# Ask the girl who's read... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969 "2008-01-02T05:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/1 "2008-01-02T05:05:39Z")
…one hundred and fifty-eight books this year, altogether (I kept track)… well, anything you want, really. (To answer the first / inevitable question, I have a very _odd_ life, yes.) ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/2 "2008-01-02T05:09:37Z")
What were the first and last books of the year? And the best and worst? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/3 "2008-01-02T05:12:10Z")
Lists. We want lists. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/4 "2008-01-02T05:14:25Z")
Were they all in English? If not, what other languages? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/5 "2008-01-02T05:14:26Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] (To answer the first / inevitable question, I have a very _odd_ life, yes.) [/QUOTE] What is it about you that you think most would find odd? Yes, you must spend a lot of time reading, but anything else? Are you obsessed with reading a new book or do you just choose to? Where are you most of the time when reading? Library, desk, bed? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/6 "2008-01-02T05:16:31Z")
What genres do you prefer? ---
**Author:** ![qubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f07891/32.png) [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/7 "2008-01-02T05:20:50Z")
You read 158 books in the last ~21 hours? How long are these books? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/8 "2008-01-02T05:21:57Z")
Read anything in Old English? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MagicEyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@MagicEyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MagicEyes)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/9 "2008-01-02T05:37:57Z")
What was your favorite? How fast do you read? Did you run across any books that were so bad, you didn’t even finish reading them, or do you have to finish reading every book you start? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/10 "2008-01-02T05:43:08Z")
Do you read word for word or do you do a lot of skimming? Do you remember details of every book? Do you read mostly fiction or non-fiction? Any technical books? (Well, more questions like this one. . . what kinds of books) Have you read the Life of Pi? God or no God? Did you have a plan in mind or did you just happen to keep track of the books? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/11 "2008-01-02T05:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=IrreverentTone] What were the first and last books of the year? And the best and worst? [/QUOTE] The very first book was… hang on, looking… aha! Douglas Adams’s _Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency_, way back in January. Lisa See’s _Snow Flower and the Secret Fan_ was the last one–I just finished it two days ago. The best? That’s a really good question–there were a \*lot \*of good books this year–but I think I’d have to go with _T.H. White’s The Once and Future King_. The book is epic, in all senses of the word–gorgeous and heartbreaking and bittersweet and funny and haunting–and it’s one of the books that’s actually changed me as a person. Hands down, the worst was Christian Jacq’s _The Flaming Sword_–I used to have a secret, furtive, shameful thing for Christian Jacq, on account of having a thing for Ancient Egypt, but this novel finally broke me. It’s like every single cardboard-cutout character is slumming in this book from a cheap dollar-store Harlequin. [QUOTE=Shoshana] Lists. We want lists. [/QUOTE] Full booklist up [here](http://www.freewebs.com/kythereia-page/)! Recommendations on request. 🙂 [QUOTE=Cunctator] Were they all in English? If not, what other languages? [/QUOTE] For the most part, yeah. I think the one book I fully read in French this year was a YA novel called _Soldat peaceful_–I forget the author. I dabbled around a bit in _Le comte de Monte Cristo_, sort of skimming the pages, but it was tough. [QUOTE=x-ray vision] What is it about you that you think most would find odd? Yes, you must spend a lot of time reading, but anything else? Are you obsessed with reading a new book or do you just choose to? Where are you most of the time when reading? Library, desk, bed? [/QUOTE] a) …Myself? 😉 I listen to music and DVDs when I’m not reading. I’m into photography and cooking and I love biking when the weather is good… b) There are some books, like Terry Pratchett’s newest novel, that I have to read or else I may in fact spontaneously combust. Others just look good because I like the cover, or the jacket blurb, or the genre or the author or whatever. I spend a lot of time reading on the bus or subway, weirdly enough. [QUOTE=Shoshana] What genres do you prefer? [/QUOTE] Fantasy, historical fiction, world literature, and humour. Or some combination of all three. Or bits of paper stuffed between two covers. Honestly, sometimes I’ll read anything that’s in arm’s reach. [QUOTE=alanak] You read 158 books in the last ~21 hours? How long are these books? [/QUOTE] I won’t even dignify this with a :p. [QUOTE=Sunspace] Read anything in Old English? [/QUOTE] Beowulf was 2006. Sorry. (Esperanto might be interesting to try out, though…) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/12 "2008-01-02T06:11:48Z")
[QUOTE=MagicEyes] What was your favorite? How fast do you read? Did you run across any books that were so bad, you didn’t even finish reading them, or do you have to finish reading every book you start? [/QUOTE] There are lots! I got into Jasper Fforde’s _Thursday Next_ series in a big way, and Stephen Fry’s _The Star’s Tennis Balls_, and Douglas Adams’s The Meaning of Liff, and _The Once and Future King_ like I mentioned above. It’s really hard to say. I don’t know exactly how fast I read. But I’d say it takes me about a day to finish a 500-page book. I got Suzannah Dunn’s _The Queen of Subtleties_ recommended to me because I’m into Tudor history, and it’s supposed to be a history of Anne Boleyn. Ooo, said I, and started for about twenty or so pages. Sweet Jesus, if Cthluhu himself read it he’d go insane. Anne Boleyn: last time I checked, not Reese Witherspoon in _Legally Blonde_. I try to give books a fighting chance, but that time I actually hurled the thing across the room (it knocked a couple of CDs and two assignments off my