I had nothing to do, or so I told myself.
Nice book meme you have there, tindomerel. Would be a shame if someone stole it.
1. Favorite childhood book?
This is a tough one, because I was a bookish child and absolutely loved reading. It could be Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita (The stories and legends of Finnish people) and especially the story called "Blue Cross, or Alderstump". It has the usual fairy tale theme where three heroes defeat three dragons, but the differences to the usual stuff are that a) the main hero really is a piece of wood that came to life after his mother went a bit gaga over not having children and began to treat a log as if it were a baby. B) The heroes show their heroism by how much straight alcohol they can drink in one go. C) The main hero defeats the dragon by shouting "Dragon look at what those strange men are doing to your wife!" and when it turns around he cuts its head off. D) None of the three heroes accept any of the usual prizes of heroic deeds - the three princesses and a heap of gold - they just take ten pieces of gold each that'll pay their trip back home. :D
Or it could be Kellokukkakello (Bellflowerclock, but you prolly see what a lol!pun she put in the Finnish name: kello means both bell and clock in Finnish) by Kaarina Helakisa, or Lumottu ruusu (Enchanted rose) by the same author. These two books deal with rather heavy topics such as aging, death, continuity of life and bear with them a circular idea of time - that the same thing more or less keeps repeating, we're born, we grow up, we have children, bring them up and then we die and that's it, thank you for playing!
Or it could be The Exploits of Moominpapa by Tove Jansson, I'm sure I don't have to go into details on how this one isn't your typical children's book either. :D
Btw the reason I had such special snowflake-y reading material as a child was more or less due to my grandmother who liked to get me somewhat strange reading material. Bless her soul she had a wonderful taste.
2. What are you reading right now?
A thick pile of Icelandic sagas, but also Gamlinginn sem skreið út um gluggann og hvarf (Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann) by Jonas Jonasson. It's a suitably light summer read to balance out all of the "Chop down a man and another!" that I'm otherwise immersed in.
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None at the moment.
4. Bad book habit?
I tend to leave them open face down on the page I was reading. I also tend to forget to return library books. -.-
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
None - I've bought most of my current reading material, on account of that being easy and cheap to find in Iceland! :D
6. Do you have an e-reader?
No, but holy shat I want one!
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
This depends entirely on the book. If it's a really captivating one I won't be even glancing at any other, but if it's just reading something for fun/studying I can handle reading up to five. Any more than that and I start forgetting where I left the plot at.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Weeeeeeeeeeellllll ok I admit I became a rather sad case of fanfic fanatic.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Sjálfstætt fólk (Independent People) by Halldor Laxness. Saying this aloud would get me some rather cold looks quickly but in my opinion this is not one of Laxness' best - nothing against the author here, just that this book of his has never pulled me in. I've read it three times by now and every time I've more or less forced myself through endless dialogue that seems to be getting nowhere and an annoying main character whose only saving grace is that despite being portrayed as your perfect Byronic hero (hi icecreambat), Laxness makes it blatantly obvious that this behaviour of his destroys everything around him.
10. Favorite book you've read this year?
Salka Valka, by the same author as above Halldor Laxness. I used it to counter the annoyance of having to read Sjálfstætt fólk.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Sadly often because that's what university studies mean.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
It's rather wide. The books that don't belong to it are all somehow non-sincere, like 101 Reykjavík by Hallgrímur Helgason or Konur (Women) by Steinar Bragi. The first one has an anti-hero main character that's written pointedly awful, as if the author was trying to cause a scandal with him - oh looooook he's giving cigarettes to a small child ommmmmggggg!!! By the way, it worked: this book really did cause a small scandal because of that character.
Konur falls for the same. It's a story that could have been really great if it didn't play so much with the sweet smell of scandalized audience. Besides this Konur tries to be too many things at the same time: it tries to be a thriller, a mystery, a horror book, a fairy tale and artsy as hell, and achieves none of these. Or should I say it gets a good start with one theme and drops it before you get in the mood of it... pretentious book is all that I remember of it. Btw this one also managed to scandalize people and the author was labeled a misogynist for writing in a rape scene! Halldor Laxness might be turning in his grave.
13. Can you read on the bus?
For a short time, yes, but I get easily motion sick if I do.
14. Favorite place to read?
Sofa.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
No, unless someone's offering to lend me one. Then I'm a-ok with it! :D
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
...yes.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No, but I find it hilarious if I happen across a library book that has someone's opinions scribbled on.
18. Not even with text books?
Look, we have notebooks for a reason. Besides you get a better price out of a non-scribbled text book.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
Don't have one.
