I'm surprised it is still working! I spilled water on my iPod a while back and it stopped working. Luckily I had a warrenty xDD
I tried reading the Lords of the Rings at one point but I failed miserably. I got all three together in one book. I made it to page 100 >>

Iltu - I'm so paranoid about wasting my time (and more importantly, my money) on a book that turns out to be lackluster, that I normally won't read a book unless it...
1) Is a generally agreed upon good book (like the classics or near-classics)
2) Has a premise that sounds so good I just can't resist and has generally favorable reviews online by people who seem to be in their right mind and/or a similar mind set to my own
3) Comes heavily recommended by someone who's intensely familiar with my tastes

I don't know why I'm quite so picky. I guess it's because I don't read as much as I should, so I figure if I'm going to read, I'd better not be wasting that time with something that turns out to be mediocre. If I read heavily for a while, I'm more likely to get more risky and buy books that I know less about or that seem less surefire fantastic.
Speaking of bookcases... I need a bigger one. >< Two, preferably. One for my books, and one for DVDs and games. My rack officially has no room left, and my bookcase has very little room.

So, here's a question for you, how do you organize your bookcase? Aside from the favorites shelf you mentioned, is there any rhyme or reason to the order the books are placed in?

Here I am yet again.

Hey Taiyo! How're you? :)

Beliar- Aw! Well, thank goodness for the warranty. :XD Yeah, I've got the three in one book too. ...Actually I've got two copies of all three in one book. :oops: I had one, but at Half-Price Books, they had a really nice edition for three dollars, and I decided I could have a copy for my mom's and one for my dad's... How long ago did you try reading it?

Cherry- That is exactly how my mom is with books. And I definitely think it's a good way to be. There's so many books out there, and we've only got so much time for reading them! I used to read even crappy books the whole way through, but I finally I realized that I just don't have time for that. I do need to be more like you and my mom in choosing books, but I have such a hard time saying no!

I need a new bookshelf, too! :gonk: I might have to hold off until March, though. My dad'll be moving then, and it might pay off to not have to bother with moving a second bookcase. My mom will probably take to not speaking to me if I bring more books to her house. :lol:
My organizational system makes sense to probably no one but me. :XD On the bookshelf I've got at my mom's, I keep my favorite paperbacks on the top shelf, my favorite hardcovers on the second shelf, other books I'm particularly fond of/that look impressive on the third shelf, my mass market paper backs on the fourth self, and everything else on the bottom shelf. And of course I group books by the same author all together! Unless of course, some are mass market-sized and some are not, or some books by that author go on my favorites shelf and some do not, etc. And I tend to keep nonfiction with nonfiction and fiction with fiction.

On the bookshelf I've got at my dad's house, I keep the classics/near classics on top, books on folklore/legend/mythology/religion on the second shelf, and everything else on the bottom shelf. And the things on the second shelf are ordered by subject, like I've got the Arthurian and Holy Grail legend books together, the books about different religions are all next to each other and are grouped by religion, etc.

...I don't know why my system is so abnormal. :gonk: D'you order things in a particular way, or just put books on there?
Also, I apologize for being such a chatterbox. :x

Iltu - Maybe I feel less guilty, then. :lol: I'm terrible with taking other people's suggestions, though, so that's a problem with my pickiness.

What if one of your favorites is mass market sized? Though I do see the benefit in keeping those separate. The drastic difference in the height of books (when you have the custom-sized, but generally tall books AND mass market on the same shelf) can look so sloppy.
Do you ever take a book from one house to the other because it would go better on a different bookcase? Sounds silly, but I'm being serious, because that's something I'd be tempted to do in your situation. :lol:

My books are divided in tiny genres (consisting of about 3 to 7 books each), which I then set by height, and put the books in so the heights alternate. An example would be that "Books about rockstars" is tallest to shortest, "books by Max Barry" are shortest to tallest, "books about mental illness" are tallest to shortest, so on and so forth.
Though it's largely just my top shelf that's like that. The shelf below it is pretty much completely full of "misc. fiction." It's tallest to to shortest, though, so at least it looks fairly nice.
I've tried alphabetizing them, but the random heights of it just bothered me too much. It looked too sloppy. Plus, then it's harder to browse when I'm in a mood for a particular style.

@Iltu- I got my edition at HPB too. I always wanted to read it so I grabbed it, so that I could at a later date. I tried reading it earlier this year. I got through the beginning slowly, and I stopped reading it when I found a different book that I had wanted to read xD; I might try to read it again at some point though.

