In my last post (it is in my September Wrap Up that I have not posted yet oopsies) I talked about not starting any new books outside the books I own. I don’t have the time and calmness (I guess) to start new books. It is hard to explain but I can’t get myself to settle enough to start a new book. I need a book that is already good so a book or series I’m already familiar with. I thought it would be handy to create a short handy list of the books that I liked but put down because of millions of reasons. All these are going to be books that I have gotten at least 50 pages into.
Numbered by level of interest
- A Feast For Crows (currently reading)
- The Complete Adventures & Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
- East of Eden/The Westward Bus
- Ivanhoe
- Canterbury Tales
- Scandalmonger
- Lolita (umm… I have to think about this one I put this one down because I got antsy about the lack of progression which is kind of creepy actually because it seems like I’m rooting for … yeah.. no.)
Factors To Take Into Account
There are factors to take into account for taking books with me to school.
- Durability
I want to take a book that can handle being carried around all day with other things in my backpack. I’m probably going to lean towards hardcover books or eBooks.
- Compactness
I don’t want something that is too heavy until I am hurting my back carrying it around with all the other junk in my backpack.
- Longevity
It needs to have enough pages for me to read that I will not finish it in one sitting at school. I don’t want to find myself stranded without a book to read. Also, something that the chapters are not so long that I spend 30 minutes reading a chapter.
A Feast For Crows fails on almost all counts. It is a big book to carry around and the chapter are kind of long. I have it in hardcover so that is how it kind of passes on the durability front except it is chaffing at the ends of the book. I had to put a book cover on it. Overall, I can ignore all the things that I put to consider if the book is enjoyable.
The Adventure & Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is short and since it is a classic can be read as an eBook. So it is compact and durable. These are two separate books so I may read one book then comeback later to read the second.
East of Eden/The Westward Bus is another bindup so I will read East of Eden then comeback to The Westward Bus. It is hardcover but kind of older. Its probably 100 pages less than A Feast For Crows.
Ivanhoe (ebook/physical copy) is a classic so I can get it in ebook in addition to having it in softcover. I will need it because my copy is old and in softcover.
Canterbury Tales (ebook/physical copy) while being a classic is also a translation from Middle English so reading the ebook is going to be questionable. I still have the option so that is good. My edition of this book is softcover and as most of my classics old. So I think carrying it around would not be a good idea. It definitely has longevity so much so that it made me put the book off to the side. The chapter that I was on felt so long (looking at it now it is not actually that long).
Scandalmonger is in hardcover. The only thing that worries me about this book is the length of the chapters. It is like Canterbury Tales the size of the chapters for this made me put it to the side except the chapters for this book are actually really long. The prologue was almost 50 pages long.
Lolita has short chapters which is a major thing working for it versus all the other books.
| Books | Durability | Compactness | Longevity |
| A Feast For Crows | hardcover but is chaffing at ends so had to put a book cover on it. | No, around 700+ pages | Yes |
| The Adventure & Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | ebook and hardcover copy | ebook and have hardcover copy (326 pages) | Yes |
| East of Eden/The Westward Bus | hardcover | 500+ pages, it is fat | Yes |
| Ivanhoe | ebook (good), physical copy is old and softcover (bad) | 508 pages but is small | Yes |
| Canterbury Tales | ebook (questionable because of it being an translation), physical copy is old/ softcover (bad) | 383 | Yes |
| Scandalmonger | Hardcover | 496 | |
| Lolita | No, Old cover/softcover | 288 | Yes |
themollyweather 