20. What makes you love a book?
The atmosphere in it. I want to know, first and foremost, in which kind of a surroundings the story is happening in. I don't care much for elaborate dialogue, if anything it bores my socks off. I do want to get a handful of clues as to how certain characters are viewing the world and what they might be thinking, but I don't want to be told it word by word.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
This is a tricky one since I rarely recommend books. Not that I couldn't, but reading is such a personal experience that it's hard to figure out exactly what kind of material a certain person would find enjoyable. Besides I know from experience that reading something someone's eagerly recommended me to read is totally hit and miss stuff and that chances are that I won't find the same thing in that book as they did.
22. Favorite genre?
I would say fairy tales and horror. SciFi. Fantasy, historical stuff.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Icelandic grammar wait that's not a genre.
24. Favorite biography?
I'm going to be really embarrassing and admit it's Walk This Way. Er, it's about Aerosmith and... let's leave it at that.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
I'm not exactly sure what would count. Possibly, probably.
26. Favorite cookbook?
My mom's collection of recipes - it includes everything from family recipes to stuff she found in magazines and clipped off and added in.
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
It's not a book but a short story called Tilbury by Þórarinn Eldjárn. It pulls off everything Konur tried to and does so with masterful ease and with far less words too. It's a mystery - what is up with this girl the main character used to know, why has she changed so much? It's a thriller because clearly things are heading to a bad direction if he cannot find out soon enough. It's a fairy tale for obvious reasons and a horror story for other, equally obvious ones. It's also artsy as hell but for all the good reasons. Besides this it's also an interesting window into life in the WW2 era Iceland during the occupation.
It's been made into a horror movie too by the way! I'd say by what I've seen it's one of the weirdest, brain-fuckiest film ever. Have a tastie:
The song is by the band Tilbury and it uses footage from the film as the whole music video.
28. Favorite reading snack?
Nothing if tea doesn't count.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Hype has very little effect on my reading experiences, but I could say that The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was made even worse by people frothing about how awesome the book was. Added up to the disappointment, sort of thing.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I rarely read critics, but the obvious answer is that I agree with them when I agree with them. When I feel strongly about a book no amount of telling me otherwise is going to turn my head.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Er. Superior, haughty, entitled are the first feels that come to mind. I'd love to say something else but the truth is that if I'm not careful I turn into a stuck-up prick when I'm giving bad reviews, just read the ones above to see what I mean.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Something with a different alphabet - Japanese, Chinese, Arabic.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Again, not a book but a short story called Boogeyman by Stephen King. I can't even explain why it scared me so badly - it was something about the dilemma of who killed the children. Was it really a supernatural monster or was it actually their own father who went totally cray cray.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
I can't think of any? Koko kansan Johanna?
35. Favorite poet?
Eino Leino, Aleksis Kivi, Hulda, Vatnsenda-Rósa, Steinn Steinarr, Rainer Maria Rilke, Mervyn Peake... this list could becomes really long so I'll just snip it here ok.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Way too many. And then I'll forget to return them all.
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
Rarely.
38. Favorite fictional character?
Almost any character of Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake.
39. Favorite fictional villain?
Steerpike of Gormenghast, again because he's that Byronian hero type but the author shows him through the eyes of other characters that have to live with him somehow. So you know, you see how his deception works on them and how well it does, and what means he uses on whom, but you'll never, ever really start idolizing him as you read. If anything he makes you feel massively uncomfortable for all the right reasons.
40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
Something light. Arto Paasilinna's Suloinen Myrkynkeittäjä (The lovely poison maker) comes to mind. Then again I'm also a big fan of old adventure books for young boys like Missä on Paititin maa? (Where is the land of Paititi?) by Mauno Pelkonen and everything Jules Verne wrote.
41. The longest I've gone without reading.
I can't remember any such time. I'm always reading something.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. Again I show my bad taste and snottiness but that book was just. so. boring.
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Noises, the sudden realization that I had to go somewhere and I've no idea how long I've taken reading a book instead.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Lumikuningatar (The Snow Queen).
Ok this trailer is just plain hilarious at times. :D
Hahah, Snu just said "Well the most successful one would be 101 Reykjavík" and it's true, the book was plain annoying but somehow the movie made out of it was rather good! :D
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Can I say the newer Miss Marple series even though it's not a film but a tv-series? They've gone and tried to make it somehow more... American. Hollywood. Which of course goes against the whole character and the feel of Agatha Christie's books. The older tv-series however, no complaints about that what so ever. That one'll always be the real Jane Marple to me.
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I have no idea.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Hardly ever.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Getting bored by it.
49. Do you like to keep your books organised?
I have left that to the books themselves. Except that the large books go on the middle shelf cause they won't fit on any other ones.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
I have a bad habit of hanging onto my books tooth and nail, even to those that I've found boring.
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
50 Shades of Grey, no doubt.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Gæludýr (Pets) by Bragi Ólafsson. I wanted to drag the main character out from under his bed and give him a good wallop.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
The Hunger games.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. Nagst!Harry was massively annoying.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
I don't really feel guilty about reading anything, even if it's fanfiction or comics so... anything!
