Clare: Inside & Out Book Tag

The Inside & Out tag was created by MathomBooks. Ann did this one last week and when I was reading through her answers I thought it might be fun to do my own.

Inside flap / Back of the book summaries: Too much info? Or not enough (Discuss)

Definitely not enough. I like to be intrigued by a blurb, if it gives too much away I almost feel like there is no point reading it!

New book: What form do you want it in? Be honest: audio book, e-book, paperback, or hardcover?

If it's a book I think I am going to keep then I tend to go for hardcover - especially if the cover is gorgeous. But for some things like romance, I prefer a paperback. And I always get fact books or auto-biographies etc as an audio book because it makes it easier for me to pay attention. So I read them all but for new books - hardcover.

Scribble while you read? Do you like to write in your books, taking notes, making comments, or do you keep your books clean clean clean? (Tell us why)

So most of me prefers never ever writing in books. But I will admit I have a couple of poetry books from college that have writing in them. And my copy of Measure for Measure has almost as much of my writing in as Shakespeares! This is one thing I prefer with e-books because I can make notes on them without feeling guilty.

In your best voice, read for us your favourite first sentence from a book.

Well you're just going to have to imagine my best voice. I am not sure what my absolute favourite first sentence would be but I've always had a fondness for A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Which is way too long for me to type out but it's the one that starts "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times", and then goes on for about a page. Which is a fairly cliched answer I feel. I wish I had something short and effective instead. 

Does it matter to you whether the author is male or female when you’re deciding on a book? What if you’re unsure of the author’s gender?

I would love to say that I don't care, but looking at my shelves I do seem to own more books by female authors. Although I don't think that's a deciding factor, maybe female authors are just more prominent in the genres I read? And I don't think being unsure of the author's gender really matters either.

Ever read ahead? Or have you ever read the last page way before you got there?

I am actually terrible for this. When I was younger I did this with every book I read. Every one. I have sort of grown out of this but if there is a love triangle or it's a particularly suspenseful book I do tend to read ahead because I don't handle anxiety well. 

Organized bookshelves, or outrageous bookshelves?

Very, very organised. My new books pile up for a while and then I will set aside a day or a weekend to rearrange my shelves to fit them in. And because I have (counts) 8 bookshelves, all with two layers of books on them this tends to take a while. I'm a horribly organised person and besides, if I didn't stay organised I'd never be able to find any books in the madness!

Under oath: have you ever bought a book based on the cover (alone)?

Oh yeah! Cover lust is one of my main prompts for buying a book. I am very superficial. Just last week I got two books by Ishbelle Bee based entirely off their (really quite gorgeous) covers. 

Take it outside to read, or stay in?

In. In. In. I don't like going outside. If it's winter I can't read outside because it's usually raining. And in the summer, there are flying insects everywhere. Can't be dealing with that! Nope. Definitely staying in.

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