Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: When you start reading a novel, do you prefer to be plunged right into the action, or do you prefer a slower, more descriptive introduction to the plot and characters?

Typically I suppose I prefer something in between.  I like a chance to get to know a world and characters before too much action is happening, but I want something happening in the opening chapters.  I don’t want to be plunged directly into the Battle of Helm’s Deep with a lot of people I don’t yet care about, but I also don’t really need to go strolling through the Shire, listening to an extended history of Elvish linguistics for the first three chapters.  So to speak.

Mostly, though, I think this is not unlike my thoughts about multiple narrators—it’s all fine, if done well.  A book can start mid-action and reveal plot and character while a lot is happening, or it can start with less action but still hold interest.  It all depends on what’s right for the story, and how skillful the author is.

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: How do you feel about books with multiple narrators?

Ah, now this feels like the kind of question that might come up at my writing group!  I frequently enjoy (and often write) at least two point of view characters (or narrators).  It’s a common practice to write a novel from the alternating points of view of the two romantic leads (I knew immediately how a triangle would turn out in a romance once, just because of this).  Sometimes that’s been the case in my own books, though not always.  I guess it always has been the case that my two point of view characters are the pair that forms the most significant relationship in the book, romantic or otherwise.

Huh, I actually never thought about that before…

Three narrators is perfectly reasonable too, and maybe four…though the more you add, the more complex it becomes and the harder it gets for the reader to keep track.  That can go badly sometimes in ensemble cast novels, with six, eight, ten narrators.

That higher complexity is definitely something we’d warn about in my writing group, if someone was thinking about how many POV characters to write (the question has come up often).  Two other things: it’s crucial to make it very clear to the reader when a POV is switching.  I generally do chapter breaks, sometimes just a scene break (but a clear one).  It’s equally crucial that different POV characters have different voices.  If they all sound the same, the reader will have a much harder time keeping track (and possibly grow bored besides).

But if those pitfalls are avoided, and if all is written well, then I like multiple POVs just fine.  But I like most storytelling choices, if they’re done well!

 

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is:  Can you read and watch TV or listen to the radio at the same time?

The very thought of reading and watching TV makes my head hurt a bit.  I can do a lot of things while watching TV (write my rent check, knit scarves, do some very basic email sorting…) but not reading.  They use too much of the same parts of my brain.  I use to be able to write while watching TV, but I lost that ability somewhere around after college.  It may be related to the ability to write novels while listening to class lectures (I was masterful at that, and no teacher ever caught me–I’d just keep two sheets of paper on my desk, one for writing and one for note-taking).  No class lectures, no opportunity to practice writing while listening.

Anyway…no reading while watching TV.  In theory I think I could read while listening to music, but I don’t.  I use to while studying, and I listen to music while working…but not while pleasure reading.

I can read while waiting in line.  I can read while walking–not something I do, particularly, but I have done it.  Much easier to avoid bumping into things than you’d think (I mean, I can see around the book…)  I can “read” while driving–audiobook only, of course!  But I can’t read (visually) while riding in a car without getting sick, one of the very minor tragedies of my life.

Do you combine reading with any other activities?  Anything you’ve tried to combine it with, and found you couldn’t do?

 

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: What is your favorite Valentine’s Day read?

Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever given much thought to a Valentine’s Day read before.  My favorite bookish romance remains Turnip and Arabella in The Mischief of the Mistletoe, though that’s a Christmas book, closely followed by, well, basically everyone in the Lunar Chronicles.  I mostly go to movies for holidays, and my favorite romantic comedy is Alex and Emma (a movie about a writer, incidentally!)

Valentine’s Day is not happy for everyone, for a variety of reasons, and in that scenario I recommend Terry Pratchett, my go-to for blue days.

If I actually read anything as a sort of Valentine’s Day event this year, it is most likely to be my own fourth book, which is what my boyfriend is currently reading. 😉

 

Today’s Book Blogger Hop question is: Read or Clean? Read or Bake? Read or Make Dinner? What would be your choice?

Well, my first thought was that obviously I would rather read than do any of those things!  But…sometimes bathrooms get dirty (on a fairly predictable schedule) and I’m quite the stickler for regular meals.  So while, in a perfect world without responsibilities, I’d rather read than do most things, in this world I suppose I do actually clean or make dinner instead of reading on a very regular basis.  I only bake once a year at Christmas.

Setting aside the responsibility question, there are some other, more challenging competitors for my reading time.  Read or watch TV?  In theory read, but that doesn’t always bear out.  Read or work on my novel?  Work on my novel–unless I’m too drained, and then reading takes less energy.  Read or blog?  Sorry, friends, I read more than I blog.  Read or eat lunch with someone on a workday?  Reading is my midday recharge, every day I can possibly manage it (95% of the time).  Read or go to church? I like lazy Sunday mornings, but I’m at church every weekend, and I can’t always make it Saturday night.  Read or see my family, boyfriend, or friends?  People first–until my introvert self has had enough and I have to go home and read to recharge.

What competes for your reading time?  What wins out?