You know, guys, we’ve read a lot of books, but we haven’t read every book. When people find out how many books we’ve read, they often ask things like, “How do you find time to read that much?” or “Why, though?” We don’t like those questions (because, obviously, we find time by using magic, and we don’t want to be found out, and because “why” is a question that probably only people we don’t like would ask), but there are other, more interesting questions about the book-reading process, or rather the book-choosing process, which we like a lot more, and we’re going to (ask and then) answer those.
Kansas: Lemon, how much do you listen to recommendations from other people? What makes you more or less likely to trust someone else’s recommendation? Specifically, If I exclusively read novels with Fabio on the cover, would you listen to a recommendation I made for a single second?
Lemon: I want to say that I listen to recommendations a lot, but I guess it depends on what counts as a recommendation. I read a lot of best-of lists, particularly at the end of the calendar year, which is a pretty boring way to pick books, but it’s dependable and I like to read what I know people are going to be talking about. That said, I do often start those books and then not finish them, because even if a book is great, it might not be something I’m interested in.
So, recommendations from actual people, rather than from lists, tend to be a lot more reliable. To revisit my previous post, a lot of my favorite books have been recommended by John Green in his videos or general online presence-- The Magicians and The Book Thief come to mind-- and once someone recommends something I really love, I’m obviously a lot more willing to listen to them in the future. There are a few people I follow online who have proven themselves to be excellent book-choosers, and I definitely prioritize what those people have to say over nearly everyone else.
I take recommendations from people I know in real life too, although not as often. Kansas, you and I talk about books a lot, and we read a lot of the same books. I take your recommendations pretty seriously. And then sometimes there are more casual ones that turn out really well. A couple of months ago I was at a friend’s house and we were talking about how I’m from Seattle, and she handed me a book she’d read and liked that was set there, which I read immediately and thought was wonderful. But she’s not a Fabio-reader, I don’t think. So that was a good sign.
So, I’d say my answer is pretty boring-- if I know I trust your taste in books, I’ll be likely to read what you tell me to. My to-read list is always huge, so it may never happen, but I’ll at least take it into consideration if I respect what you read. That doesn’t just mean people who like the same books I do, either, because then I’d just end up reading the same type of thing all the time, and that would get boring.
L: Kansas, I know you like to plan ahead in regards to what books you’re going to read and the order in which you’d like to read them. How do you come up with these plans? Do you ever break from your plan to read something you just feel like reading? If so, what makes you do that? I know you like plans, so it has to be for a pretty good reason.
K: I’m thrilled you asked me this. I do love plans, and schedules are the key to my productivity. I start out every year with a list of books I want to read. Inevitably I hear about new books and some books on the list roll over to the next year (example: Infinite Jest has been on my list for three years in a row, and let’s be honest, I’m already pushing it to 2015 in my heart because I’m afraid). The list changes slightly throughout the year, but I also make the list in the order I think I should read them. I feel like me explaining this process to you is showing you how crazy I am, but I will continue.
I schedule the books based on when they were written, who wrote them, themes they’re addressing, etc. One thing I keep in mind more than any other category is the gender of the author. Especially lately, if I wasn’t strategically planning out what I wanted to read, I would probably exclusively read women authors. But I don’t want to read only women writers or only writers that I relate with or agree with all the time. I believe a major purpose of literature is to challenge you and make you uncomfortable. So Lolita is on my list, to be read next month, and while I’m not looking forward to it, I’m going to read it anyways. I also am careful to take a break from my natural inclination towards modern literature with some classics.
Despite my systematic approach to what I read, the order fluctuates much more often than the actual list. I’ve talked about this in a previous post, but even if I think it’s best I don’t read five Meg Wolitzer books in a row, sometimes I just want to. If I try too hard to force a strict order on the books I read, at times it can start to feel like a chore, and that’s not how I ever want reading to feel. Keeping some sort of schedule is still important for my process because it keeps me accountable to my reading goals. Overall, those goals reflect how much I ultimately want to be reading rather than how much I think I should be reading.
