21st Century Literature discussion

From Barnes & Noble:

Think you’re a book nerd? Yeah, you’re probably right. Want to know how much of a book nerd you are? We’ve got the ultimate book nerd scoring system set up for you right here. Just go down the list below and add one point for
every statement that applies to you. Add them all up to see how you stack up against other readers!

What are you waiting for? Your book nerd score awaits!

+1 You currently own more than 20 books.
+1 You currently own more than 50 books.
+1 You currently own more than 100 books.
+1 You amassed so many books you switched to an ereader
+1 You read so much you have a ton of books AND an ereader.
You have a book-organization system no one else understands.
+1 You’re currently reading more than one book.
+1 You read every single day.
You’re reading a book right now, as you’re taking this book nerd quiz.
+1 Your essentials for leaving the house: wallet, phone, keys, and a book.
+1 You’ve pulled an all-nighter reading a book.
+1 You did not regret it for a second and would do it again.
+1 You’ve figured out how to incorporate books into your workout.
+1 You’ve declined invitations to social activities in order to stay home and read.
+1 You view vacation time as “catch up on reading” time.
You’ve sat in a bathtub full of tepid water with prune-y skin because you were engrossed in a book.
+1 You’ve missed your stop on the bus or the train because you were engrossed in a book.
+1 You’ve almost tripped over a pothole, sat on a bench with wet paint, walked into a telephone pole, or narrowly avoided other calamities because you were engrossed in a book.
+1 You’ve laughed out loud in public while reading a book.
+1 You’ve cried in public while reading a book (it’s okay, we won’t tell).
You’re the one everyone goes to for book recommendations.
+1 You take your role in recommending books very seriously and worry about what books your friends would enjoy.
Once you recommend a book to a friend, you keep bugging them about it.
+1 If your friend doesn’t like the book you recommended, you’re heartbroken.
+1 And you judge them. A little bit.
+1 In fact, whenever you and a friend disagree about a book you secretly wonder what is wrong with them.
+1 You’ve vowed to convert a nonreader into a reader.
And you’ve succeeded.
+1 You’ve attended book readings, launches, and signings.
You own several signed books.
+1 You would recognize your favorite authors on the street
In fact, you have.
+1 If you could have dinner with anybody in the world, you’d choose your favorite writer.
You own a first-edition book.
+1 You know what that is and why it matters to bibliophiles.
+1 You tweet, post, blog, or talk about books every day.
+1 You have a “favorite” literary prize.
And you read the winners of that prize every year.
You’ve recorded every book you’ve ever read and what you thought of it.
+1 You have a designated reading nook in your home.
+1 You have a literary-themed T-shirt, bag, tattoo, or item of home décor.
You gave your pet a literary name.
+1 You make literary references and puns nobody else understands.
+1 You’re a stickler for spelling and grammar, even when you’re just texting.
+1 You’ve given books as gifts for every occasion: birthdays, Valentine’s Day, graduations, Tuesdays…
+1 Whenever someone asks what your favorite book is, your brain goes into overdrive and you can’t choose just one. You end up naming twelve books.
+1 You love the smell of books.
+1 You’ve binge-read an entire series or an author’s whole oeuvre in just a few days.
+1 You’ve actually felt your heart rate go up while reading an incredible book.
+1 When you turn the last page of a good book, you feel as if you’ve finally come up for air and returned from a great adventure.
+1 BONUS POINTS: For every friend who sent you this quiz (because they know you’re a huge book nerd), add one point.

Tally ‘em up and let us know—how much of a book nerd are you?

FINAL SCORE: 39/51

41/50

I decided just to count the ones that *didn't* apply to me; it makes the math so much quicker!

Thanks for the fun, Kirsten!

39/51

So where are we going to put the next set of bookcases?

27/51 Feels like I'm letting the group down :(

Marc wrote: "27/51 Feels like I'm letting the group down :("

Still over 1/2, Marc!

My score is like enough/too much. I had to boost +1 to +10 here and there. Like, for instance, my whole living room is for reading, and my reading life is my social life.

Wait. Maybe my score is more like too much/enough!

Wish I had more points: 29.

Is that a D? :(

There are in there that I'm like "that's so me" though.

Kirsten wrote: "Still over 1/2, Marc!"

Thanks for the support, Kirsten!

Franky, if you're on GR and you're in this group, it's pretty safe to say you're a book nerd :p

Marc wrote: "Franky, if you're on GR and you're in this group, it's pretty safe to say you're a book nerd :p"

True!

39 also.

Some of them, I'm like, what?

Who *doesn't* own 100+ books? Or hasn't missed their stop through reading?

