Thursday, December 15, 2011

Science Fiction Book Meme



Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved science fiction and fantasy. So I was very happy to come across this festive little meme! Enjoy!

Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror?
Science Fiction, with Fantasy as a close second. Except for some of H.P. Lovecraft's works, I could never get into Horror.

Hardcover, Paperback or Ebook?
Depends. I have a gorgeous hardcover edition of Lord of the Rings, and all of my Harry Potter's are hardcover, but lately most of what I buy is through my Kindle.

Heinlein or Asimov?
Asimov. I first discovered him through his "I, Robot" collection and after that I read just about everything that I could find of his, including of course, his Foundation Trilogy. I had read Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" of course, but, the rest of his work didn't really interest me.

Amazon or Brick and Mortar?
Amazon.  Especially when they came out with the Kindle.

Barnes & Noble or Borders?
Even if Borders hadn't gone out of business I would have said Barnes and Noble. When they finally opened a Borders around here a few years ago, I was less than impressed. And now, sad to say, Barnes and Noble seems to going downhill as well. About the only time I still go to B&N anymore is if I'm looking for a specific magazine.

Hitchhiker or Discworld?
Hitchhiker. I could never get into the Discworld books.

Bookmark or Dogear?
Bookmark of course! People who "dogear" aren't fit to own books! Why, the very idea! Gads!!!

Magazine: Asimov's Science Fiction or Fantasy & Science Fiction?
Does anyone remember "Galaxy"? That was the sc-fi magazine that I always bought back in the day! I suppose a close second would be F&SF.

Alphabetize by author Alphabetize by title or random?
Alphabetize by author's last name. I'm anal.

Keep, Throw Away or Sell?
I keep my specially chosen hardcovers. I usually sell or donate my read-once paperbacks.

Keep dustjacket or toss it?
Who the Hell tosses a dustjacket?!!!

Read with dustjacket or remove it?
Read with it on.

Short story or novel?
Novels. Unless it's a really good anthology of short stories.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?
Harry Potter. I tried to get into the Lemony Snicket books, but, I just didn't care for them.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?
Chapter breaks. Again, the anal thing.

"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"?
"Once upon a time."

Buy or Borrow?
Buy.  (And I never lend!)

Buying choice: Book Reviews, Recommendation or Browse?
Book reviews to start with. From there I usually will read a small portion of the book to get a flavor of it, and then make my decision based on that.

Lewis or Tolkien?
Tolkien. I read Narnia as a kid, and it was okay, but it couldn't hold a candle to Middle-Earth.

Hard SF or Space Opera?
It depends on the author. I usually lean towards Space Opera though...

Collection (short stories by the same author) or Anthology (short stories by different authors)?
I will buy an anthology depending on the theme of it (i.e. dragons, werewolves, etc...) and I only will buy a collection if I really like the author.

Hugo or Nebula?
Neither really influence my book buying decisions.

Golden Age SF or New Wave SF?
Both have their gems and their embarassments...

Tidy ending or Cliffhanger?
Tidy ending. If you want to get me to buy a sequel, write a real sequel, rather than just finishing the book I've already paid for.

Morning reading, Afternoon reading or Nighttime reading?
Whenever I have the time!

Standalone or Series?
It depends on the author, but, I tend to choose series.

Urban fantasy or high fantasy?
Again, it depends on the author.

New or used?
New, unless the book is out of print, then Used.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Zenna Henderson's "The People" series. And it's not so much that no one has heard of them, but, I think that they're probably out of print and anyone younger than 40 will probably never have heard of them. But they are special!

Top X favorite genre books of all time? (Where X is 5 or less)
1.  The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
2.  Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
3.  Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

X favorite genre series? (Where X is 5 or less)
1. The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger.
2.  The Amber series by Roger Zelazny.
3. The Eight Worlds series by John Varley.

3 comments:

  1. Are you really posting about books? Don't try and act all smart on me now. It's way too late for that!
    m.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey! I'm very deep! You should see our library! We even subscribe to Mother Jones! ;P

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fun reading, this.
    "Childhood's End' remains one of my top books of any genre.

    ReplyDelete