1. Favorite childhood book?
This is a tough one, because I was a bookish child and absolutely loved reading. It could be Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita (The stories and legends of Finnish people) and especially the story called "Blue Cross, or Alderstump". It has the usual fairy tale theme where three heroes defeat three dragons, but the differences to the usual stuff are that a) the main hero really is a piece of wood that came to life after his mother went a bit gaga over not having children and began to treat a log as if it were a baby. B) The heroes show their heroism by how much straight alcohol they can drink in one go. C) The main hero defeats the dragon by shouting "Dragon look at what those strange men are doing to your wife!" and when it turns around he cuts its head off. D) None of the three heroes accept any of the usual prizes of heroic deeds - the three princesses and a heap of gold - they just take ten pieces of gold each that'll pay their trip back home. :D
Or it could be Kellokukkakello (Bellflowerclock, but you prolly see what a lol!pun she put in the Finnish name: kello means both bell and clock in Finnish) by Kaarina Helakisa, or Lumottu ruusu (Enchanted rose) by the same author. These two books deal with rather heavy topics such as aging, death, continuity of life and bear with them a circular idea of time - that the same thing more or less keeps repeating, we're born, we grow up, we have children, bring them up and then we die and that's it, thank you for playing!
Or it could be The Exploits of Moominpapa by Tove Jansson, I'm sure I don't have to go into details on how this one isn't your typical children's book either. :D
Btw the reason I had such special snowflake-y reading material as a child was more or less due to my grandmother who liked to get me somewhat strange reading material. Bless her soul she had a wonderful taste.
2. What are you reading right now?
A thick pile of Icelandic sagas, but also Gamlinginn sem skreið út um gluggann og hvarf (Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann) by Jonas Jonasson. It's a suitably light summer read to balance out all of the "Chop down a man and another!" that I'm otherwise immersed in.
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None at the moment.
4. Bad book habit?
I tend to leave them open face down on the page I was reading. I also tend to forget to return library books. -.-
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
None - I've bought most of my current reading material, on account of that being easy and cheap to find in Iceland! :D
6. Do you have an e-reader?
No, but holy shat I want one!
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
This depends entirely on the book. If it's a really captivating one I won't be even glancing at any other, but if it's just reading something for fun/studying I can handle reading up to five. Any more than that and I start forgetting where I left the plot at.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Weeeeeeeeeeellllll ok I admit I became a rather sad case of fanfic fanatic.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Sjálfstætt fólk (Independent People) by Halldor Laxness. Saying this aloud would get me some rather cold looks quickly but in my opinion this is not one of Laxness' best - nothing against the author here, just that this book of his has never pulled me in. I've read it three times by now and every time I've more or less forced myself through endless dialogue that seems to be getting nowhere and an annoying main character whose only saving grace is that despite being portrayed as your perfect Byronic hero (hi icecreambat), Laxness makes it blatantly obvious that this behaviour of his destroys everything around him.
10. Favorite book you've read this year?
Salka Valka, by the same author as above Halldor Laxness. I used it to counter the annoyance of having to read Sjálfstætt fólk.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Sadly often because that's what university studies mean.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
It's rather wide. The books that don't belong to it are all somehow non-sincere, like 101 Reykjavík by Hallgrímur Helgason or Konur (Women) by Steinar Bragi. The first one has an anti-hero main character that's written pointedly awful, as if the author was trying to cause a scandal with him - oh looooook he's giving cigarettes to a small child ommmmmggggg!!! By the way, it worked: this book really did cause a small scandal because of that character.
Konur falls for the same. It's a story that could have been really great if it didn't play so much with the sweet smell of scandalized audience. Besides this Konur tries to be too many things at the same time: it tries to be a thriller, a mystery, a horror book, a fairy tale and artsy as hell, and achieves none of these. Or should I say it gets a good start with one theme and drops it before you get in the mood of it... pretentious book is all that I remember of it. Btw this one also managed to scandalize people and the author was labeled a misogynist for writing in a rape scene! Halldor Laxness might be turning in his grave.
13. Can you read on the bus?
For a short time, yes, but I get easily motion sick if I do.
14. Favorite place to read?
Sofa.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
No, unless someone's offering to lend me one. Then I'm a-ok with it! :D
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
...yes.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No, but I find it hilarious if I happen across a library book that has someone's opinions scribbled on.
18. Not even with text books?
Look, we have notebooks for a reason. Besides you get a better price out of a non-scribbled text book.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
Don't have one.
20. What makes you love a book?
The atmosphere in it. I want to know, first and foremost, in which kind of a surroundings the story is happening in. I don't care much for elaborate dialogue, if anything it bores my socks off. I do want to get a handful of clues as to how certain characters are viewing the world and what they might be thinking, but I don't want to be told it word by word.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
This is a tricky one since I rarely recommend books. Not that I couldn't, but reading is such a personal experience that it's hard to figure out exactly what kind of material a certain person would find enjoyable. Besides I know from experience that reading something someone's eagerly recommended me to read is totally hit and miss stuff and that chances are that I won't find the same thing in that book as they did.
