My “P” book was the long-awaited Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine. I first came across Rachel’s books when I read Prince of Shadows. It is GORGEOUS. Get it, now. Seriously. It’s Romeo and Juliet seen from the point of view of Benvolio (Romeo’s cousin) and it fills in the holes in Shakespeare’s plotting BEAUTIFULLY. I’m getting shivers just thinking about it. And then I picked up Ink and Bone, an alternate history/fantasy where the library at Alexandria has become all-powerful.

I loved returning to Jess’s world in Alexandria … but not as much as I’d thought I would. And it made me consider how my fondness for a book correlates to how fast I read them. I’m trying to keep track of my reading by writing what I start, when, and when I finish. Paper and Fire took 6 days. Now, that might not sound like long, but judging from other books, I tend to only need two days to get through a standard paperback-length novel, maybe three if real life is getting in the way.

That’s not a completely scientific measurement, more of a gut feeling, but I will now try and pay more attention to see if the books I most love are consumed most quickly. I do know that I love being dragged into a book and deposited, breathless and blinking at the return to real life, at the end.

How about you? Are your books to be gobbled at a hectic rate, or lazily luxuriated in?