Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: What songs – specifically or in general – have words that you love? Why? Do the tunes that go with the fantastic lyrics live up to them?

This is an easy one, as anyone who knows me will attest to. I love music (who doesn’t?) but it is my love for music and books that draws me to more literary musicians. (I love music that isn’t literary also, but we’re not talking about those today.)

Point in case: The Lucksmiths (Listen to some!):

You have the songs that literally tell a story…
· “Fiction” – Written down here, gentle reader / It seems too good to be true / But there’s a girl in Kansas City / With my favorite tattoo / Oh why would I lie to you?. Listen!
· “The Perfect Crime” – The sun is on the hilltop / Casting shadows on things below / The afternoon has left the valley cold / I raise my eyebrows and grip the dashboard / You take the bends like you built the road / This is the road you travel / Every time you come home

…the songs that talk about books/reading…
· “Danielle Steel” – Spends hours in front of the bookcase / A beast with two paperbacks in bed / She’s read them all from go to woe / And arranged them from A to Z / And you can judge a book by it’s cover
· “English Murder Mystery” – I love her but she loves Agatha Christie / And she’s so wrapped up in the English Murder Mystery

…and those that just have lines which knock me off my feet.
· “A Downside to the Upstairs” – It was a fine idea in autumn / On the palest afternoons / Parallelograms of sunshine fell across the room. Listen!
· “The Cassingle Revival” – Remember when I said you were too young / To start a story with “Remember when…?” / Well that was then, and this is appalling / But in the dappled sunshine / Underneath the clothesline / I spent this afternoon nostalgic for this morning

I also really love bands such as Belle and Sebastian (Listen to some!):

· “My Wandering Days Are Over” – It’s got to be fate that’s doing it / A spooky witch in a sexy dress has been bugging me / With the story of the way it should be / With the story of Sebastian and Belle the singer. Listen!
· “Storytelling” – Picture a scene in your mind / Look at all the people and take note of the setting behind / Listen, watch, and wait / A plot beings to take shape / There’s a story / And then characters will come to you / Relating events as they choose to / But all their words and actions come entirely from you
· “If She Wants Me” – If I could do just one near perfect thing I’d be happy / They’d write it on my grave, or when they scattered my ashes / On second thoughts I’d rather hang about and be there with my best friend / If she wants me. Listen!
· “Wrapped Up in Books” – We’ve got a fantasy affair / We didn’t get wet, we didn’t dare / Our aspirations, are wrapped up in books / Our inclinations are hidden in looks. Listen!

and The Divine Comedy (Listen to some!):

· “My Imaginary Friend” – Would you like to meet my little friend? / Don’t try to shake his hand he’s just pretend. Listen!
· “Perfect Lovesong” – Give me your love / And I’ll give you the perfect lovesong / With a divine Beatles bassline / And a big old Beach Boys sound. Listen!
· “Songs of Love” – Pale, pubescent beasts, roam through the streets / And coffee-shops, their prey gather in herds / Of stiff knee-length skirts, and white ankle-socks / But while they search for a mate, my type hibernate / In bedrooms above, composing their songs of love. Listen!
· “The Booklovers” – Happy the man, and happy he alone who in all honesty can call today his own; / He who has life and strength enough to say ‘Yesterday’s dead & gone – I want to live today’

Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?

This was something I battled with when I first started receiving books for review. For the most part, they are not sent to me out of the blue; I have to request them (which, of course, I don’t mind). There were a few things I had to decide about those reviews before I even clicked the link to request any.

First of all, I decided not to write that they were review copies, unless under special circumstances (like my preview thoughts of Bible: Illuminated, and then later my review with the copy in hand). This takes away the possibility of my readers thinking I’ve reviewed *suchandsuch* book positively simply because it was a review copy. I really don’t like putting disclaimers on things; if you’ll notice, even though my website has personal information and sometimes I write posts of a very personal nature, nowhere will you find a note that tells offline friends not to read. (None of them care about it anyway, but if they did, I wouldn’t mind.)

