I do follow some blogs, though not as many on books as I would like, but enjoyed the Boston bibliophile’s book meme . Because of the local situation it has been adapted and I will probably post in two parts:
1. Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback: anyone I can get, preferably paperback.
2. Barnes & Noble or Borders? Neither are in Ghana, so I make do with what there is in Accra: Vidya’s in Osu, Silverbird at Accra Mall, EPP books and University of Ghana bookshop. Each one has its pluses, and minuses… but really that is the choice, except at the Ghana Intl Book Fair which takes place every couple of years.
3. Bookmark or dog-ear: bookmark as much as possible, though sometimes a card or brochure will have to do the job.
4. Amazon or brick and mortar: no real choice in this environment, though once in a while I get treated to something from Amazon.
5. Alphabetize by author, title or random? None. I am lucky if I put my books on the shelf in a category, though I try on this one. As some shelves are doubled up, sometimes the order is based on size!
6. Keep, throw away or sell? Keep.
7. Keep dust jacket or toss it? Don’t get that many with dust jackets so they stay for a while.
8. Read with dust jacket or remove it? Depends; if it is for bedtime reading, then remove the dust jacket. Otherwise keep it on.
9. Short story or novel? novels though I will occasionally read short stories, but not too often
10. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Dare I admit I have not read any Lemony Snicket?
11. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Ideally the latter, but practically anytime or anywhere.
12. ”It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? No particular preference, though I am not too heavily inclined towards romance.
13. Buy or borrow? Now – buy, but for most of the last twenty five years or so, it has been borrow – usually from work, as I was in a public library or a library with an analogous type of collection.
14. New or used? Doesn’t matter really.
15. Buying choice: books reviews, recommendations or browse? A mixture. I like reading the Accra Book Club selections as they are usually rather different from what I might chose myself. My sister also has good recommendations. Otherwise I note stuff I might be interested in from BBC World Service programmes, magazines or online sites.
part 2 to follow shortly