bookshelf). [QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] Do you read word for word or do you do a lot of skimming? Do you remember details of every book? Do you read mostly fiction or non-fiction? Any technical books? (Well, more questions like this one. . . what kinds of books) Have you read the Life of Pi? God or no God? Did you have a plan in mind or did you just happen to keep track of the books? [/QUOTE] Word for word; depends on how long afterwards you ask me (“_The Harafish_ by Naguib Mahfouz? Oh… uh… I think it was like _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, but with more blood. And prostitutes”); mostly fiction, but non-fiction can grab me too–I recommend Davy Rothbart’s _Found_ series to everyone in the entire world, and Vicki Leon is brilliant with women’s biographies; I adored \*The Life of Pi \*and haven’t heard of _God or no God_ (unless that’s not supposed to be a book title?); I started keeping track of the books when I realized I was getting above fifty and thought “hey, something I can actually impress people with”. (You’re all completely impressed, right?) ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/13 "2008-01-02T06:12:29Z")
Why couldn’t you fit “158 books” in the title? ---
**Author:** ![pprgrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f6c823/32.png) [@pprgrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pprgrl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/14 "2008-01-02T06:22:27Z")
Do you re-read books, and if so, do you count these toward your yearly total, or are all of these books that you read for the first time in 2007? ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/15 "2008-01-02T06:32:45Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Word for word; depends on how long afterwards you ask me (“_The Harafish_ by Naguib Mahfouz? Oh… uh… I think it was like _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, but with more blood. And prostitutes”); mostly fiction, but non-fiction can grab me too–I recommend Davy Rothbart’s _Found_ series to everyone in the entire world, and Vicki Leon is brilliant with women’s biographies; I adored \*The Life of Pi \*and haven’t heard of _God or no God_ (unless that’s not supposed to be a book title?); I started keeping track of the books when I realized I was getting above fifty and thought “hey, something I can actually impress people with”. (You’re all completely impressed, right?) [/QUOTE] Yes, that’s impressive that you read word for word. Most people that I’ve asked that who read at that speed skim. And no, God or no God wasn’t a book title. I just saw your list. Did you like Christopher Moore’s book? I really liked “Lamb” so if you liked his style, you might like that too. And if you like non-fiction, I really like “Stumbling on Happiness”. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/16 "2008-01-02T11:39:44Z")
Is what you read arbitrary? For instance, I noticed that you read _one_ of the C.S. Lewis Narnia series, but not the others. Also, one of Robin McKinley’s ‘retold’ stories. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/17 "2008-01-02T11:45:13Z")
Do you read several books in parallel, or start and finish one, then go on to the next? If yes to the first question: How many books are you reading at any one time on average? Maximum? Are you ever only reading **one** book? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/18 "2008-01-03T02:02:02Z")
only 158? i got through 266. did you take some time off? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/19 "2008-01-03T03:28:48Z")
[QUOTE=rocking chair] only 158? i got through 266. did you take some time off? [/QUOTE] Got a death wish, **rocking chair**? ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969/20 "2008-01-03T09:57:14Z")
[QUOTE=treis] Why couldn’t you fit “158 books” in the title? [/QUOTE] I just felt like writing it that way. 🙂 [QUOTE=pprgrl] Do you re-read books, and if so, do you count these toward your yearly total, or are all of these books that you read for the first time in 2007? [/QUOTE] I do, lots of times–and I’d say about twenty or so of those books on the list are re-reads. (That totally makes it less impressive now, right? I knew it. :() [QUOTE=Heffalump and Roo] Yes, that’s impressive that you read word for word. Most people that I’ve asked that who read at that speed skim. And no, God or no God wasn’t a book title. I just saw your list. Did you like Christopher Moore’s book? I really liked “Lamb” so if you liked his style, you might like that too. And if you like non-fiction, I really like “Stumbling on Happiness”. [/QUOTE] Yay! People like me! [/Zoidberg] And now I see what you’re saying. It’s been a little while since I read it–I think it was back early in the year, maybe February or March–so I can’t tell you for sure. But I think it was maybe some balance of the two, kind of like how Calvin and Hobbes works (I can’t describe it any better than that). I _loved_ Christopher Moore’s book. I can’t wait to get to _Bloodsucking Fiends_, and Lamb’s next up after that. What’s _Stumbling on Happiness_ about? [QUOTE=Always Brings Pie] Is what you read arbitrary? For instance, I noticed that you read _one_ of the C.S. Lewis Narnia series, but not the others. Also, one of Robin McKinley’s ‘retold’ stories. [/QUOTE] (Hey, cool username. _approves_) Sometimes arbitrary, but not always. In the case of Narnia, that was a re-read–I read the whole series years and years ago, and always had a soft spot for _Dawn Treader_. Robin McKinley _was_ arbitrary; re-telling the fairy tale looked like a neat premise, but it turned out that the only thing I liked about the book was the cool library. [QUOTE=Noone Special] Do you read several books in parallel, or start and finish one, then go on to the next? If yes to the first question: How many books are you reading at any one time on average? Maximum? Are you ever only reading one book? [/QUOTE] Hi! I think I owe you a Christmas card… _snogs_ I tend to have about two or three books on the go at once, depending on how familiar I am with them–with a new book I go slower, noting details and absorbing everything, while I ‘relax’ in older novels. It’s rare that I’ve got only one book at a time. [QUOTE=rocking chair] only 158? i got through 266. did you take some time off? [/QUOTE] Don’t make me beat you over the head with each one of the 158 books. And share your own lists, I want more recommendations. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-girl-whos-read/431969.md?page=2)