Comfort Reads discussion

I notice today, when I go to various books, that this group is showing up a lot at books' pages! We've already mentioned many books!

I noticed that too, Lisa. And I've already added about 5 more books to Mt.TBR since joining *sigh*

I know I should be adding books, but I've been adding so many books lately, that I'm overwhelmed.

I add far more quickly that I can actually read. Why oh why oh why do I have to work for a living? Couldn't someone just pay me to read?

Reading for a living, now that would be my idea of a dream job.

Boof wrote: "Couldn't someone just pay me to read?"

Amen! By the way - I freely confess that I have wasted hours upon hours trying to figure out if that is a viable option. Lots of scam artists out there, and it seems like you have spend quite a bit of time reading stuff nobody else wants to read before you get to anything good, and the pay is nearly non-existent.

Oh my goodness - what a wasted day at work! But I'm having such fun reading all the posts, and taking a trip down all of these literary memory lanes!!

Lisa wrote: "I notice today, when I go to various books, that this group is showing up a lot at books' pages! We've already mentioned many books!"

Yes, it's great that everyone is using the add book/author feature in their posts. I appreciate it!

I'm very happy I get to read on the job!

Paula, books are never a waste of time, never ever ever.

Oh, I never consider reading a waste of time, I mean I've wasted a lot of time looking for jobs where someone will pay me to read :)

EDIT: I also don't consider time spent in bookstores, reading reviews, reading other readers' comments, staring blankly at shelves of books, etc. a waste of time (guilty on all counts).

Oh Paula, I think you are a girl after all our hearts!

I especially love

staring blankly at shelves of books

which is an activity I really enjoy!

Or, staring blankly at your bookshelves, trying to find a certain book you need to or want to read (books have this almost impish tendency to hide if they know you want to read them, don't tell me they don't have a sense of humor).

Lee wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I notice today, when I go to various books, that this group is showing up a lot at books' pages! We've already mentioned many books!"

Yes, it's great that everyone is using the add ..."

What? You get to read on the job? What do you do, Lee?

Gundula wrote: "Or, staring blankly at your bookshelves, trying to find a certain book you need to or want to read (books have this almost impish tendency to hide if they know you want to read them, don't tell me ..."

Me too. Part of the fun of finnishing a book for me is to stare blankly at my heaving shelves and listen to them whisper (or yell) to me. Then I take my precious gems and stare lovingly at them while I narrow it down. My husband often looks at me, rolls his eyes and says "get a room!".

Boof wrote: "My husband often looks at me, rolls his eyes and says "get a room!". .."

Hahaha! Mike busted me smelling a book in a store once, and staring at my own bookshelves. I think at first it seemed weird to him, but now he understands. Some people meditate - I read and stare at my books.

I also take pleasure in re-arranging them in strange piles that no-one else understands.

My bedroom is full of strange piles of to-read books at this very moment.

I'm running out the door for a few hours, have fun everyone!

Lee wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I notice today, when I go to various books, that this group is showing up a lot at books' pages! We've already mentioned many books!"

Yes, it's great that everyone is using the add ..."

oh yes - I am reading on the job to Lee!

Tonight I met a wonderful GR friend in person for the second time and we checked out a couple of bookstores. In the second hand bookstore we visited which is next door to The World's Biggest Bookstore I scored one of the books mentioned here called Out Stealing Horses: A Novel along with My Family and Other Animals.

Nice! I have My Family and Other Animals at home too (I also have a copy of the whole Corfu Trilogy ). I have been meaning to read it for years.

Boof wrote: "I add far more quickly that I can actually read. Why oh why oh why do I have to work for a living? Couldn't someone just pay me to read?"

Boof, please leave this job for me!!

No! Mine! Mine! :-)

I asked first!!!

Hmmm, I'm not and have never been a violent person and much as I love you both dearly - BACK OFF! THE JOB IS MINE!

Can I do a job share with you, Boof? We could both do it part-time :)

And here's Paula trying to muscle her way in very diplomatically I must say!

I couldn't give that job up without a fight :)

Girls, I am also here, figthing for this job!!

Not to steal the conversation away from our dream job, but has anyone purchased the new B&N nook? I have a Kindle2 and am wondering how they compare.

Paula wrote: "Hahaha! Mike busted me smelling a book in a store once..."

LOL! My daughter and I also love to smell books! Old, new, it doesn't matter. It's gotten to be kinda funny now, we almost have our book smelling down to a parody of wine tasting, in that we'll smell one and say something like "This one has a bold, aged smell" or "This one sports a lively, piquant odor".

Yes, it's weird and silly, but I think you all will understand!

Hannah, I think I can safely say you are among friends here! I don't have book smelling down to a fine art like you do but I certainly can appreciate each books uniqueness and history. I like second hand books too.