Hello again!

Cherry- It depends on the person doing the recommending for me. :lol: I trust yours because you're so selective about your books, so thanks for not giving me a reason to hesitate! :)

Well, a books being my favorite trumps everything else, so if it's mass market size, it goes on the favorites shelf anyway. I just try to make sure it looks nice. Keeping the MMPs on the same shelf is just helpful for conserving space- I have sixty-six crammed on there, since I used the tallest shelf for it. Besides, it looks very organized, to have all those books at a uniform size together.
I do that, actually! :lol: Every time I buy a book or a batch of books I decide which self they ought to go on, and I'll shuffle books between houses to make room or make things look nicer.

Oh, I might borrow that idea from you! That sounds like it looks really nice. I'd love a picture sometime. :) I used to have my books ordered by height a few years ago, and I forget why I stopped! I definitely feel you on alphabetizing, I tried it and didn't like how it looked. Too crazy!

Beliar- Yeah, that happens to me with books all time time! I'm a little worried I'll do it with LotR, truth be told. Sometimes really long books get the better of me. :c Let me know when/if you give it a second shot! :)
What're you up to reading right now?

Hi Taiyo!

Iltu - Ah, good point! :lol: Well, I can recommend some more at another time, maybe.

I'd take a picture, but honestly, I'm a bit embarrassed by my bookcase. I'm afraid that if you all saw how small it is, you might think I'm an impostor and ostracize me. :ninja:

Hey guys, everyone reading and such? XD

Cherry- I would never! Man, I'm going to exclude you from all further conversation and our whole book-loving society just for implying that I would do that. :talk2hand:
If you don't want to take a picture of your bookcase though, I'm not going to pester about it. c: That would be rude and downright silly! (Although I am sure it is very lovely and worthy of all manner of praise. ;))

Xeno- You betcha I am!
Read anything interesting lately?

I'm not reading anything at the moment...just watching Bleach.

I'm on 14 of a 17 book manga series. They are both fast and slow to read, since it's in Japanese and I don't know that much yet. I skim through for context and look up words that are essential to the page that I just can't figure out. I've learned a lot that way. This is like, my third read through of these manga, because I pick up new stuff every time I read it.

Iltu - Oh nooo! I'm being ostracized for thinking I'd be ostracized! :gonk: :lol:
I might take a picture tomorrow... I've just got to do some cleaning first, I've got some painting supplies set on it. :lol:

Back from the weekend! Hey everybody! Just passed page 200 in Winters Heart :)

@Jezriel - I really wanna learn how to read Japanese! I think it would be soo much better to be able to read them in the original language they were written in. How did you start learning how to read Japanese? Do you take Japanese classes?

I haven't posted in here in ages though I have been doing the challenge

I failed, mainly because I would have to read another 17 books by two weeks.....but I did manage 33 books in a year ^.^

So has anyone else read the series by Kelly Armstrong that starts with Dime Store Magic? I happen to think it's actually very good. I'm not yet through the first half of the book yet though.

Cherry- I didn't know you painted! That's really cool. (Assuming you're not about to tell me the painting supplies belong to someone else. Then I'll feel like a goof!)

Congrats, Cora! Thirty three books in a year is way more than tons of people can say. C:

Iltu - Well, the painting supplies were for wall painting, not artistic painting. I wish I was more artistic... I try to draw, I just fail. :lol: But I've got a tablet, and I've tried doing some little comics. I try to mask my inability to draw with simple figures, really sketchy lines, and amusing jokes. :lol: If I can ever get confident enough with it, I may do a webcomic. Who knows.

Wow, why do I always feel the need to assume things? :XD
Well good luck if you ever decide to start up a web comic!

Nah, it's natural. :lol:
Thanks! I've got a few done, I want a backlog of about 5 or so before I start, so I have something to post if I can't come up with anything.

Yeah, that's a good plan. I follow a lot of webcomics and more authors than I can count bemoan not having a backlog. :lol:

@Cora - Nice job Cora! I can only hope I'll get that many read in a year! :P

@FeyonSaibre - I've not heard of that series before. What's the book about?

@ Cherry - I can say for certain that you're much better than I am. I am so far away from doing anything like a webcomic It's not even funny. I think I'll just stick with schmatics and things that are on a grid :yes:

Maybe, but if I'm better than you, it's not by much. :lol: