55-question book meme (aka Distraction! Chaka-Khan!)
Trust little_tristan to bring something delightfully bookish and distracty to the table. I am entirely here for that this morning.
1. Favourite childhood book?
The Westing Game
2. What are you reading right now?
Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
The Reckoning by Jane Casey
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None
4. Bad book habit?
I dog-ear at an Olympic level
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Oh dear. Well, here we go:
The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black
The River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw
Urban Flow: Bike Messengers and the City by Jeffrey L. Kidder
Marcia Muller and the female private eye : essays on the novels that defined a subgenre / edited by Alexander N. Howe and Christine A. Jackson
Old Louisiana plantation homes and family trees / by Herman de Bachellé Seebold
6. Do you have an e-reader?
Yes (Two, technically)
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
One at a time
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I read more recommendations from friends.
9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)
A Darkness More Than Night, by Michael Connelly
10. Favourite book you've read this year?
Redshirts, by John Scalzi
The Drowning City, by Amanda Downum (favorite re-read)
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Rarely. Basically I'm dragged when necessary.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Everything except animal stories and epistolary novels.
13. Can you read on the bus?
Do you enjoy being thrown up on?
14. Favourite place to read?
My giant bed, covered in dogs.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
Only to three people outside my house.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Hell yes.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No! *faints*
18. Not even with text books?
I'm much more fond of highlighters. Like 2-3 colors of highlighter
19. What is your favourite language to read in?
English
20. What makes you love a book?
A nice font (no brown ink on cream paper), pleasing paper choice, nice endpapers, sewn binding rather than glued, and I prefer cloth to leather covers.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I find a book that I know will interest someone I routinely talk books with. My book-rec genie powers are scarily accurate.
22. Favourite genre?
Crime thrillers.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Non-US history
24. Favourite biography?
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, by Brendan Mullen
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Nope
26. Favourite cookbook?
The Soup Peddler's Slow and Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveries, by David Ansel
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
28. Favourite reading snack?
I don't eat while reading, but Sea Salt Vegan Chips might change that
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
The Professionals by Owen Laukkenen. Highly touted by publisher and my editor over at Crime Factory, both of whom, I suspect, were sorely disappointed by my reaction to the book. The book was exceptionally not good.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Rarely
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
For me there's a big difference between a bad review and a negative review. A bad review is: "This book sucked!" It's also: "This book rocked!" because neither statement contain objective information about the book. But I don't feel in the least bit bad about giving negative critical reviews, pointing out why I personally found a book problematic or lacking, citing examples from the text to support my thesis and drawing on comparisons with other works in the field to make my point.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Hebrew. I have like, a 3 year old's reading level right now. It's sad.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
House of Leaves? Does that count? Because I wound up not reading it.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
N/A. If I don't want to read a book, I'm not gonna. Life is too short.
35. Favourite poet?
Daphne Gottlieb
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Way too many
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
All the time. It's a function of how much time I have to browse in a library pre-checkout. And that's almost never enough.
38. Favourite fictional character?
Serge Storms
39. Favourite fictional villain?
Doctor Imposible, from Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible
40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
As many as I can carry, as it's unlikely I'd enjoy reading on an e-reader just because I'm on vacation.
41. The longest I've gone without reading.
Maybe a week. Fucking dayjob.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
So many. If it has a dog in it, I'm not likely to finish. If it has outright animal cruelty in it, there's a good chance I'll back over it with the car.
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Dogs needing wees.
44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?
The Haunting
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
The David Suchet version of Peril at End House made me throw things.
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Does Subterranean Press' website count? Or ebay?
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
I totally cheat to find out about potential dog situations.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
See above, where I grab keys to the Subaru. Although I got halfway through Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook, and the two protagonists have to pretend to be married, for plot, and that is one of my least favorite devices ever.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Yes, but no one understands the system.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
KEEP
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
World War Z.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Charged with Guilt, by Gloria White. It's the 3rd book in a mystery series I really liked, but the author's depiction of a developmentally disabled person made my skin crawl.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
Drift, by Jon McGoran
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
The Treatment by Mo Hayder (vroom vroom!)
55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
All reading is pleasure, but when my brain wants to go doolally, which is what I suspect this question's really trying to get at, I bust out the inspirational romances.