Secondly, and more to the point, no. I do not believe that reviewers are obligated to write positive reviews simply because they were given the opportunity to a free book. I think that authors are misunderstanding the point of reviewers. We are not here so you can get positive publicity for your book, we are here to share our unique thoughts on your book. That’s it. Everyone has her own review style; in some cases, reviews merely summarize the book and rate it on a five point scale, then move on. Some reviewers analyze every plot point and symbol and don’t give a clear opinion of whether or not the book was enjoyable. Do authors/publishers really expect people to deviate from that style just to give a book a positive review?

It is completely ridiculous to expect someone to lie about liking a book simply because you sent them a copy. It’s sort of a matter of ego.

From a writer’s point of view, if I saw a negative review on any of my writing, it would hurt my pride… Though I would still recognize that my book wasn’t compatable with all audiences, and thus couldn’t blame the poor book blogger for disliking my book.

From an editor’s point of view, I think it’s important to point out the negatives and the positives. Unless the book was just so totally awful that you couldn’t stand to get through it, OMG, please take this thing away from me NOW (which is about how much I liked On the Road by Jack Kerouac), there’s no reason not to praise some points. Maybe character development lacked but the plot was an interesting idea. It’s not for the author’s benefit that you include these things; it’s for your reader.

Okay, I’ve gotten a little off topic here. The point is that I don’t feel it’s necessary to make any disclaimer on a post wherein you are writing your thoughts on something. Why should one have to put a disclaimer on her thoughts? Authors take that risk by sending out books; they might just need a gentle reminder of how publicity works.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite.

The first part isn’t so hard (though I wouldn’t ever be able to narrow it down to just one couple). It’s the second part where the difficulty comes in, because I’ve never been good at explaining why I like things.

1. Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare).
   I was always sort of enamoured with the “shout from the roof-tops” kind of love that the characters had between one another in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. I don’t think that kind of thing really exists in life (probably merely from personal experience, though I couldn’t name one friend who has experienced it either), and I honestly would probably dread it if it happened to me, but I still always find it to be sickly sweet.
2. Hector and Andromache (Homer).
   Story goes that Hector of Troy married Andromache, and they have a son Astyanax. You always hear their names mentioned when people talk about “strength” in relationships, and “courage,” and all that good stuff. It’s for those reasons that I have admired this relationship. Of course, you’ve got another relationship in the book to compare it to – Andromache’s undying loyalty against Helen’s decision to leave her husband, Andromache’s hidden tears against Helen’s open displays of pain and loss… It goes on.
3. Odysseus and Penelope (Homer).
   And like Hector and Andromache’s strength, Odysseus and Penelope are always associated with patience. She sits in front of the loom and weaves the story of Odysseus’ travels, always waiting for him to return (nevermind that he was getting pretty busy himself, and only eventually remembered that he wanted to get back home to his beloved and chaste wife). In any case, it’s to be admired that a love can cross so many years of absence.
4. Aeneas and Dido (Virgil).
   You may wonder about this one, and I sometimes wonder about it too. Like Antony and Cleopatra, Aeneas and Dido’s relationship was full of “such drama” (if they existed today in the celebrity world, I’m sure that’s exactly what would be said about them). In any case, Dido is Aeneas’ equal – strong and independent just like Aeneas. The gods, as usual, muddle things, making her emotional and passionate about Aeneas, virtually stripping the qualities he adores in her. Her love for him is her downfall.
5. Jamie and Claire (Gabaldon).
   I don’t want to say that this is a love that lasts centuries because I don’t know yet if it does (I haven’t read the whole series). But I rarely read a book that has me rooting so strongly for a couple to work out that I’m crying when the characters are crying, yearning when they’re yearning, and ecstatically happy when anything works out between them. The relationship in these books is so developed that you can’t help but feel like a creepy onlooker, watching and biding your time until everything turns out okay between them.

I know! How typical of me to choose a bunch from classical literature… Who are your favorites?

Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school. Does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

A few people have responded to this question that it doesn’t effect them. That they aren’t mothers, they don’t have younger siblings, they’re out of school, and thus the changing of the seasons does not effect them – much less their reading. I disagree. I think the changing of any season effects people, including readers, whether or not school is involved. (Perhaps the question is phrased misleadingly.) For example, fall may be harsher in some places; perhaps “outside readers” can no longer read outside. Maybe fall brings on a lot of end-of-year responsibilities at work (since the end of the year is closer in sight), thus giving less time for pleasure reading. That has nothing to do with kids going to school.

