Book meme
Stolen from quidditchkiss
Okay, I got a little ramlby in places here, so bear with me. Also, I would apologize for how much I talk about Sherlock Holmes, but I'm not ashamed! However, I do apologize for not italicizing titles. Too much HTML to deal with!
1. Favorite childhood book? Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It’s still my second favorite book of all time and it still makes me cry when I re-read it (which is often).
2. What are you reading right now? The Complete Sherlock Holmes: Volume 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (currently on The Valley of Fear), Follow by Floyd McClung, Dance Anatomy by Jaqui Greene Haas, and The Maffetone Method by Dr. Philip Maffetone
3. What books do you have on request at the library? None. I much prefer to buy books and keep them forever, especially since I often buy them and then leave them on a shelf for a few months before reading them. I do wish I used libraries more, because I want to support them. They just don’t really fit with my book-reading habits. :(
4. Bad book habit? Ha, I think I just answered this. I buy books and then forget to read them, so I end up with a list of 20+ books to read. Then, as I knock some off the list, I keep adding more!
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Nothing.
6. Do you have an e-reader? No, and I don’t want one. I would rather (a) support the traditional publishing industry and (b) have a library full of the books I’ve collected over the course of my life.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? Several at once. But there are times like recently, with The Hunger Games, where I’ll get hooked on something and read it in a couple of days, forsaking all others, then I’ll go back to juggling many books at once.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? I read more things on the recommendations of my f-list. For a while there, almost all of my reading was fanfic, but I’ve gone back to books more than fic now.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) Since the year is new, I’m using last year. Probably Good Omens, for reasons I’ll go into later (see question 29).
10. Favorite book you've read this year? Again, I’m using last year. The Sherlock Holmes series has been phenomenal. I love Conan Doyle’s writing style, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, characters, and I love the two Holmes and Watson. They’re just so amazing and wonderful. Gah, I can’t say enough about this series. If you haven’t read an SH story, get on that.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not terribly often. I’m incredibly visual when I read - I see what I’m reading very vividly. Because of this, I usually don’t venture into much violent or creepy literature. Even The Hunger Games was a little much for me at times.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? (Shouldn’t this question have come before the last one?) I love YA fiction, futuristic dystopias, some sci-fi/fantasy, classic literature of all sorts, and fiction over nonfiction.
13. Can you read on the bus? I used to in college, when I took the bus. Now I get motion sick, but I have listened to audiobooks a bit. (P.S. Stephen Fry reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of my best purchases of anything ever.)
14. Favorite place to read? Curled up on the couch or lying in bed.
15. What is your policy on book lending? I don’t mind lending to people I trust. I’m a terrible borrower myself. That whole thing where I buy books and forget about them for months? Yeah, I do that with borrowed books, too. Oops.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books? Nope.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Not really. Every now and then if I read spiritual books and something stands out to me, I’ll underline it, but that’s about it.
18. Not even with text books? No, I’m one of those people who would rather have a new book than a used one at half price if it was covered in notes and highlighting. I would flip through every used book at the bookstore, looking for the least marked-up one. So I kept my books pristine to help out the next kid like me. We anal types gotta stick together.
19. What is your favorite language to read in? Actually, I LOVED reading Ancient Greek when I was in college. It was so much fun to translate and discuss, especially the Bible. Other than that, I only read in English. :)
20. What makes you love a book? Unique, 3-dimensional characters; a well-developed and unpredictable plot; realistic dialogue; elements of humor; and a not-unhappy ending. I don’t need a happy ending, but if everyone dies at the end, unless it’s done in an incredible, poignant way, I’m probably not going to like it as much as if it had an uplifting ending. (Case in point: The Time Traveler’s Wife. Didn’t like the ending, so it made me kind of not like the book as a whole.)
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If I love the author, the characters, and/or the writing style. I tend to be honest in my book recommendations, like, “It slows down for a couple of chapters in the middle, but the ending is amazing!” I’ve been a victim of overhyped books that failed to meet my expectations, so I try not to do the same to others.