Terry wrote: "39 also.

Some of them, I'm like, what?

Who *doesn't* own 100+ books? Or hasn't missed their stop through reading?"

No one who would likely be taking an "Are You a Book Nerd Quiz".

True, and I think I'll add another point just for taking the quiz :)

I hit 36, unless you let me count the pet question. My lease doesn't allow pets, but if I could, I would absolutely name a dog Tyler Durden.

Tom wrote: "I hit 36, unless you let me count the pet question. My lease doesn't allow pets, but if I could, I would absolutely name a dog Tyler Durden."

How about using authors in your passwords? That seems as nerdy to me as naming pets after authors or book characters!

Is it nerdy to quantify your owned-but-unread stash?

Or measure your own mental health by how many books you're reading at one time?


What other nerdy bookish stuff do you do that's not listed on the quiz above?

Wow, that graph is serious Nerdery, Marc.

I have to secrete my owned-but-unread stash in various locations around the house; if my wife caught on to the full scale of it, she would have more leverage in telling me I don't need to buy new books...

(Not that I would listen).

Terry wrote: "I have to secrete my owned-but-unread stash in various locations around the house..."

My wife is an enabler :)

Given that I'm married to one of the moderators here (Casceil), it's not like she's in position to criticize my to be read pile.

When we got married, we sold our existing houses to buy a house together. It had to, of course, be about as big as the two original houses combined to fit our merged collections.

It's true. About the third time we went into the furniture store looking for more bookshelves,the people helping us at the store starting laughing. It is glorious being married to another book-lover. We can shop together for fun. And discuss what we read, of course.

My wife enjoys books and always has one on the go, but she's wierd -- she's happy to have a to-read pile of one (or zero, even).

Terry wrote: "My wife enjoys books and always has one on the go, but she's wierd -- she's happy to have a to-read pile of one (or zero, even)."

I always wonder what that would be like...

Peter & Casceil: Are your collections integrated or is it more like his & hers bookshelves?

I had a one-book to-read pile once. It was about a second after I joined Goodreads, and it only lasted a second until I added the second one.

Marc wrote: "27/51 Feels like I'm letting the group down :("
I only got 20...

Does everyone have a hoard of unread books? I've only got two at the moment.

Violet wrote: "Does everyone have a hoard of unread books? I've only got two at the moment."

I'll have one foot in the grave the day I get down to 2.

Mine are scattered (partly because we moved, not just to hide them), so I can't count them. I suspect I have at least 40-50. Possibly quite a few more.

Integrated. It was more efficient, and it let us find the duplicates. Also, many of our purchases since getting married are for both of us, so where to shelve them would have been a problem.

The only way my to-be-read pile gets down to two is if I go broke and can no longer buy books. But then, there'd be the library...

LOL. I often am broke in which case I reread. I've read War and Peace four times so far.

Once upon a time we had organized bookshelves. Organization started breaking down after we had kids. Then we had a house fire, wiping out the "old" collection, so of course we had to start a new one. (We viewed the insurance money as sort of an unlimited book buying budget for awhile.) In the two years since the fire, we have acquired a new set of books that is "organized" willy-nilly. Some of the shelving has to do with when a book was purchased. If we got it while we were in the rental house, it's in one of two bookcases. If we got it soon after we moved back home, it's probably in a different book case. Where it is shelved may depend on which bookcases were full when we bought it. Or which room we read it in.

I don't mind if my to-be-read list never gets exhausted (because it won't in this lifetime), but I wouldn't mind my to-be-read pile of books I actually own being small (10 to 20). I only bought 7 books last year but I acquired a total of 33 thanks to gifts/freebies/give-aways. I guess having a 100+ unread is not bad given that I've been hoarding books since I was a child.

Integrated book collections seem like the smart way to go!

My TBR only gets bigger and bigger. I have a bookshelf dedicated to the books I will be reading 'tomorrow', which never gets smaller as I end up reading ones from the library instead while still buying the occasional new book. I can't keep the traditional stack of books by the bed, the cat considers that his "to be shredded" pile.

"I'll have one foot in the grave the day I get down to 2."
Ha ha, Kirsten. I don't like having lots of books I haven't read around. They begin to seem like chores. Also a book that's been sitting around for months kind of loses its glamour for me. I love that excitement of getting a new book and not reading it quickly is a bit like not opening a present for me.

Does anyone feel syndromed with a guilty habit when they turn down a social event in order to read? I used to think it might be psychiatrist fodder - that i was using reading as a means of avoiding real life. Then I read Virginia Woolf's diaries and got a more balanced perspective.