For me, autumn is an inspiration. September is not usually a big “reading month,” because I’m launching myself into other projects. This year, I think, is an exception merely because I’ve been reading a lot more overall than I have in previous years. I have more time on my hands and thus can juggle more projects. October I usually spend observing the change in weather, relishing in it, but taking time out to read outside more often. October is beautiful here. Since I’ve had a balcony on which to enjoy time as it passes, I’ve made fine use of it. I can only imagine that this fall I’ll be escaping there for much longer periods of time. November is usually very busy for me; I have National Novel Writing Month to take care of, and thus may only finish one or two books (if even that many).

I also like to think of fall as the “meaningful” part of the year; I’m not sure why, but it’s always meant much more to me. It’s always been my time of poetic verse, beautiful blog posts (if that’s even possible :P), and introspective thinking. Since I’ve picked up on my reading habits, I can only imagine that autumn will bring introspective, deeper reading as well.

The most I’ve learned about my reading habits over the summer months is that I didn’t want to review anything, and only did so if I had a set of questions already prepared for myself (usually from those book review guides). When I started reviewing books, it was a beautiful autumn day; I couldn’t get the similarities of my feelings away from the similarity of the characters’ feelings. I just wanted to write and write about how real that book was. I don’t even have that review anymore; it’s locked up somewhere in a journal or some other. I still feel it, though, as though it has a spirit that seeps into me during this time of year and inspires me to write fully functional reviews and really expand on my thoughts about the books I consume.

So I think autumn will be a generally good reading and reviewing season for me, except in November, when I’ll have no motivation to do anything except complain about word count.

So I joined the July Book Blowout Challenge to get through some of my mass market TBR pile. Instead, I read a lot of books by Erin Hunter. It’s worked out pretty well, though; I actually passed my goal of eight books this month, and I did manage to get through some of my MMTBRP (we are all about the acronyms in book blogging). If I do this again, I’ll probably want to concentrate more time on reading and less time online.

So here are the books I completed. Those with asterisks (*) were actually taken from my MMTBRP… So I did a decent job of getting through some of those.

1. The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer
2. Unbound by Julie Kaewert*
3. Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
4. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan*
5. Warriors: Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter
6. Warriors: Forest of Secrets by Erin Hunter
7. Warriors: Rising Storm by Erin Hunter
8. Publish and Perish by Sally Wright*
9. Warriors: A Dangerous Path by Erin Hunter
10. Fatal Attraction by Alicia Fields*
11. Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington*

The Castle in the Forest was started in June, so it only counts as a half book. If I wanted to count other “half books,” I could throw in The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox, Pursuit of Light by Sandy Brewer, and Confessions of a Book-Lover by Maurice Francis Egan, all of which I am still currently reading, but I’m not going to.

Did you discover a new author? A few, in fact, one of which I clearly enjoyed: Erin Hunter, Mil Millington, Amy Tan, Norman Mailer, Alicia Fields, and Sally Wright.

Where was the most unusual place you found yourself reading? I wouldn’t call it unusual to find oneself reading in a bookstore, but it was unusual that I traveled 35 minutes to read in this particular bookstore. Granted, I’d had a job interview that day, but I then stayed nearly four hours in the city just to read this book, which I could have read perfectly well at home.

Did you read more than usual? Oh yes, definitely. Unfortunately, I also picked up more books to read at once than I usually do: I’m a one-book kind of gal, but at the moment I’m reading three, maybe four.

Did you give up anything in order to read more? Until the end of the month, when I slacked down a bit, I gave up a lot of Internet time. This I found very rewarding and will try to do it again soon… If I spent less time online, I’d probably read 10 or more books every month.

If you won the Amazon voucher, what would you spend it on? Books, but more specifically, Pride and Predator by Sally Wright (which I can’t seem to find in bookstores), then I’d hold on to it until November to purchase Conspirata by Robert Harris. Anything left over would graciously be spent on Christmas gifts, I imagine.

Would you like to see a 2009 Book Blowout? Definitely. And I would like to see more people participate.

