A BOOK MEME!!
+++INTRODUCTION++
1. What's your name? Mercedes
2. Do you read a lot? Fuck yes, the list of books I've read is as long as donkey's shlong
3. What's your favorite genre? Hmm, such a good question! It's changed over the years. When I was younger I only wanted to read fantasy / sci-fi. There was a reason why though, it was my form of escapism, as I grew older my tastes broadened, my knowledge of the world expanded and my confidence grew so I developed a taste for other genres.
.
+++FANTASY AND SCI-FI+++
4. Do you prefer fantasy or science fiction?
I hardly read fantasy any more. I think it's because I have solid favourite that I've grown up with and now most of them are dead (i.e. Frank Herbert, Marian Zimmer Bradley) or have severely disappointed me by making a completely STUPID remark about homosexuality (Anne McCaffery). So I moved onto sci-fi and there I found myself far more comfortable reading this genre than I did with fantasy, I felt like sci-fi was adult fantasy that could possibly, as science and technology progressed some far out ideas could become reality!
5. What's your favourite fantasy book/series? Standalone book would have to be The Last Unicorn, read it at 18 and was deeply touched by the sad beauty of it. As for series, definitely the Dune series, breathtaking in scope and depth, the shit that his son is writing is not even worthy of being used as toilet paper.
6. Who's your favourite fantasy author? I have quite a few, so here goes, Frank Herbert, MZB, Neil Gaiman and, of course, Peter S. Beagle, to name just a few!
7. What's your favourite science fiction book/series? Standalone book is a tie between Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep, Slauhterhouse Five and The Songs of Distant Earth. Series would have to be Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Aurther C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series
+++MYSTERY, HORROR, AND THRILLERS+++
9. Which do you prefer: a puzzling mystery, or a terrifying thriller? Hmm I'd have to say neither, both genres bore the fuck out of me.
10. Do you have a favourite mystery novel? Nope
11. A favourite horror novel? Hmm okay I'm going to be honest and say that as an impressionable and romantic teenager I was madly in love with Lestat and I adored Anne Rice's vampire Chronicles but I stopped enjoying them after Queen of the Damned. So Yeah, okay I did indulge in Vampire novels...Dracula most notably blew me away!
+++ROMANCE+++
12. Do you read romance novels? Blearghh, most emphatically, no!
13. How about gay romance novels? Again, read above, they do nothing for me
14. What's your favourite? Read above.
+++CHILDREN'S AND YA+++
15. What's your favourite children's book? Ohh goody! I love children's books! There are some amazing books out there let's see if I can remember my favourite's: Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, Paul Goble's The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsy, and of course the entire collection of Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove and Robin James,
16. Is it the same book that was your favourite when you were a kid? They are still favourites!
17. What's your favourite YA book? Ha ha, the Harry Potter series!
18. Did you actually read it as a YA? Erm...no?
19. In general, do you prefer children's books over grown-up books? No, I prefer adult books, but still love to indulge in my favourite children's books!
+++CLASSICS AND GENERAL FICTION+++
20. What's your favourite classic novel? Ahhh....that would be 1984 by Goerge Orwell....sigh...
21. What about general fiction? Oh this one is easy, Dystopian literature is by far my most favourite genre, good lord, I am slowly working my way through a very loooong list of fantastic novels...Currently almost finished reading The Unbearble Lightness of Being...amazing! Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, is, simply scary in it's view of a dismal future.
22. What classic novel do you just *not* *get*? Pride and Prejudice...blearrghh!!! It's not that I don't get it, it's just that I'd rather poke needles into my eyes than read a Jane Austen novel, or a Charles Dickens novel for that matter.
23. Do you have a favourite play or drama? Ooh YES! Mozart's The Magic Flute!!!
24. What do you think of Shakespeare? Drool...yes please!
+++POETRY+++
25. Could you pick a favourite poem? Oh noes too many...but if I had to pick one at gunpoint would have to say Full Woman, Fleshy Apple, Hot Moon by Pablo Neruda
26. What about a favourite poetry collection? Yes, The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
27. Who's your favourite poet? Oooh Pablo Neruda, he wrote the world's most beautiful love poetry...
+++COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS+++
28. Do you read comics or graphic novels? Haha yesss! I am an avid collector of Elfquest and pretty much anything else that tickles my fancy
+++SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS+++
31. Do you prefer short stories (or short novels) over full-length novels? I do like short stories, but not overly fond of short novels it's either one or the other for me, no half measures!