My unread books in paper/hardcover are over 400. And then there are the e-books and audible books ....

Violet wrote: "Does anyone feel syndromed with a guilty habit when they turn down a social event in order to read? I used to think it might be psychiatrist fodder - that i was using reading as a means of avoiding..."

I think this is fairly typical introvert behavior. When I do this, I'm not really choosing books over friends, I'm choosing solitary activity over social activity. Reading just happens to be a preferred solitary activity.

Okay, rules for the tally -- owning 100+ books = 3 pts?

haha, aweeeeesome quiz :) really made me smile.

"I'm choosing solitary activity over social activity."
Well put, Whitney.

I don't think I've ever turned down a social invitation in order to read, but I've often been at a social gathering and wished I was at home reading instead. And I do feel guilty when I'm more interested in the books in a new place than the people...

Linda wrote: "My unread books in paper/hardcover are over 400. And then there are the e-books and audible books ...."

Linda, I pretend e-books don't count because I can't wrap my head around trying to keep track of how many unread e-books I have (most of which were free via sites like Project Gutenberg).

Marc wrote: "I don't think I've ever turned down a social invitation in order to read, but I've often been at a social gathering and wished I was at home reading instead. And I do feel guilty when I'm more inte..."

Can relate! Thx for putting so clearly, Marc. I'm not so sure about the "often", but have certainly experienced the feeling. In fact, in some cases I confess to finding a corner and reading -- letting the festivities go on nearby.

Lily wrote: "...in some cases I confess to finding a corner and reading -- letting the festivities go on nearby."

Presumably, you come prepared with a book, or do you just grab what's near in such instances?

Marc wrote: "Lily wrote: "...in some cases I confess to finding a corner and reading -- letting the festivities go on nearby."

Presumably, you come prepared with a book, or do you just grab what's near in such..."

Does anyone go out without a book, just in case? As a kid, when all the library books for the week had been consumed, I remember resorting to reading the cereal boxes -- perhaps, after reading all the ingredients in frosted flakes, cheerios, and rice crispies, that's why I gave up eating cereal

@43Marc wrote: "Presumably, you come prepared with a book, or do you just grab what's near in such instances?..."

Although I was not an "early adopter" (marketing term for those who buy soon after the release of new technology and before the price curve has come down -- was it Yankee Group that coined it, or did it come far earlier from elsewhere?) of the ebook, today I mostly carry a library with me. It may not include what I am currently reading in paper at home, but it is almost certain to fit whatever mood. Exceptions are when need to carry a smaller purse -- I haven't really learned to read on an iphone.

In the "old days," again, unless a small purse was required, I usually carried some paperback. But, like Linda, I would, and still will, read anything within reach that's readable -- from a friend's bookshelf, magazines, medicine bottle labels,....

Lily wrote: But, like Linda, I would, and still will, read anything within reach that's readable -- from a friend's bookshelf, magazines, medicine bottle labels,..."

I figure it's slightly more socially acceptable to sit down and start reading a book you find at someone's house, rather than one you brought yourself.

Whitney wrote: "Lily wrote: But, like Linda, I would, and still will, read anything within reach that's readable -- from a friend's bookshelf, magazines, medicine bottle labels,..."

I figure it's slightly more ssocially acceptable to sit down and start reading a book you find at someone's house, rather than one you brought yourself."

Hmmm -- Now that's an etiquette question I bet has not been answered! Probably depends on how well you know the person whose house it is or whether they keep their books in a locked case!

True that. I'll amend my statement to add that breaking into a locked bookcase would probably be considered bad form. And spilling wine on their mint condition first editions would be a definite faux pas.

It's weird because I love reading but I am not much of a book collector. I read, almost exclusively, library books. I do have an e-reader but I only buy books when someone gives me a gift card, or when a book, I desperately want to read, is not available at a library. As I get older, I want less stuff cluttering up my house and that includes books.

that said, I probably have a few hundred books at home :p

30/51

I got docked for points on all the e-reader questions since I have no desire to read on an e-reader at this point. And I got docked for the author/book signing/literary prize questions.

I have two personal large bookcases, and of those books I have roughly 50 unread books that I've accumulated in the past year or two since I've discovered the Goodreads reading groups, and have been grabbing used books on my TBR list as I come across them. My husband also has his personal collection, but our tastes differ so our books are kept separate. And then we recently constructed a bookcase just for the kids books, so their bookcase is pretty full as well. I also read books from the library.

I have a hard time getting rid of my books because I love to lend out my favorites, and I like to go back and flip through them from time to time. And I just like to stand there and admire them, for that matter. :)