I tried sniffing a really old book once and got a huge whiff of mildew in my nose. I was sneezing for days, but I still tend to sniff my books (just a bit more careful with really old ones).

Gundula wrote: "I tried sniffing a really old book once and got a huge whiff of mildew in my nose. I was sneezing for days, but I still tend to sniff my books (just a bit more careful with really old ones)."

LOL! That's certainly a hazard we book sniffers face!

I checked out a Mary Stewart book from the library a few months back and can honestly say it was physically the most repulsive book I've ever read and I did NOT stick my nose into it to smell (it exuded it's pungent aroma all by itself).

...The book was a good read, though, which just goes to prove the old axom that you can't judge a book by it's cover...or smell...er, whatever.

One of my absolute major pet peeves are vintage books that smell like an ashtray. I've bought some vintage German and British books that smelled like a stale, smoky pub (the only thing to do was to air them out, but one book was so bad that I ended up putting it in the basement, where it still remains, stinking away).

Gundula, Yes, we've talked about this elsewhere too. I loathe books that smell like tobacco smoke. I've been lucky about getting very, very few of those. I have received some otherwise unreadable library books, or books that were not so much fun to read because they were in such disgusting condition, but luckily that is a fairly rare occurrence too.

Lisa, I actually wonder what can be done about it. I've never had any problems with American or Canadian books, it's generally been British and German books that sometimes reek of tobacco smoke. If the books have been in a smoking household, the bookseller cannot be held responsible, but I think that bookselling websites should mandate that their sellers indicate wether the books have been in a smoking environment (I've only ever seen one or two booksellers who actually indicated that the book had been in a smoke-filled environment). But, more importantly, I don't think that sites like allibris or abebooks should deal with booksellers who smoke or who allow customers to smoke in their stores. I've actually emailed ABE books about this, but they never responded. Just for the record, I don't mean that booksellers should not be allowed to smoke (even though I am against the practice), I just don't think that they should be allowed to smoke in their stores.

Gundula, I agree it should be mentioned. I'm horribly allergic to any type of tobacco residue, and just find it repulsive even if I don't have a reaction. You seem to have gotten way more than your fair share of those books!

I think that it is disgusting that Europe is so far behind North America in creating a smoke-free (or even a smoke reduced) environment. The last time I visited my aunt in Germany (about six years ago), I could not sleep at night, because even the bedclothes reeked of her cigarettes.

I wonder if sprinkling baking soda on the pages would draw out the stink?

Never though of doing that. Might give it a try for my next stinky book.

Gundula wrote: "I think that it is disgusting that Europe is so far behind North America in creating a smoke-free (or even a smoke reduced) environment. The last time I visited my aunt in Germany (about six years..."

Restaurants in Europe are smoke-free now (I think by law). It certainly made my last visit to Germany much more enjoyable. Even the pubs in Ireland are smoke-free!

I was just in Ireland last month, and there was nowhere to smoke inside.

Alas, I admit to this habit, but never around my books!!

I guess it's time to plan a European vacation (I better not let my relatives know though, otherwise, I will only end up visiting them and not actually seeing anything).

Smoking did seem to be more socially acceptable in Europe. Here at work, I won't go outside to smoke during the day because I don't want to smell like it when I come back in - you're viewed as this somehow disfigured, abnormal, leper. I'm not a bad person - we smoke outside, not around people, our house doesn't smell like it....

But, I digress... I've completely strayed from a book topic, sorry!

Paula wrote: "Smoking did seem to be more socially acceptable in Europe. Here at work, I won't go outside to smoke during the day because I don't want to smell like it when I come back in - you're viewed as this..."

It is ok Paula - I've have been reading the chats, and smoking is a preference, some do some don't - you need not explain and I love this "comfy" site as we can chat like friends and discuss good books too! :)

I was not trying to be judgmental or anything, I just don't like it when books smell of smoke (or of other smells except for book smells, I bought a book once that smelled strongly of perfume, not pleasant either). My parents both smoked when I was a child and our house and our clothes also never smelled of it; I think a lot has to do with how people smoke as well and it seems that Paula belongs to the kind of smokers who actually make every effort not to expose others to undue second hand smoke. I hope I did not offend anyone.

No offense taken here :) I completely understand; I've returned books to the library and pointed out to librarians the awful stench emanating from the book; I don't like going to friends' houses who smoke inside (altho when it's -5F it can be nice).

My favorite thing about smoking is just possibly that at that moment when my future mother-in-law is just about to tip me over the edge, I can excuse myself to go outside :)

Paula wrote:...that moment when my future mother-in-law is just about to tip me over the edge, I can excuse myself to go outside :) i>

That is hilarious!