22. Favorite genre?
I would say fairy tales and horror. SciFi. Fantasy, historical stuff.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Icelandic grammar wait that's not a genre.
24. Favorite biography?
I'm going to be really embarrassing and admit it's Walk This Way. Er, it's about Aerosmith and... let's leave it at that.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
I'm not exactly sure what would count. Possibly, probably.
26. Favorite cookbook?
My mom's collection of recipes - it includes everything from family recipes to stuff she found in magazines and clipped off and added in.
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
It's not a book but a short story called Tilbury by Þórarinn Eldjárn. It pulls off everything Konur tried to and does so with masterful ease and with far less words too. It's a mystery - what is up with this girl the main character used to know, why has she changed so much? It's a thriller because clearly things are heading to a bad direction if he cannot find out soon enough. It's a fairy tale for obvious reasons and a horror story for other, equally obvious ones. It's also artsy as hell but for all the good reasons. Besides this it's also an interesting window into life in the WW2 era Iceland during the occupation.
It's been made into a horror movie too by the way! I'd say by what I've seen it's one of the weirdest, brain-fuckiest film ever. Have a tastie:
Click to viewThe song is by the band Tilbury and it uses footage from the film as the whole music video.
28. Favorite reading snack?
Nothing if tea doesn't count.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Hype has very little effect on my reading experiences, but I could say that The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was made even worse by people frothing about how awesome the book was. Added up to the disappointment, sort of thing.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I rarely read critics, but the obvious answer is that I agree with them when I agree with them. When I feel strongly about a book no amount of telling me otherwise is going to turn my head.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
Er. Superior, haughty, entitled are the first feels that come to mind. I'd love to say something else but the truth is that if I'm not careful I turn into a stuck-up prick when I'm giving bad reviews, just read the ones above to see what I mean.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Something with a different alphabet - Japanese, Chinese, Arabic.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Again, not a book but a short story called Boogeyman by Stephen King. I can't even explain why it scared me so badly - it was something about the dilemma of who killed the children. Was it really a supernatural monster or was it actually their own father who went totally cray cray.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
I can't think of any? Koko kansan Johanna?
35. Favorite poet?
Eino Leino, Aleksis Kivi, Hulda, Vatnsenda-Rósa, Steinn Steinarr, Rainer Maria Rilke, Mervyn Peake... this list could becomes really long so I'll just snip it here ok.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Way too many. And then I'll forget to return them all.
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
Rarely.
38. Favorite fictional character?
Almost any character of Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake.
39. Favorite fictional villain?
Steerpike of Gormenghast, again because he's that Byronian hero type but the author shows him through the eyes of other characters that have to live with him somehow. So you know, you see how his deception works on them and how well it does, and what means he uses on whom, but you'll never, ever really start idolizing him as you read. If anything he makes you feel massively uncomfortable for all the right reasons.
40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
Something light. Arto Paasilinna's Suloinen Myrkynkeittäjä (The lovely poison maker) comes to mind. Then again I'm also a big fan of old adventure books for young boys like Missä on Paititin maa? (Where is the land of Paititi?) by Mauno Pelkonen and everything Jules Verne wrote.
41. The longest I've gone without reading.
I can't remember any such time. I'm always reading something.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. Again I show my bad taste and snottiness but that book was just. so. boring.
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Noises, the sudden realization that I had to go somewhere and I've no idea how long I've taken reading a book instead.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Lumikuningatar (The Snow Queen).
Ok this trailer is just plain hilarious at times. :D
Hahah, Snu just said "Well the most successful one would be 101 Reykjavík" and it's true, the book was plain annoying but somehow the movie made out of it was rather good! :D
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Can I say the newer Miss Marple series even though it's not a film but a tv-series? They've gone and tried to make it somehow more... American. Hollywood. Which of course goes against the whole character and the feel of Agatha Christie's books. The older tv-series however, no complaints about that what so ever. That one'll always be the real Jane Marple to me.
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I have no idea.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Hardly ever.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Getting bored by it.
49. Do you like to keep your books organised?
I have left that to the books themselves. Except that the large books go on the middle shelf cause they won't fit on any other ones.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
I have a bad habit of hanging onto my books tooth and nail, even to those that I've found boring.
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
50 Shades of Grey, no doubt.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Gæludýr (Pets) by Bragi Ólafsson. I wanted to drag the main character out from under his bed and give him a good wallop.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
The Hunger games.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. Nagst!Harry was massively annoying.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
I don't really feel guilty about reading anything, even if it's fanfiction or comics so... anything!