22. Favorite genre? I really kind of love dystopian futures. The Hunger Games, The Uglies Trilogy, Ender’s Game, Fahrenheit 451, 1984... I love it all. I like a lot of classic literature, too, but that’s so vague and generic. So yeah, I guess I’ll say dystopian futures.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) I wish I liked nonfiction more. I tend to read in order to get lost in a story and to get enraptured by characters. But unless it’s something like a cookbook or a dance book (something that will directly influence my life), I have a hard time getting into nonfiction.
24. Favorite biography? LOL, didn’t you just see what I said about nonfiction? I have no idea whose biography I’ve even read, let alone loved!
25. Have you ever read a self-help book? Not really. I’ve read some “inspirational” books that I often find helpful to my life, though.
26. Favorite cookbook? I’m Just Here for More Food by Alton Brown - his baking book that totally changed the way I bake. So many fabulous recipes.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? The Sherlock Holmes series inspires me to be awesome?
28. Favorite reading snack? Tea! I don’t generally eat while I read because I hate getting crumbs down into the spine between the pages. Seriously, it’s a weird pet peeve of mine.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. Good Omens. So many people told me how amazing and hilarious and wonderful it was, so I got it on their recommendations. Well, I enjoyed the first part, up until Adam is a kid. Then the plot just slowed down like crazy and I found myself getting easily bored. I did find a few parts of it hilarious, and I really liked what it had to say about the human condition and religion. But as far as the plot and the characters, I just found it to be odd and not deserving of the rave reviews I heard from friends. If I had just gone into it blind, I probably would have liked it better. *shrug*
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? I don’t usually read critics’ reviews. I’ll sometimes read Amazon.com user reviews, but that’s about it.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I’ll be honest about books, whether I loved or hated them. I’ll tell you what I liked and what I didn’t, and I won’t be ashamed of it.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? I wish I could be more fluent in Ancient Greek so I could read Homer and Plato and the Bible in their original languages.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? The Silmarillion. Oh man, I tried so hard to read that book when I finished LOTR in high school. I think I got about 5 pages in (several times, because I kept forgetting what I’d read) before I finally gave up. I just couldn’t do it, guys!
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Oh, well, I guess the Silmarillion would fit better here. So, going back to the previous question, the most intimidating book I’ve ever actually finished? I guess I’d say The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. I took a Chaucer class in college, and I went into it dreading having to learn Middle English enough to understand it. But I ended up loving the class, the professor, and the Tales. I wrote one of my favorite, best-written college papers for that class.
35. Favorite Poet? John Donne. His Holy Sonnets are some of the most amazing poems I’ve ever read. I connect with them on a very deep level in many ways.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? Sadly, I don’t use the library much. The last time I did was to read Harry Potter( books 3-5). I got them all together and read them in less than a week.
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? Well, if I used the library, I would all the time!
38. Favorite fictional character? Sherlock Holmes is up there right now. I kind of adore everything about his arrogant, self-indulgent ass. Watson’s pretty fabulous, too. I will also always and forever love Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia.
39. Favorite fictional villain? IT from A Wrinkle in Time. IT still gives me the creeps, especially what IT does to Charles Wallace.
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? Something I can read for a long stretch if I’m flying somewhere, like the Sherlock Holmes collection or something I’ve read before and know I’ll love. If I get stuck on a flight with a dull book, I weep inside. I don’t do a whole lot of reading when I’m on vacation, though. I like spending time with people and doing fun things I wouldn’t be able to do at home.
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading. There was a long stretch there in college, probably about 5-6 months, where I was so consumed with school work and burned out from reading (I was an English major so I read for school all the time) that I didn’t do ANY reading for pleasure.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. Revolutionary Road. I bought it to read before the movie came out, but it was so depressing! I couldn’t get into it. And then someone spoiled the ending for me, so I lost all desire to read it. I still have it, though, and I may go back to it someday.
