Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: It’s getting close to Halloween. If you HAD to read one of these two genres, which would you prefer — urban fantasy, or horror, and why?

Urban fantasy–no contest at all.  I have read the odd horror story here and there, mostly classics.  But urban fantasy is a genre I like.  It can be a little dark too, but I don’t think that’s necessarily assumed.  And I like a dark story sometimes–I just don’t like it to be twisted, which is much more of a given with horror!

Charles de Lint is a favorite urban fantasy writer, particularly his Newford stories.  He tackles a lot of very real, gritty issues with a fantasy angle, sometimes with an element of Native American spirituality.  And my friend R. A. Gates writes urban fantasy too, with an awesome Sleeping Beauty retelling (loosely!)

Which is your preference–urban fantasy or horror?  And which would you rather read for Halloween?  Because even though I like urban fantasy much better–I have to admit horror seems much more appropriate for Halloween!

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Do you like to finish one book before starting the next or do you read several at once?

Yes to both?  I used to have a strict one-book-at-a-time policy, and in my heart I still feel like that’s what I do…only it’s become more complicated!  I am, actually, in the middle of two books right now–but it only feels like one or possibly two.

You see, I read one book before I go to bed (at the moment, L. M. Montgomery’s Journals), one spiritual or psychological book (How to Live in Fear by Lance Hahn), one audiobook (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott), my husband and I are in the midst of reading two books out loud (The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett and The People the Fairies Forget by me), and there’s a book I’m just reading (The Improbable Sherlock Holmes).

But somehow in my head, I’m only properly reading the last one, or possibly that one and the audiobook.  And I try not to start a second book in any category (out loud reading aside) without finishing the ongoing one.

So…the answer is yes.  Sort of.

Do you read multiple books at once?  Are they all equivalent, or do you divide them up into categories?

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Can you say this about yourself? Nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.

Hmm.  This seems like the kind of pat statement that is a little true of a lot of people, and wholly true of not very many.  Sitting down with a good book makes me happy–there are times and moods when it will make me happier than anything else in that moment–but does nothing make me happier?

My husband makes me happier than a good book.  So does my family and my friends.  It makes me very happy when the opening orchestrations begin of Phantom of the Opera performed live on stage.  Writing at its best makes me happier than reading–though it also requires more energy, and at its most challenging causes me more frustration than reading.  Music is a good mood lift, and I have TV shows I like to watch when I’m stressed because they make me happy.  But it’s also true that reading brings happiness into my life, that finding a good book makes me very happy, and I’m not as happy in general if I’m not making time to read.

So I guess I’d say, there are times when nothing makes me happier than sitting down with a good book.  But there are many other things in life that have the potential to make me happier than even the best book.