Booking Through Thursday: Quirky

This week’s question is suggested by (blogless) JMutford:

Sometimes I find eccentric characters quirky and fun, other times I find them too unbelievable and annoying. What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them?

Usually I love quirly characters. If they're crazy, strange, unusual, impossible to fit into categories, unpredictable or just plain loonies, I can be pretty sure I'm going to like them. I adore "Stargirl", I think Luna Lovegood is the coolest character in "Harry Potter" after Hermione, I fell in love with Weetzie Bat and her unlikely family almost instantly and I never understood how Marilla could critise Anne for being what she was (fun, creative, imaginative).

I think it must be because deep inside (or not that deep), I'd like to be like them. Quirky people are often the most original and creative. They see the world in a different way and they don't tend to conform. When they are bold I admire them (like Imogene in "The Blue Girl), and when they're shy I can understand them and maybe wish I could be their friend. Or maybe I'm already one of them and I'm just looking for assurance that quirky is cool!:D

One character, though,that I didn't like was Justin in Meg Rosoff's "Just in Case". He was quirky, or better, he was completely out of it. Strange wouldn't quite describe him. Paranoid might be the best word. And althought I would normally like a character who invents an imaginary dog and then acts as if it was a real one, and that changes his name into Justin Case to hide himself from Fate, I really couldn't relate to this guy. Even though the writing was truly beautiful.

So if you know any book with quirky characters that you think I might like, please share them with me! I'm always looking to read more books with interesting characters (i.e. strange) in them.

Booking Through Thursday: Rolling

There hasn't been much going on here lately, I have some reviews to write but so little time...So that's when "Booking through Thursday" comes in handy:)
This week question is:

Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on and so on?

I don’t so much mean something like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different authors…

Not really. Not that I know of. I do sometimes look for books on the same topic but not for fiction. As a child or teenager I would usually become obsessed with a particular thing (an actor/actress, places, films) and I would read anything about it, as well as collecting pictures, posters, stickers. But that's off topic.
So, no, I don't roll. In fact, I don't usually try to find the same things or themes in books. It might happen that I read books that have things in common but it's never intentional. Because if I like a certain book that's set in Paris and I really really loved it, if I read another book set in a Paris right after that, I would only keep comparing them, and I'm afraid I won't enjoy the second one for what it is.
Now that I think about it, most of the reading challenges are based on a roll, isn't it? I haven't joined a proper "themed" one yet, and I think I've just found out why!

-Edited after reading some other answers-
I completely forgot that few months ago I deliberately decided to read some Carnegie medal winners, so much that I was thinking of hosting a Read All the Carnegie Medals project, but I never did it cause I'm so busy all the time:(
Also I should be reading the Booker Prize winners too,but I'm not doing that much,really!:P
And what about my other commitments to 3 books for the Book to Movie challenge? I only read one, and I'm not sure I'll read the other 2 by the end of the year if I keep going at this deprecable speed!
Nah, I'm definitely not a reading roll girl.

Booking Through Thursday: Comfort food

Okay . . . picture this (really) worst-case scenario: It’s cold and raining, your boyfriend/girlfriend has just dumped you, you’ve just been fired, the pile of unpaid bills is sky-high, your beloved pet has recently died, and you think you’re coming down with a cold. All you want to do (other than hiding under the covers) is to curl up with a good book, something warm and comforting that will make you feel better.

What do you read?

(Any bets on how quickly somebody says the Bible or some other religious text? A good choice, to be sure, but to be honest, I was thinking more along the lines of fiction…. Unless I laid it on a little strong in the string of catastrophes? Maybe I should have just stuck to catching a cold on a rainy day….)

