...if the character seems unpredictable then I hold my breath for something to happen. I am pretty sure it is because I don't like surprises. I almost hate them, even good ones. When I was very little I would unwrap all my presents and wrap them back up and put them back under the tree....I didn't want to be surprised in front of my whole family on Christmas day. If they didn't get me what I had hoped for, that was alright, but I wanted to prepare for it and not be caught off guard in front of them like a deer in the headlights.

Another thing that I do is I cannot not finish a book. I have tried, and tried, and tried. It does not work. I have to give thanks to the relentless years of long distance running and cross country that I trained in. Relentless doesn't even describe it. I think it is just a sickly stubborn thing. It surely has helped me later on though. Here goes a YEEEEEHAWWW for stickin' with it, for stubbornness!

Do your character traits follow through in your reading? tell me about it.
What are you reading? are you enjoying it?

11 comments:

Ruth said...

Wow, that's a thought provoking post. I'm pretty introverted as well, and I find that I like to read series' because of the recurring characters. It's nice to know who's there and for me at least it's like spending time with old friends by the time I'm 3 or 4 books in.

I'm pretty eclectic in my reading tastes, maybe bordering on a little eccentric even. :) The other thing I enjoy to read is memoirs. I haven't really analyzed where they fit on the character trait scale, but humorous memoirs such as Bill Seaton's My Seven Years in Captivity really lighten the stress levels.

Anonymous said...

GREAT question! I also am extremely introverted and there are definitely times when I don't want to meet a new character. I never thought about it before, but I'm sure this is one reason why I obsessively re-read certain books over and over again. OTOH I have no problem whatsoever not finishing books.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

I hate to waste my time on terrible books.

I gave up on one book this week AFTER THE FIRST SENTENCE.

...Not sure what that says about my character....

Anonymous said...

Interesting question. As far as the finishing books: yes--that is for sure a part of my personality. I am a finisher. I finish jobs; I wrap things up. To leave a book in the middle is very unusual--although I did it this week with The Ten Year Nap!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I had a typo and deleted my first try. Here it is again...

I have lots of unfinished books, and I've given up on lots of books. Which makes me sound fickle, but I swear I'm not.

I like quirky books. I've been called weird. So I guess that much is accurate.

I like vampire books, but I'm most definitely not a vampire.

I like lots of characters, but I also like series with recurring characters. Not much of a re-reader. And not much of an extrovert.

I guess that quirky tag works after all!

raidergirl3 said...

great questions.
I used to think I would finish every book I ever read, and then I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and that cured me of the compulsive need to complete each book. There are still very few books I havent' completed.

Try Kerouac and maybe you will have found the book you needed to not finish a book.

I don't like surprises much either.

Anonymous said...

I'm beginning to let go of finishing books, because heck, my pseudonym says it all I am an "unfinishedperson." ;) Actually, though, I think up until this year, I would try to finish books that I was reading. The book that cured me was The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. I just couldn't do it.

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking a lot about this post ever since I've read it. I didn't leave a reply earlier because I wasn't sure how I'd answer. I'm still really thinking about it actually. Thank you for so much food for thought.

I take a lot more chances in reading than I do in life. Most often, those chances pay off. I wrote about that in my review of Aberrations. I don't know what exactly that says about me, but I wish I'd be as free IRL.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

My dear, 8 books in a month is fantastic let alone 12!! I'm lucky to have 6--5 is average. This month will be less, probably, because of vacation and work being so busy.

In terms of reading, I can kind of relate in a way because I'm pretty introverted until I get to know people (maybe not introverted like I once thought but reserved). So, in a way I'm opposite because I get to meet amazing people and have a relationship with them when in real life I don't really care to do that. Ha ha, that sounds bad, but you know...

I have a problem not finishing books, but I don't have a problem setting them aside for later...sometimes it just isn't the right time.

Dewey said...

What an interesting question. I was thinking something similar, not that I don't want to meet new characters (although I'm an introvert I'm always ready for more book people) but it was also about real life versus book characters. I was thinking about how some people are really nosy and want to know all the private details of everyone's lives so they can gossip about them. And I thought that if those people would just read more, they might be satisfied with the juicy details you get about book characters, and instead of gossiping, they could join a book group and discuss the characters.