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Voices. If there are words being spoken, I have a hard time focusing on the words I’m trying to read. I can deal with instrumental music, but not music with lyrics and definitely not TV or people talking in the background.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Kenneth Branaugh’s Hamlet (not a novel, but I’m counting it), and the 1995 BBC Miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. Oh, and Stardust. It’s one of my favorite movies!
45. Most disappointing film adaptation? HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. That book is so epic and that movie could not hold a candle to it.
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? Not including college textbooks, probably around $70. I don’t buy too many books at once, usually, since I have so many at home I need to read first!
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? Eh, it depends. If it’s a classic or something I’ve been meaning to read, I’ll just get it without flipping through. If it’s something I’m not sure about or something I’ve never heard of that looks interesting, I’ll usually read the first few pages. The majority of the books I buy fall into the first category, though, so I guess the answer is: not very often.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Boredom, bad writing, getting distracted by real life or a better book.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized? I try to, but I need another bookshelf. Right now they are organized roughly alphabetically by author in categories: fiction and literature, YA/children’s fiction, nonfiction/reference, nonfiction spiritual, Harry Potter. (Yes, the HP stuff gets its own shelf. That’s how much of it there is.)
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? KEEP THEM. I’m going to end up on Hoarders one day with a house full of books.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought it because I was curious about it, but then I heard bad things about it. It’s near the bottom of my reading priorities right now.
52. Name a book that made you angry. The Twilight series. For so many, many reasons.
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I read The Scarlet Letter in high school and really didn’t like it, so I wasn’t expecting much from this novel that I was assigned in college. But I ended up loving it and writing a cool paper on it. I still have my college bookstore copy!
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? The Time Traveler’s Wife. I liked large parts of it, but it took a very dark turn about 2/3 of the way through and I really struggled with the last 50 pages or so.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? Sherlock Holmes. I get so wrapped up in those stories that time FLIES by and I come up dazed to be in 21st-century America, not 19th-century London!
Okay, I got a little ramlby in places here, so bear with me. Also, I would apologize for how much I talk about Sherlock Holmes, but I'm not ashamed! However, I do apologize for not italicizing titles. Too much HTML to deal with!
1. Favorite childhood book? Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It’s still my second favorite book of all time and it still makes me cry when I re-read it (which is often).
2. What are you reading right now? The Complete Sherlock Holmes: Volume 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (currently on The Valley of Fear), Follow by Floyd McClung, Dance Anatomy by Jaqui Greene Haas, and The Maffetone Method by Dr. Philip Maffetone
3. What books do you have on request at the library? None. I much prefer to buy books and keep them forever, especially since I often buy them and then leave them on a shelf for a few months before reading them. I do wish I used libraries more, because I want to support them. They just don’t really fit with my book-reading habits. :(
4. Bad book habit? Ha, I think I just answered this. I buy books and then forget to read them, so I end up with a list of 20+ books to read. Then, as I knock some off the list, I keep adding more!
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Nothing.
6. Do you have an e-reader? No, and I don’t want one. I would rather (a) support the traditional publishing industry and (b) have a library full of the books I’ve collected over the course of my life.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? Several at once. But there are times like recently, with The Hunger Games, where I’ll get hooked on something and read it in a couple of days, forsaking all others, then I’ll go back to juggling many books at once.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? I read more things on the recommendations of my f-list. For a while there, almost all of my reading was fanfic, but I’ve gone back to books more than fic now.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) Since the year is new, I’m using last year. Probably Good Omens, for reasons I’ll go into later (see question 29).
10. Favorite book you've read this year? Again, I’m using last year. The Sherlock Holmes series has been phenomenal. I love Conan Doyle’s writing style, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, characters, and I love the two Holmes and Watson. They’re just so amazing and wonderful. Gah, I can’t say enough about this series. If you haven’t read an SH story, get on that.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? Not terribly often. I’m incredibly visual when I read - I see what I’m reading very vividly. Because of this, I usually don’t venture into much violent or creepy literature. Even The Hunger Games was a little much for me at times.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? (Shouldn’t this question have come before the last one?) I love YA fiction, futuristic dystopias, some sci-fi/fantasy, classic literature of all sorts, and fiction over nonfiction.