What? Another challenge? Well, I get sucked in easily. This is actually Japanese Literature Challenge #2, but it’s #1 for me because I missed the first one. I get to pick three books and read them between July 30, 2008 and January 30, 2009. No biggie, right? Well, I’m going to stay away from making them all Haruki Murakami books, because it’s more fun that way. So here are my three, plus some alternatives:

1. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
2. Modern Japanese Literature, an anthology of works from 1868-present day (which is actually 1981)
3. The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters

Alternates:

• Rashomon and 17 other stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa
• When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
• The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (or at least part of it!)
• Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa (manga)

Wish me luck, and I also hope that more people will join in this challenge!

If you’re browsing challenge pages looking for suggestions on your reading selection (for this challenge or any other that involves Japanese lit), here’s what I recommend:

• xxxHolic by Clamp (manga)
• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
• Ghosts And The Japanese: Cultural Experience in Japanese Death Legends by Barre Toelken (for you folklore-y types)
• Path of the Assassin by Kazuo Koike (manga)
• Gon by Masashi Tanaka (manga)

I’m joining the July Book Blowout challenge because it only lasts for a month and I’m going to be reading a lot in July anyway. Why not feel some accomplishment among a group of people? The point of this challenge is to read as many books as you can in July. Reviews not required, which is a big plus, as I don’t generally review every book I read. Sometimes I get into what I call “mass market reads,” books in genres I don’t normally enjoy as much as others (paranormal romance, for example – I love select few, but I’m not about to go diving through the entire section of the store), and it takes me perhaps a day or two to get through those books. For some reason, I don’t find them particularly interesting enough to write up reviews.

In any case, I have a lot of those on my TBR pile so why not kick them out in July, rather than continuing to hold them off?

So, let’s see. July hasn’t generally been a good month for reading it seems. In 2005 and 2007, I only read 4 books; in 2006, there were just the 3. This year I am reading a lot more anyway, but as July seems to be a particularly busy month for me, I’m going to set my goal to read at least 8 books. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, especially to all you readers out there who generally get into 10 or 15 books per month, but I’m being realistic based on all the projects I have planned for next month! :) Anyway, it’s more than I’ve read any other month this year so far.

I was tagged quite a while ago but I’m just now getting around to this… Actually, when I first realized I was tagged I looked over the questions and saw that I was going to have to put a lot of thought into them. Whenever anyone asks what my “favorite” is – whether it be authors, foods, books, songs, musicians, whatever – I have small anxiety attacks. Well, kind of. It’s impossible to choose, and I especially hate that phrase “of all time,” because that implies that for the rest of my life I will never find another author that even compares with this one. I find that pretty depressing.

So here I’ll give my best shot to this meme!

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?

Again I stress that “all-time favorite” is not a phrase that I ever have cause to use, but I will tell you my favorite author of the past couple of years. Actually, that’s pretty hard to choose. I generally don’t allow myself to define an author as a “favorite” until I have read and loved at least three of his/her books. It’s easy to have a “favorite book” – you only have to read it once to find out if that’s the case. But once you find yourself reading multiple books by the same author and really enjoying every one of them… Well, it’s safe to put that author in a “favorite” category.

In the past few years I’ve read a lot of books by a few single authors – Haruki Murakami, Bret Easton Ellis, Patrick Süskind. In fact, I’ve read every book by Patrick Süskind, even the ones that are hard to find; every book by Bret Easton Ellis… I’m finding pleasure in leisurely getting through Haruki Murakami’s books. So what’s my answer to this question, now that I’ve dawdled on about what I’ve been reading lately?

I would have to say Haruki Murakami. While Patrick Süskind’s books have a greater hold on me than most others, Marukami’s still shake to life something inside me every time I read one. When I first read Kafka on the Shore I immediately began collecting the author’s other books (I still don’t have all of them, though!). I felt like I knew I would enjoy them, and I was right… They require a lot of thought to get through them, but I have a better sense of myself when I’m done. (In any case, I’ve already addressed this topic.) And for that matter, given that I have at least seven more to read before I can say I’ve read them all… I am going to go ahead and foresee the possibility that Murakami will keep his position as my favorite author for quite a while…

Well, you see how hard this question was for me to answer now.