K: Lemon, I have shared a room with you; I have seen your copy of Order of the Phoenix, which is in three pieces. You are a re-reader-- much more so than I am. How often do you re-read books, and what makes you want to do this? How would you react if I purposely hid your collection of Harry Potter books before your annual re-read? Could we still be friends?
L: First of all, I have just counted and it’s actually in five pieces. Sometimes when I’m reading it, I just take one section with me in my purse because I don’t want to carry the whole thing.
So, yes, I am a re-reader. There’s a large collection of books I read every year, including Paper Towns, as I mentioned last week, all the Harry Potter books, and usually several Madeleine L’Engle books. I can almost always tell when I’m reading something if it’s going to make it into that rotation. Generally, if I really love a book, I’ve probably read it at least three times, and the longer I’ve loved it, the more I’ve read it. Harry Potter tops out that list, I’m sure, because I’ve been reading them since I was eight, and as a child I went through a phase where I really only read Harry Potter. But the list of books I re-read every year keeps getting longer, which is both good and bad. That’s less room for new books, although not significantly less, because they go faster every time.
Usually I reread because I know how a book is going to make me feel, and for whatever reason, that’s appealing in the moment I’m deciding. I’m not nearly as organized of a reader as you are, so I don’t often decide what’s next until it’s time to start reading. If I’m choosing late at night, it’s more likely to be something I’ve read before. Rereading is almost always for pretty emotional reasons-- for better or worse, if I’m upset about something, I don’t want to read something new. I want to read something I already love. So if you took my Harry Potter books away from me, no, I would never forgive you.
L: Kansas, if I gave you a $50 Powell’s gift card and two hours, how would you go about deciding how to spend it? Also, in this situation, you have to spend all of it in those two hours, and also you are not allowed to buy anything that’s not a book, like a planner or a dumb mug.
K: First of all, this wouldn’t take me two hours because as we have already learned, I always have a system. Occasionally I do wander into Powell’s without a specific plan, but if I have an entire gift card, you better believe I would have a game plan. For the purpose of the question, I’ll pretend I’m in a browsing mood. Ok, so first of all, I will always judge a book by its cover; I don’t care what anyone says. There are certain books that I have wanted to own and read for a very long time, but I haven’t yet come across the specific copy that I want to actually own. One of my favorite books is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, and though I had already read it, I searched for two full years to find the copy I actually wanted to purchase. This search definitely extends to books I haven’t read. Sometimes, the hardcover copies are ugly, so I will purposely wait it out for the paperback in hopes that it will look better. This usually works out in my favor.
There have also been times where I wandered around Powell’s not knowing what I wanted to get. Powell’s is the best for this kind of book browsing mood. Their aisles are full of helpful index cards that tell you which books are on best of lists, which books are award-winning, which books are local favorites, or which books are recommended by the staff. The staff recommends are my favorite because they usually write witty blurbs about why they like them. I have bought a few books that I ended up loving thanks to the helpful and intelligent Powell’s staff.
My last tactic in book browsing has also proven to be successful. If I have recently read a book or a story by a certain author that is new to me, I will just go find their section and read the backs of all their other available books while also searching for helpful index cards (again). This is how I came to own all of Meg Wolitzer’s books, and I have never regretted that decision. (ed. note: Lemon would also like to add that libraries are an excellent way to find recommendations, and many public library systems now include personalized recommendations on their websites, which is a wonderful feature that more of us should be using, because it’s a lot more efficient than most of our methods and is free.)
So, dear readers, we hope you enjoyed this insight into our (maybe insane) habits as avid book people, and we would love to know if you have any more questions for us. Feel free to share your own thoughts on these subjects with us in comments or on Twitter, at @vandenburgrewrites or individually at @kenziehalwen or @emilysaysgo.