13. Can you read on the bus? I used to in college, when I took the bus. Now I get motion sick, but I have listened to audiobooks a bit. (P.S. Stephen Fry reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of my best purchases of anything ever.)
14. Favorite place to read? Curled up on the couch or lying in bed.
15. What is your policy on book lending? I don’t mind lending to people I trust. I’m a terrible borrower myself. That whole thing where I buy books and forget about them for months? Yeah, I do that with borrowed books, too. Oops.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books? Nope.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Not really. Every now and then if I read spiritual books and something stands out to me, I’ll underline it, but that’s about it.
18. Not even with text books? No, I’m one of those people who would rather have a new book than a used one at half price if it was covered in notes and highlighting. I would flip through every used book at the bookstore, looking for the least marked-up one. So I kept my books pristine to help out the next kid like me. We anal types gotta stick together.
19. What is your favorite language to read in? Actually, I LOVED reading Ancient Greek when I was in college. It was so much fun to translate and discuss, especially the Bible. Other than that, I only read in English. :)
20. What makes you love a book? Unique, 3-dimensional characters; a well-developed and unpredictable plot; realistic dialogue; elements of humor; and a not-unhappy ending. I don’t need a happy ending, but if everyone dies at the end, unless it’s done in an incredible, poignant way, I’m probably not going to like it as much as if it had an uplifting ending. (Case in point: The Time Traveler’s Wife. Didn’t like the ending, so it made me kind of not like the book as a whole.)
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If I love the author, the characters, and/or the writing style. I tend to be honest in my book recommendations, like, “It slows down for a couple of chapters in the middle, but the ending is amazing!” I’ve been a victim of overhyped books that failed to meet my expectations, so I try not to do the same to others.
22. Favorite genre? I really kind of love dystopian futures. The Hunger Games, The Uglies Trilogy, Ender’s Game, Fahrenheit 451, 1984... I love it all. I like a lot of classic literature, too, but that’s so vague and generic. So yeah, I guess I’ll say dystopian futures.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) I wish I liked nonfiction more. I tend to read in order to get lost in a story and to get enraptured by characters. But unless it’s something like a cookbook or a dance book (something that will directly influence my life), I have a hard time getting into nonfiction.
24. Favorite biography? LOL, didn’t you just see what I said about nonfiction? I have no idea whose biography I’ve even read, let alone loved!
25. Have you ever read a self-help book? Not really. I’ve read some “inspirational” books that I often find helpful to my life, though.
26. Favorite cookbook? I’m Just Here for More Food by Alton Brown - his baking book that totally changed the way I bake. So many fabulous recipes.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? The Sherlock Holmes series inspires me to be awesome?
28. Favorite reading snack? Tea! I don’t generally eat while I read because I hate getting crumbs down into the spine between the pages. Seriously, it’s a weird pet peeve of mine.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. Good Omens. So many people told me how amazing and hilarious and wonderful it was, so I got it on their recommendations. Well, I enjoyed the first part, up until Adam is a kid. Then the plot just slowed down like crazy and I found myself getting easily bored. I did find a few parts of it hilarious, and I really liked what it had to say about the human condition and religion. But as far as the plot and the characters, I just found it to be odd and not deserving of the rave reviews I heard from friends. If I had just gone into it blind, I probably would have liked it better. *shrug*
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? I don’t usually read critics’ reviews. I’ll sometimes read Amazon.com user reviews, but that’s about it.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? I’ll be honest about books, whether I loved or hated them. I’ll tell you what I liked and what I didn’t, and I won’t be ashamed of it.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? I wish I could be more fluent in Ancient Greek so I could read Homer and Plato and the Bible in their original languages.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? The Silmarillion. Oh man, I tried so hard to read that book when I finished LOTR in high school. I think I got about 5 pages in (several times, because I kept forgetting what I’d read) before I finally gave up. I just couldn’t do it, guys!