N
32. What's your favourite short story? Hmm I have to say Company of Wolves by Angela Carter
33. Favourite short story collection? The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
34. Do you have a favourite short story author? Angela Carter and Jane Yolen
+++NONFICTION+++
35. What kind of non-fiction do you usually read? Anything about science, dinosuars, philosophy, space, biology etc stuff like that!
36. Do you have a favourite non-fiction book? Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species
37. Read any interesting biographies? Oh..not really into biographies, but the most recent two I read were Russell Brand's Booy Wook and If A Pirate I must Be...which is about Bartholomew Roberts, the most successful pirate in history!
38. History books? Oh yes, especially classical history and ancient civilisations, quite partial to Celtic history
39. Politics? Hmm I'll read articles but not books a bit too much me thinks
40. Religious texts? Beg your pardon? Cough...cough...I'd rather read about Pink Unicorns to be honest
41. How about books on mythology, fairy-tales, or other cultural stories? Definitely love reading about mythology and have two huge volumes of Hans Christian Anderson faery tales and Brothers Grimm faery tales
+++ELEMENTS OF FICTION+++
42.What's the most important element of a novel? Plot? Characterisation? Style? Themes? Happy ending? I would have to say characterisation and plot, screw happy endings, styles are all different depending on writer, I don't think there should be any rules as to style, and themes can be developed from characterisation. So yeah the first two are paramount!
43. What kind of plot interests you the most? Deep and involving, one where you really get to know the characters, a story which grips you from start to finish, makes you cry, laugh, angry and happy, makes you think and learn more even after you finish the last word in the last sentence.
44. What kind of characters usually appeal to you? I normally identify with strong women characters, but also quirky people who are different, the quietly confident don't fuck with me or I will disembowel you kind of characters.
45. What is your favourite book overall? Nooooooooooo! You can't ask me that!!!! I cannot choose which of my babies I love the most!!!!
+++PASS IT ON+++
46. What's the last book you read? A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
47. What are you reading now? The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
48. What are you going to read next? Toss up between The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas or The Sheltering Sky or Foucault's Pendulum not sure yet...
49. Is there a book you would recommend to everyone on your friends list? Yes!! The Unbearable Lightness of Being!!!! READ IT!!!!
1. What's your name? Mercedes
2. Do you read a lot? Fuck yes, the list of books I've read is as long as donkey's shlong
3. What's your favorite genre? Hmm, such a good question! It's changed over the years. When I was younger I only wanted to read fantasy / sci-fi. There was a reason why though, it was my form of escapism, as I grew older my tastes broadened, my knowledge of the world expanded and my confidence grew so I developed a taste for other genres.
.
+++FANTASY AND SCI-FI+++
4. Do you prefer fantasy or science fiction?
I hardly read fantasy any more. I think it's because I have solid favourite that I've grown up with and now most of them are dead (i.e. Frank Herbert, Marian Zimmer Bradley) or have severely disappointed me by making a completely STUPID remark about homosexuality (Anne McCaffery). So I moved onto sci-fi and there I found myself far more comfortable reading this genre than I did with fantasy, I felt like sci-fi was adult fantasy that could possibly, as science and technology progressed some far out ideas could become reality!
5. What's your favourite fantasy book/series? Standalone book would have to be The Last Unicorn, read it at 18 and was deeply touched by the sad beauty of it. As for series, definitely the Dune series, breathtaking in scope and depth, the shit that his son is writing is not even worthy of being used as toilet paper.
6. Who's your favourite fantasy author? I have quite a few, so here goes, Frank Herbert, MZB, Neil Gaiman and, of course, Peter S. Beagle, to name just a few!
7. What's your favourite science fiction book/series? Standalone book is a tie between Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep, Slauhterhouse Five and The Songs of Distant Earth. Series would have to be Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Aurther C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series
+++MYSTERY, HORROR, AND THRILLERS+++
9. Which do you prefer: a puzzling mystery, or a terrifying thriller? Hmm I'd have to say neither, both genres bore the fuck out of me.
10. Do you have a favourite mystery novel? Nope
11. A favourite horror novel? Hmm okay I'm going to be honest and say that as an impressionable and romantic teenager I was madly in love with Lestat and I adored Anne Rice's vampire Chronicles but I stopped enjoying them after Queen of the Damned. So Yeah, okay I did indulge in Vampire novels...Dracula most notably blew me away!
