Books: I like them.
I can't be arsed to put the bolds back in by hand in HTML; suffice to say the Rich Text editor was being a bitch.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Errm, it depends on what you mean by "by". I have eight books with Neil Gaiman's name on them, but I am uncertain if he authored some of them (such as "Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere", the comic adaptation). Other than him, I've got seven JK Rowling books, only one of which is in French.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I try not to duplicate if I can help it. Once upon a time I had copies of "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" in two languages, but the English has since disappeared. I also have two different translations of the bible among my religious collection.
3) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
I don't form attachments to characters other than my own easily, but I have a certain fondness for the Lucifer of the titular comic series (a spin-off of Sandman) and Lucien (from the series itself). Also early Dumbledore, the Dumbledore who said things like "Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak" and didn't plot.
4) What book have you read more than any other?
I generally don't like to repeat reading things very often, and so the "not yet" date hasn't expired for most of my collection, but I believe I've read "The Phantom Tollbooth" and "Sabriel" three times. I don't know how many times I've read "A Light in the Attic" or "Where the Sidewalk Ends," though, so it might be them.
There is also a list of things I've read twice, which more or less puts them in "beloved" territory.
5) What was your favorite book when you were 10-years-old?
Oh, I don't know. I read a lot then. Maybe Bruce Coville's "Into the Land of the Unicorns"?
6) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
No wallbangers as far as I remember, though there was a book in my Chinese Families class that was nigh impenetrable until I'd read another book on the same subject. I haven't read as much as I would like in the past year, and I've been pretty selective about what I have read.
7) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Maybe only because it's fresh in my mind, but "River of Gods" by Ian McDonald is probably the freshest SF I've read in a while.
8) If you could tell everyone you know to read one book, what would it be?
Probably Dune.
9) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Probably "The Sound and the Fury". It evens out, but those first Benjy chapters are rough.
10) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I am an existentialist.
11) Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Honestly, they've all got their problems and benefits. Shakespeare did some interesting things with language, Milton had the benefit of writing "Paradise Lost" which shaped Western literature, and Chaucer amused me.
12) Austen Or Eliot?
Which Eliot? If I get to choose T.S., then definitely him.
13) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
My reading has a distinct Western bias. Also (in a move that will probably shock all the English majors) I have never read "The Yellow Wallpaper".
14) What is your favorite novel?
You wouldn't pick a favorite child, would you?
15) Play?
Are we defining "play" to exclude musicals? If so, "No Exit"/"Huis Clos" (depending on your language preference)
If not, I am torn between "RENT" and "Tick, Tick... Boom!" which have both helped me become who I am.
16) Poem?
I like a lot of poetry. If a gun was held to my head, I might say "l(a" by e.e. cummings
17) Essay?
Maybe "So You Want to Learn Japanese", though I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten.
18) Short Story?
Ray Bradbury's incomparable "There Will Come Soft Rains". It is a masterpiece of English literature.
19) Non-fiction?
I don't read that much nonfiction, but I of course enjoy Dave Sedaris like a good gay. I've found myself very much enthralled with Alistair Horne's "La Belle France: A Short History," which is simultaneously the most thorough and funniest history I've yet come across.
20) Graphic novel?
The term "graphic novel" is a slippery one indeed. I frequently take it to mean "comics with literary merit", but in this instance, because that is also slippery, I will go with "Graphic works published in entirety in a single volume" whereupon my answer would be "Sandman: Dream Hunters" by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano.
(Among my favorite comics are "Sandman," of course, "Hellblazer," "Lucifer," "Watchmen," and "Madame Xanadu." My favorite manga is "Petshop of Horrors," the original series, though I also read PoH: Tokyo.
21) Memoir?
"The Hiding Place," Corrie ten Boom. The most moving Holocaust memoir I've ever read, the story of a gentile hiding Jews.
22) History?
Oh, most definitely "La Belle France".
23) Mystery or noir?
My favorite mysteries are by Bartholomew Gill, who I actually knew before his untimely death. They are about Ireland.
24) Science Fiction?
Seeing as how I've already name-checked "Dune," I will go with "The Martian Chronicles".
25) Who is your favorite writer?
I have several. People you should know about (heavy emphasis on modern): Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, Garth Nix, Charlie Stross, Cory Doctorow, China Miéville.
26) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephanie Myer. At least Dan Brown holds my interest. (I was tempted to say JK Rowling after that miserable attempt at Book Seven fanfic, but then I remembered the first three.)
27) What are you reading right now?
"Wizard's First Rule"
"Bones of Faerie"
"Ritual Practice in Modern Japan"
"Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination"
"Japanese Love Hotels: A Cultural History"
"Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation"
"The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture"
"Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan: Dislocating the Salaryman Doxa"
(can you tell I'm doing research?)
Forgot to mention that I stole this from
dokkaebi