They also let us *delay* the order, so over the summer, when I’m away from the library, I can still order books, but delay them until school starts.

You know how I know this semester has been bad? I haven’t been since maybe October or so.

Now I usually have three books going at once: one pop-science (The Body Has a Mind of Its Own); one fiction (Liar); one theory (Disability Theory by Tobin Siebers, very hard going, as he’s a philosopher.) As well as a TBR pile which could kill me, the partner and the dog if it toppled.

Also blogs and LJ friendslists and DW circles, the first offline with RSS Runner on my iPod, the latter online.

Also tons of fanfic and miscellaneous interesting stuff — commentary, rants, novels, articles — on my iPod.

When I’m not reading with paper or with my iPod (eyes or ears) or on CD or cassette, I’m basically sleeping, eating or swimming.

Although I have a very hard time picking out speech from background noise, I do pretty well with audio books, since I control the aural landscape. Audio also calms me down by keeping me in more or less one place.

Happily my library is less than a mile away, and their on-line catalog permits me to keep more than a hundred books on wishlist.

Above all, I like speculative fiction – sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc. I also love mysteries, thrillers. I’m not much of a fan of general “literate fiction,” especially those ones that sit atop the bestseller’s list all year and get recommended by Oprah. I adore British and European classics, but not American ones. I usually stay away from non-fiction, but this year I’ve read a few pop-science books (by Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, Stephen Hawking) since I’ve never learned much about physics and astronomy. I can’t do books on tape because of my hearing impairment; my favorite joke about that is that I’d need a version with closed captioning (as in, the hard-copy book).

@bme: the only YA book I can recall that was released this year to lots of praise was Suzanne Collins’ sequel to The Hunger Games. I’m holding off on reading them all until all three books are out, though.

Suffice to say, our numerous bookshelves are very well organized by genre/author, or else finding books would be impossible. My favorite thing is when people enter our living room and see all the books and are so amazed, and then we take them upstairs to the book room and watch their eyes boggle…it’s great.

In high school, my “coping book” was Dragonsdawn—I used to read it once a week at least (and I’d guess I’ve read it more than 600 times by now). I can’t really say why it was so meaningful to me, but no matter how agitated or upset I was, I could calm myself down just by picking it up and starting anywhere. I *still* cry when Sallah dies, and at the end when Sean salutes Admiral Benden and presents the Dragonriders of Pern…

Is it just me, or was 2009 a really bad year for YA and F&SF? I can’t hardly think of anything released this year that was amazing or fabulous. I am hoping 2010 will be way better.

Also, re: Chalion, my favorite is also the first, and it’s a bit ironic that LMB won the Nebula for the third when it’s not liked nearly as well.

Now I read more YA than is probably advisable. I read the HP series at least once a year. I have burdened my brain w/ Twilight for critique purposes. I have started His Dark Materials and have had trouble getting my mits on the second two books, I fell in love w/ Howl’s Moving Castle. I am now reading The Hobbit because The Guy got tired of me complaining about Steinbeck’s verbosity.

I also eat adult fiction like baby flavored donuts OM NOM NOM! I read the Kushiel’s series every year at least. It is hands down my favorite.

Perhaps it would be easier to list what I don’t like…

I mostly read fantasy and recently finished Sarah Monette’s A Doctrine of Labyrinths series, which was amazing. It had some really interesting main characters. One is mentally ill, one winds up with a bad leg, and another (in the last book) is blind. There are no miracle cures, everything comes hard. And they are all admirable, complicated, deeply flawed characters. I related in a lot of ways. She treats her characters as whole people, even when they are “broken.”

Other than fantasy, I read some nonfiction, mostly history, books about animals, books about sex in all its forms, mythology (largely Celtic, ancient near-middle-eastern, and “classical”). I read and write erotica. I love fairy tales and retellings of fairy tales. I love books that cross genres. I don’t read romance as a rule (not that I don’t like it on principle, but I prefer stuff with a strong speculative element) or mystery as a rule (same deal), but the J.D. Robb Eve Dallas/In Death series is awesome.

I read graphic novels often, especially when my bipolar disorder is making it hard to concentrate or making it hard to understand things.

Books have definitely been a coping mechanism in the past. I think one of the kindest things my father ever did for me was tell me that if I would read them, he would buy me as many books as I liked. Any subject, didn’t matter. He never ever criticised my choice of reading material or told me I was reading things that were too mature or too immature. It was a completely safe area in a childhood that had relatively few of those. Those books gave me a place to go when I didn’t have anything else, anywhere else.

My hearing comprehension is dreadful, so I can’t listen to books. I can’t read long works on a screen, because I have no kinesthetic? is that the word? sense of where in the book certain scenes were and where I am and how far I have to go. I wish I could do both of those things, because reading on paper is becoming increasingly difficult for me.

(I also do that with movies. I knew the twist before I watched this movie, but watching it, I was like, nah, not gonna happen. I also felt that way the second time I watched the movie. I really get into movies and books when I like them.)

I love reading theory: most lately have been psychoanalytic explanations for white privilege and racism. I try to read “the feminist texts that brought us to this point” and the new stuff coming out in the field. I also enjoy reading about alternate realities/consciousness/theoretical physics type stuff and history. I have a few blogs I read regularly regarding social issues (including this one!). Biology and science is always pretty enjoyable. I’m currently reading DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman and I’m eating it up

I’m anxious to start a book club at my new job. Although fiction appeals to more people and (usually) has plenty of social commentary, I’m hoping to find someone who is as in love with theory as I am.