2. Who was your first favorite author, and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?

My first favorite author was probably Dick Bruna, because I grew up with his board books and I still can’t get over how awesome they are. A bit later, though… Probably Roald Dahl, though I didn’t quite have the same strict rules then as I do now. I don’t think I ever read anything by him except Matilda, but I was greatly enamored with that book for most of my childhood. I haven’t read it in a few years (I believe the last time was high school, and even that was just to recount memories associated with the book), but I’m still in love with the story.

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

Most recent… Hm. Despite the fact that I define a favorite author as one who has written three or more books that I’ve enjoyed, that doesn’t always apply. I’ve been into JR Ward’s Blackdagger Brotherhood books, for example, and John Dunning’s Bookman mysteries. I’d count those more as favorite series rather than favorite authors; the authors do have other books available in other series (or genres, even) but I’m not jumping to read them the way I ecstatically read every Süskind book or went broke buying all of Murakami’s books.

Ray Bradbury is nearing the mark. I’ve only read two of his but I want to have babies with every one of his characters (no, not really). I suppose if I’m sticking to my rules, George MacDonald is my most recent favorite, but I already knew I would fall in love with him.

It’s strange to think of it in this way, but it seems that none of my favorite authors “became” my favorite authors… They already always were, but I didn’t know it until I read one line or got to know one certain character.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would first pop out of your mouth? Are there any you’d add on a moment of further reflection?

I think I’ve already answered this in the first question… But upon further reflection, I’d probably add Kurt Vonnegut to the ranking. It’s hard to leave out JRR Tolkien since I spent much of my life obsessing over his books, but I can’t say that I see anything but memories when I look at those books.

5. Tagged:

Tagging the last five referrers, because it’s more fun that way! (Except, of course, those which have already done this meme, assuming of course it was posted recently.)

- Hev
- Christine
- Devourer of Books
- Dewey (also I love your new layout!)
- Fatima

Weekly Geeks Challenge #2 adopts a particularly attractive idea from Books and Other Thoughts. Basically, I read and review a book, you read and review that same book (whether by my influence, out of your own interest, or otherwise), you email me with the link to your review, and I add that link to my review post. It’s a wonderful way to bring together different perspectives on single titles, and I’d specifically love to see some negative reviews counter my positive ones (or otherwise). I don’t normally read based on recommendations or reviews (as, I believe, I said in my last WG post), but that doesn’t mean you don’t. This is an excellent way to give my readers a well-rounded view on the books I’ve read, so I’ve decided to participate. In fact, if things go well, I’d like to adopt this as a feature on my blog indefinitely.

So! You can access the books which I’ve reviewed by visiting my library page or by browsing the Bookmobile category, though that also includes all other book-related posts in this blog. The opportunity is open to the reviews which have comments enabled. (Some of my earlier ones do not allow commenting, as they were imported from an earlier blog which had no reason to allow commenting as it had no visitors, and I lack the motivation to go through and enable commenting. :) )

If you would like to submit a review to be linked, you can either use the contact form, comment on this blog post, or comment on the blog post for that particular review. (If I decide to implement this as a feature on my website, I’ll probably think of a much better way to do this. For now, however, this post is here for the purpose of the Weekly Geeks challenge and thus I feel no need to go about coding a new form and all that jazz.) Remember to send me the permalink to the blog post containing the book review and not just a link to your blog! :)

Now on to other less interesting things… a six things about me meme! I’ve been tagged by this redhead to tell you more about myself than you’ve already gathered from my “about” page. I must also tag six people, apparently, so I’ll be doing that first.

I believe that Hev once tagged me for a meme similar to this (perhaps it was this same one), but she’s going to be my first tagged blogger anyway, because I feel I can never learn too much about her! I’d also like to tag Amanda so she can prove she reads this blog (just kidding ;) ), Christine who makes cute comics and who is crazy enough to like my writing, Renay who I’m sure will say very interesting things, and for kicks and giggles, I’ll invite two of the book bloggers I’ve been reading since I discovered WeeklyGeeks to see if they’ll find me in their referrers and participate in a silly meme which lets us get to know each other better: Bookworm and When Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops. Good luck and godspeed.

Without further adieu, here are six very unimportant things about me.