I'm just back from my holiday in Italy, and I feel a bit guilty for leaving my poor little blog all alone for so long so I thought it deserves a new post, and what's better that a "Booking through Thursday one"? :)

So, for the weekly question...hmm, I don't think I'm one for reading when I feel down and everything is going bad. I usually prefer the lazy and degrading option of watching TV, when I have a TV (now I don't!) and eat some junk food. Or watch some episode of Buffy for the 10th time. Or go to the cinema or around town for some window-shopping. But mostly if I feel REALLY bad, I just curl up in bed and cry. It makes me feel better after a while. Then I might cook myself a butternut squash soup to bring to bed.
But, if I feel like reading something I think I'd choose a comic, preferably a manga. If I were in Italy I would just drive to my manga shop, load up on back issues of my favourites, maybe buy some new ones, then stop at the bakery nearby and by "schiacciata" bread and lemon ice-tea. Then I would go back home and spend the afternoon or the whole day, depends on how down I feel, reading them.
When I'm really sad I can't face a proper book. It takes too much concentration. Also, I never re-read books as a comfort measure. Now that I think about it, I might be able to re-read Harry Potter. Yes, definitely Harry Potter or manga for comfort reading. Nothing else. Oh, I forgot gossip magazines. But that's not real reading is it? It's crisps for the mind :D

Booking Through Thursday: Indoctrination

When growing up did your family share your love of books? If so, did one person get you into reading? And, do you have any family-oriented memories with books and reading? (Family trips to bookstore, reading the same book as a sibling or parent, etc.)

I was very well nurtured as a child. Both my parents are big readers, and all my houses (cause I've changed lots) have always been full of books. I remember when I started school the first thing I wanted to learn was reading. And sure enough I was the fastest reader in my class. Big books in our library were only for me:D

I don't remember my parents reading me bed-time stories. But they must have, 'cause at age 4 I knew my favourite picture-books by heart. I know that one day I let my granny think I could read, because I knew every single word in them! I still have all my favourite books as a child. One actually belonged to my dad so it's really old!and almost destroyed. I don't know why I loved it so much, it was so sad. It was about a girl with white hair who was living with an evil step-mother. One day she meets a circus boy and decide to run away with the circus people in their caravan. I only remember the ending, where the two kids die of cold in a hollow tree. I remember asking my mum to read me that book over and over. She must have been sick of it.
Then came the feminist picture books, about a girl, Isolina, who wanted to see the world. Or about the little mermaid who decided that all that pain wasn't worth it for a man and decided to go back to the sea with her sisters. Those were wonderful.

After 5, when my parents split up, I had two different experiences with books. In my dad's house in Sicily I read almost all of my dad's childhood books, like Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, the Paul street boys (wonderful, I'm not sure if it's well known in the English-speaking world) and Peter Pan.

My mum instead used to buy me lots and lots of books, first picture books than novels. She had an open account in our local bookshop, and she used to spend way to much money there. So I don't remember a time in my life where books weren't present.

One of my fondest memory is in my dad's girlfriend house where I lived for few years as a teenager. Girlfriend was also a huge reader and had this MASSIVE living room with 3 or 4 couches, and shelves full of books. We kids weren't allowed in but I often used to sneak inside just to choose another book. I discovered Remarque, and Maugham, and other Italian authors. I had so much time for reading!
Those were the times *sigh*

Booking Through Thursday: Monogamy

One book at a time? Or more than one? If more, are they different types/genres? Or similar?

(We’re talking recreational reading, here—books for work or school don’t really count since they’re not optional.)

Mainly I'm a monogamous. But occasionally I do cheat and read other books, leaving the other behind for a while. I don't like it, and I wouldn't do it as a general rule. I used to do it a lot and I would end up leaving some of the books unfinished, cause I was too engrossed by the others. If my attention is grabbed by one I might lose interest in the other, even forget about it. Also I think the best way to enjoy a book is to be totally absorbed by them. Something that can only be done once at a time.
That said, it happens sometime, of course. When you're a bookseller and see new books every day, shiny and tempting, it's hard to say "you stay there and wait for your turn". So what I do is try and be quick, so I can move on to the next. If I really can't wait, then I read it in the shop, without buying it, or even bringing it home. So I know that my current reading is still in charge and that one is only a distraction, a whim, that won't last long...