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Oh, well, I guess the Silmarillion would fit better here. So, going back to the previous question, the most intimidating book I’ve ever actually finished? I guess I’d say The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. I took a Chaucer class in college, and I went into it dreading having to learn Middle English enough to understand it. But I ended up loving the class, the professor, and the Tales. I wrote one of my favorite, best-written college papers for that class.
35. Favorite Poet? John Donne. His Holy Sonnets are some of the most amazing poems I’ve ever read. I connect with them on a very deep level in many ways.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? Sadly, I don’t use the library much. The last time I did was to read Harry Potter( books 3-5). I got them all together and read them in less than a week.
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? Well, if I used the library, I would all the time!
38. Favorite fictional character? Sherlock Holmes is up there right now. I kind of adore everything about his arrogant, self-indulgent ass. Watson’s pretty fabulous, too. I will also always and forever love Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia.
39. Favorite fictional villain? IT from A Wrinkle in Time. IT still gives me the creeps, especially what IT does to Charles Wallace.
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? Something I can read for a long stretch if I’m flying somewhere, like the Sherlock Holmes collection or something I’ve read before and know I’ll love. If I get stuck on a flight with a dull book, I weep inside. I don’t do a whole lot of reading when I’m on vacation, though. I like spending time with people and doing fun things I wouldn’t be able to do at home.
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading. There was a long stretch there in college, probably about 5-6 months, where I was so consumed with school work and burned out from reading (I was an English major so I read for school all the time) that I didn’t do ANY reading for pleasure.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. Revolutionary Road. I bought it to read before the movie came out, but it was so depressing! I couldn’t get into it. And then someone spoiled the ending for me, so I lost all desire to read it. I still have it, though, and I may go back to it someday.
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Voices. If there are words being spoken, I have a hard time focusing on the words I’m trying to read. I can deal with instrumental music, but not music with lyrics and definitely not TV or people talking in the background.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel? The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Kenneth Branaugh’s Hamlet (not a novel, but I’m counting it), and the 1995 BBC Miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. Oh, and Stardust. It’s one of my favorite movies!
45. Most disappointing film adaptation? HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. That book is so epic and that movie could not hold a candle to it.
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? Not including college textbooks, probably around $70. I don’t buy too many books at once, usually, since I have so many at home I need to read first!
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? Eh, it depends. If it’s a classic or something I’ve been meaning to read, I’ll just get it without flipping through. If it’s something I’m not sure about or something I’ve never heard of that looks interesting, I’ll usually read the first few pages. The majority of the books I buy fall into the first category, though, so I guess the answer is: not very often.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Boredom, bad writing, getting distracted by real life or a better book.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized? I try to, but I need another bookshelf. Right now they are organized roughly alphabetically by author in categories: fiction and literature, YA/children’s fiction, nonfiction/reference, nonfiction spiritual, Harry Potter. (Yes, the HP stuff gets its own shelf. That’s how much of it there is.)
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? KEEP THEM. I’m going to end up on Hoarders one day with a house full of books.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I bought it because I was curious about it, but then I heard bad things about it. It’s near the bottom of my reading priorities right now.
52. Name a book that made you angry. The Twilight series. For so many, many reasons.
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I read The Scarlet Letter in high school and really didn’t like it, so I wasn’t expecting much from this novel that I was assigned in college. But I ended up loving it and writing a cool paper on it. I still have my college bookstore copy!
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? The Time Traveler’s Wife. I liked large parts of it, but it took a very dark turn about 2/3 of the way through and I really struggled with the last 50 pages or so.
55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? Sherlock Holmes. I get so wrapped up in those stories that time FLIES by and I come up dazed to be in 21st-century America, not 19th-century London!