28 Things about Books

I'm joining in the book meme that has been going around lately. I ended up with 28 things.

1. I examine books very carefully when I buy them to make sure I am getting the copy in the best condition.
2. When I buy a new book, it usually doesn't look like it's been read when I finish it.
3. I love having autographed copies of books. When it's an author I really like, I am willing to pay shipping to get an autographed copy.
4. I'm willing to try books based on reading a review or blog entry that interests me. It doesn't have to be a positive review, either, as long as the description of the book gets my attention.
5. After attending last year's RWA, I hesitate before buying books because I think, "Will this be sold at the next RWA signing?"
6. I always have one or more (usually more) books with me because I worry I'll get stuck without something to read.
7. I love getting packages of books to review, but I procrastinate writing the reviews. (Is this a sign that I should take a reviewing hiatus?)
8. I've been known to buy books based on their covers.
9. I have an insane number of books, although I'm getting better at going through them occasionally to weed them out.
10. There are probably more than two dozen authors on my auto-buy list.
11. I started taking too many books with me on vacations because I once took too few.
12. I usually read in bed although I bought a chaise to sit on while I read.
13. I have a spreadsheet to track the books I read each year. I write them down in a notebook, then enter them into a spreadsheet every few months.
14. I use a little basket to hold my bookmarks.
15. The books I've started but haven't finished go into a separate pile. I keep hoping I will be motivated to finish them.
16. I don't usually read ahead or read the endings first. On rare occasions when I do, I end up putting the book down for a while afterward. For whatever reason, reading ahead means I end up losing interest.
17. I used to have a hard time not finishing a book no matter how much I disliked it. Now, I have several partly finished books that I'm hoping to finish eventually (see number 15).
18. I've been late for work, family events, or meeting friends because I was in the middle of a good book.
19. I often tell myself I will read "just one more chapter" even though I know I'll usually end up reading three or four chapters.
20. I'm one of those readers who stopped reading Julie Garwood and Judith McNaught when they switched to contemporary romance/romantic suspense.
21. I used to read Regency romances and little else, but now I have to be in the right mood to read a Regency. I think I overdosed.
22. I can't read in a car because I get car sick. I can read during a flight. I think this developed out of necessity; I don't really like flying, and reading helps the time pass faster.
23. Wuthering Heights is the only book I've ever thrown against a wall. I was in high school at the time.
24. As a general rule, I don't enjoy books with babies or children in them. There are always exceptions, of course, but I don't seek these books out.
25. I cringe when I read books where the heroine has long hair and cuts it very short. This is probably because of a traumatic haircut I received in the 9th grade. I still haven't gotten over it and can't see myself getting a short haircut.
26. I shelve my books alphabetically under the author's last name.
27. When I really like a book, I prefer having it in hardcover, although I would rather have paperback than a book-club edition hardcover.
28. I want to have books in a series in the same format. It completely frustrates me to have part hardcover and part paperback with the In Death series. And I'm not getting rid of the hardcovers (see number 27).