1. Favourite childhood book?
The Westing Game
2. What are you reading right now?
Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
The Reckoning by Jane Casey
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None
4. Bad book habit?
I dog-ear at an Olympic level
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Oh dear. Well, here we go:
The Drowning House by Elizabeth Black
The River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw
Urban Flow: Bike Messengers and the City by Jeffrey L. Kidder
Marcia Muller and the female private eye : essays on the novels that defined a subgenre / edited by Alexander N. Howe and Christine A. Jackson
Old Louisiana plantation homes and family trees / by Herman de Bachellé Seebold
6. Do you have an e-reader?
Yes (Two, technically)
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
One at a time
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I read more recommendations from friends.
9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)
A Darkness More Than Night, by Michael Connelly
10. Favourite book you've read this year?
Redshirts, by John Scalzi
The Drowning City, by Amanda Downum (favorite re-read)
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Rarely. Basically I'm dragged when necessary.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Everything except animal stories and epistolary novels.
13. Can you read on the bus?
Do you enjoy being thrown up on?
14. Favourite place to read?
My giant bed, covered in dogs.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
Only to three people outside my house.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Hell yes.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No! *faints*
18. Not even with text books?
I'm much more fond of highlighters. Like 2-3 colors of highlighter
19. What is your favourite language to read in?
English
20. What makes you love a book?
A nice font (no brown ink on cream paper), pleasing paper choice, nice endpapers, sewn binding rather than glued, and I prefer cloth to leather covers.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I find a book that I know will interest someone I routinely talk books with. My book-rec genie powers are scarily accurate.
22. Favourite genre?
Crime thrillers.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Non-US history
24. Favourite biography?
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, by Brendan Mullen
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Nope
26. Favourite cookbook?
The Soup Peddler's Slow and Difficult Soups: Recipes and Reveries, by David Ansel
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
28. Favourite reading snack?
I don't eat while reading, but Sea Salt Vegan Chips might change that
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
The Professionals by Owen Laukkenen. Highly touted by publisher and my editor over at Crime Factory, both of whom, I suspect, were sorely disappointed by my reaction to the book. The book was exceptionally not good.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Rarely
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
For me there's a big difference between a bad review and a negative review. A bad review is: "This book sucked!" It's also: "This book rocked!" because neither statement contain objective information about the book. But I don't feel in the least bit bad about giving negative critical reviews, pointing out why I personally found a book problematic or lacking, citing examples from the text to support my thesis and drawing on comparisons with other works in the field to make my point.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Hebrew. I have like, a 3 year old's reading level right now. It's sad.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
House of Leaves? Does that count? Because I wound up not reading it.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
N/A. If I don't want to read a book, I'm not gonna. Life is too short.
35. Favourite poet?
Daphne Gottlieb
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Way too many
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
All the time. It's a function of how much time I have to browse in a library pre-checkout. And that's almost never enough.
38. Favourite fictional character?
Serge Storms
39. Favourite fictional villain?
Doctor Imposible, from Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible
40. Books I'm most likely to bring on vacation?
As many as I can carry, as it's unlikely I'd enjoy reading on an e-reader just because I'm on vacation.
41. The longest I've gone without reading.
Maybe a week. Fucking dayjob.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
So many. If it has a dog in it, I'm not likely to finish. If it has outright animal cruelty in it, there's a good chance I'll back over it with the car.
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Dogs needing wees.
44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?
The Haunting
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
The David Suchet version of Peril at End House made me throw things.
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Does Subterranean Press' website count? Or ebay?
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
I totally cheat to find out about potential dog situations.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
See above, where I grab keys to the Subaru. Although I got halfway through Heart of Steel by Meljean Brook, and the two protagonists have to pretend to be married, for plot, and that is one of my least favorite devices ever.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Yes, but no one understands the system.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
KEEP
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
World War Z.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Charged with Guilt, by Gloria White. It's the 3rd book in a mystery series I really liked, but the author's depiction of a developmentally disabled person made my skin crawl.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
Drift, by Jon McGoran
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
The Treatment by Mo Hayder (vroom vroom!)
55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
All reading is pleasure, but when my brain wants to go doolally, which is what I suspect this question's really trying to get at, I bust out the inspirational romances.