+++ROMANCE+++
12. Do you read romance novels? Blearghh, most emphatically, no!
13. How about gay romance novels? Again, read above, they do nothing for me
14. What's your favourite? Read above.
+++CHILDREN'S AND YA+++
15. What's your favourite children's book? Ohh goody! I love children's books! There are some amazing books out there let's see if I can remember my favourite's: Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, Paul Goble's The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, The Rainbow Serpent by Dick Roughsy, and of course the entire collection of Serendipity books by Stephen Cosgrove and Robin James,
16. Is it the same book that was your favourite when you were a kid? They are still favourites!
17. What's your favourite YA book? Ha ha, the Harry Potter series!
18. Did you actually read it as a YA? Erm...no?
19. In general, do you prefer children's books over grown-up books? No, I prefer adult books, but still love to indulge in my favourite children's books!
+++CLASSICS AND GENERAL FICTION+++
20. What's your favourite classic novel? Ahhh....that would be 1984 by Goerge Orwell....sigh...
21. What about general fiction? Oh this one is easy, Dystopian literature is by far my most favourite genre, good lord, I am slowly working my way through a very loooong list of fantastic novels...Currently almost finished reading The Unbearble Lightness of Being...amazing! Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, is, simply scary in it's view of a dismal future.
22. What classic novel do you just *not* *get*? Pride and Prejudice...blearrghh!!! It's not that I don't get it, it's just that I'd rather poke needles into my eyes than read a Jane Austen novel, or a Charles Dickens novel for that matter.
23. Do you have a favourite play or drama? Ooh YES! Mozart's The Magic Flute!!!
24. What do you think of Shakespeare? Drool...yes please!
+++POETRY+++
25. Could you pick a favourite poem? Oh noes too many...but if I had to pick one at gunpoint would have to say Full Woman, Fleshy Apple, Hot Moon by Pablo Neruda
26. What about a favourite poetry collection? Yes, The Captain's Verses by Pablo Neruda
27. Who's your favourite poet? Oooh Pablo Neruda, he wrote the world's most beautiful love poetry...
+++COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS+++
28. Do you read comics or graphic novels? Haha yesss! I am an avid collector of Elfquest and pretty much anything else that tickles my fancy
+++SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS+++
31. Do you prefer short stories (or short novels) over full-length novels? I do like short stories, but not overly fond of short novels it's either one or the other for me, no half measures!
N
32. What's your favourite short story? Hmm I have to say Company of Wolves by Angela Carter
33. Favourite short story collection? The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
34. Do you have a favourite short story author? Angela Carter and Jane Yolen
+++NONFICTION+++
35. What kind of non-fiction do you usually read? Anything about science, dinosuars, philosophy, space, biology etc stuff like that!
36. Do you have a favourite non-fiction book? Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species
37. Read any interesting biographies? Oh..not really into biographies, but the most recent two I read were Russell Brand's Booy Wook and If A Pirate I must Be...which is about Bartholomew Roberts, the most successful pirate in history!
38. History books? Oh yes, especially classical history and ancient civilisations, quite partial to Celtic history
39. Politics? Hmm I'll read articles but not books a bit too much me thinks
40. Religious texts? Beg your pardon? Cough...cough...I'd rather read about Pink Unicorns to be honest
41. How about books on mythology, fairy-tales, or other cultural stories? Definitely love reading about mythology and have two huge volumes of Hans Christian Anderson faery tales and Brothers Grimm faery tales
+++ELEMENTS OF FICTION+++
42.What's the most important element of a novel? Plot? Characterisation? Style? Themes? Happy ending? I would have to say characterisation and plot, screw happy endings, styles are all different depending on writer, I don't think there should be any rules as to style, and themes can be developed from characterisation. So yeah the first two are paramount!
43. What kind of plot interests you the most? Deep and involving, one where you really get to know the characters, a story which grips you from start to finish, makes you cry, laugh, angry and happy, makes you think and learn more even after you finish the last word in the last sentence.
44. What kind of characters usually appeal to you? I normally identify with strong women characters, but also quirky people who are different, the quietly confident don't fuck with me or I will disembowel you kind of characters.
45. What is your favourite book overall? Nooooooooooo! You can't ask me that!!!! I cannot choose which of my babies I love the most!!!!
+++PASS IT ON+++
46. What's the last book you read? A Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
47. What are you reading now? The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
48. What are you going to read next? Toss up between The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas or The Sheltering Sky or Foucault's Pendulum not sure yet...
49. Is there a book you would recommend to everyone on your friends list? Yes!! The Unbearable Lightness of Being!!!! READ IT!!!!