• I have tried several million times to stop biting my nails, a habit I formed sometime in elementary school and never got over. It annoys me that I still do it and sometimes I bite them down to intense pain, but none of those “remedies” (gross tasting polish, gum, etc) seem to ever work.
• I sometimes browse the “rants and raves” section on Craigslist for my nearest city just to reassure myself that my life is fulfilling enough not to lead me to trivial arguments on the Internet with complete strangers.
• I can’t stomach horror movies. Sometimes I won’t even be watching them and I’ll feel queasy; instead, my face will be buried in my boyfriend’s shoulder, or I’ll be in an entirely different room – but the sounds coming from the television are enough to frighten me to bits.
• All of the leather-bound antique books that I own are titles which are actually interesting to me and which I may read one day once I learn how to properly handle them. In other words, I don’t collect books just because they “look cool,” though I do appreciate a finely made tome.
• I stay awake much too late and wake up much too early most of the time.
• I have a large and impressive collection of cow-related things, from printed fabric to stuffed animals, porcelain figurines to kitchenware. It is almost entirely in storage at my parents’ house but some day, when I have room, it will come out and people will think I am crazy.

I’m also going to cheat and tag the same six people (even though I only have to tag five) for this sentence meme; I was tagged by Angela. What’s with you people tagging me lately? My ‘memes’ category was happy with just the one post. ;) I’ve done one of these sentence ones before, but this one’s a bit different – you are instructed to post a comment on the blog of the person who tagged the person who tagged you with your answer. An interesting way to network websites. In any case.

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment on Angela’s blog (she’s the one who tagged me) once you’ve posted your three sentences.

“She’s a feeder,” said Linny. “Gets it from her mother. Both of them devotees of the philosophy that the world’s ills can be cured if you through enough food at them, although Cornelia would probably not admit that.”

This from Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, which I haven’t read but have heard delightful things about.

Today’s Booking Through Thursday question is: Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

So I was grocery shopping when I got the call and had nothing with me but my wallet and passport (even though none of my family live outside the country and my passport is expired), and for some reason I didn’t even have my purse which always has some kind of reading or writing material in it. I can’t imagine going anywhere without that, even hypothetically, because I feel “naked” without it on my arm while I’m in public. (I’m also not sure why I don’t have my cell phone, since I just got a phone call. Perhaps, hypothetically, it is implanted in my brain, in which case I’m not sure where the issues of flying come in since I don’t know how to turn this new device to “flight mode.” Will the plane crash? Will my brain explode? I guess I’ll just have to find out.) But! Okay, so I’m sitting in an aiport feeling naked.

Well, the obvious solution is that I’ll grab a book from the airport bookstore. I’ve been trying to expand my reading horizons lately – I used to stick merely to “literary fiction” and historical novels, but this past few months I’ve read historical romance, mystery (a genre which I’ve come to love), more non-fiction (I read a lot of non-fiction in school, of course, but I’m not known to read it for pleasure), paranormal romance, and horror. Next on my list is a bit of time-travel, contemporary romance, and non-historical non-fiction because, come on, that’s cheating.

So perhaps I get up off my butt and march straight to the airport bookstore to pick up some mainstream fiction, or something like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert about which I’ve heard nothing but good things. Perhaps I’ll even look into some James Patterson, because although I have never read any more than a single chapter (2 pages), I have nonetheless made it my mission to hate him for life. If all else fails, I guess I’d pick up Danielle Steele, because apparently everyone reads Danielle Steele.

Now to address the possibility that this question is meant to convey that there are no airport bookstores, that I’m sitting in the lobby waiting for my plane to arrive next to someone who is loudly snoring, sniffling, and threatening to put his feet too close for comfort, and there is no acceptable redemption from the situtation. In this case, I’d bide my time looking out the tall glass window-walls for glimpses of airplanes, traffic directors, luggage transporters, and the occassional official on important business. I am easy to please and since childhood have found the ongoings of an airport to be utterly fantastic. I wouldn’t fidget or complain, and I wouldn’t use the time to text message or telepathically contact any friends. I’d be content with the airplanes.

Reading other responses, I see that people would be too distracted by the hypothetical tragedy to worry about what to read or what to do, but personally, I require distraction while I wait. I’ve been in this situation several times recently (though I had time to pack, among other things, a laptop computer and several books) and have found that it does no good to sit in an airport and worry. That time would be better spent in another world following someone else’s story.