Long Book Meme
Stolen Borrowed from elfinblaze because it looks like a lot of fun.
Book Meme
1) What author do you own the most books by?
I first thought it was Lindsey Davis who I own 19 books by, but double checking reveals I actually own 25 Terry Pratchett books (plus on compendium, plus Good Omens which he co-wrote).
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
If you count the fact that Alex and I merged our books when we got married it would be the Tomorrow when the war began series, we have doubles of book 1 - 4. The other I, personally, have double of is Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett because a friend gave me a copy of it for a birthday and then I received a second copy when one of my ex-workmates had to down-size her library and I received her entire Terry Pratchett collection.
I don't tend to try and collect multiple copies...
(There’s also something like 7 bibles in our house :P)
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No - I don't even know how to recognise a preposition. Yeah, that would be due to the lack of grammar teaching of the 1980/90s in the NSW public school system...
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
So not secretly, the first crush I think I had was on Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.
*smiles in fond memory* there were a lot of Purple Zoners vying for Legolas at one point, but I was quite happy in the Aragorn camp...
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I don't often re-read books. I've read the whole Lord of the Rings series well twice, plus my father read it to me as a child, so to me that counts as 3 times... And although I've only read it though in it's entirety only once, I've gone back and re-read so many different parts of A History of Reading (by Alberto Manguel) it feels like I've read it many times. There's probably a handful of other books I've read twice...
6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
I was 10 in year 4... um probably the Narnia series or Lord of the Rings (yeah my father had read that to me by then). Or maybe Matilda by Roald Dahl.
7) What was your favourite book when you were fifteen years old?
Year 9... I really don't remember... I think by that stage I had a whole lot of favourites. Now if I still had my favourites list from then I could tell you.
8) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
In the past year, none really... There are really two books I have really read and loathed both in the "Fantasy" genre and I know I'm not the only one to seriously dislike them. They don’t need to be named and shamed unless someone is about to pick them up and needs guidance to not do so.
9) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
I haven't read much by way of traditional books in the past year, at least not until Jan. this year (there probably were some, but I can't remember what books I read when now). That I have finished reading so far The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
10) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
I have a different book for every person... not one single definitive book. I would say A History of Reading but it wouldn’t suit some people mores the pity.
11) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
No idea. I’ve not read many of those that have won the prize so I don’t know what the criteria would be - I’m guessing that most of the books I read wouldn’t be considered suitable candidates for it though.
12) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Honestly, none. I’m really not a visual person so movies don’t often appeal to me.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
“I did have a dream where I attended Hogwarts, but I think everyone's had one of those.” (<- Regi!)
Yep, me too!
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I’m sure Alex would tell me it’s the Harry Potter series. I think fan-fiction might sometimes come below that... And I'd be guessing Stefanie Meyer... but I can't say that until I've actually read at least one book of hers (or attempted to).
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
It was hard getting through Wild Swans when I was 12/13. But I wanted to because I’d given up when I was 9 (after I got to the cultural revolution)... I remember Mrs O - my english teacher at the time - was quite impressed I’d managed it. The only reason books really stand out as hard is if the subject matter is something not well known to me, like astrophysics, and it’s not a basic book.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
Assuming it means live theatre I’ve only seen King Lear I think. Albeit twice.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more, but I’d feel obligated to read the story first so I know what’s going on.
17) What book has made you laugh out loud in public?
Many, much to Alex’s embarrassment when we’re travelling together. The last Tanya Huff book I read (The Heart of Valour) made me do that most recently (Kathy Reichs doesn't have quite the same effect).
18) What book has made you cry?
Books don’t often make me cry. No idea why... they just don’t. My heart will break but I won’t cry. Either that or I just don’t remember.
19) What book has made you throw it against the wall in fury?
One. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was more thrown down onto the bed and hit the wall at the same time. I was upset that J.K.Rowling would kill off another of Harry’s “family” even though I knew it was going to happy. By Deathly Hallows I was used to it though.
I also “punched” (aka hit my fist against the book) Lion of Senet by Jennifer Fallon, because a certain female character was such a manipulator/bitch and kept getting away with it, and I wanted to punish her then.
20) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I haven’t read any Russian works, and not enough French works to be able to compare the literary merits or my preferences for one style more.
21) Roth or Updike?
Um, who? I get the feeling I should know... but I don’t. Alex tells me they’re fiction writers. I’m now feeling like I should be reading them.
22) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Who? (again) (This time even Alex doesn’t know :P )
23) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
I have read the first and the third. I have Milton sitting beside me, perhaps to start this weekend. I like Chaucer better than Shakespeare, because the narrative is easier to understand without cheat notes.
I also loved the fact that I could easily understand Chaucer but the girls getting 15/15 for their english essays couldn’t understand him so well (because of the lack of uniform spelling)... even if it did result in things like “bothe” turning up in my writing months later.
24) Austen or Eliot?
I’ve only read one George Eliot book, which wasn’t bad. I’ve liked every Austen novel except Emma. So either - as long as it’s not Emma *shudder*
25) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
A lot of the classics - especially the high brow fiction. :S But there’s plenty more books to read and I’ll get there one day... I hope
26) What is your favourite novel?
Depends on genre... general literature (not fantasy) could be Jasper Fforde’s books, The City of Dreaming Books, or Goodnight Mr Tom which I read in year 7 for English and which I still remember.
27) Play?
I don’t read plays... I’m not a visual person so it really conflicts with the way my brain seems to try and process written material.
28) Poem?
One I’m sure I’ll never find again. There was a book of poems in the old Hornsby library (when it used to be across from the pool). I found it one visit there, borrowed it a few times, and had some poems in it I really loved... but it was a compilation, and I don’t know the title, and would never find it in the new(er) library because I wouldn’t know where to look.
29) Essay?
Some of the chapters in A History of Reading read like essays, but I don’t think they were. There was one in The Handling of Words by Vernon Lee that really resounded with me, but I can’t remember it’s title.
30) Short story?
I think there’s five books of collected short stories on my big bookshelf at home. One horror, one fantasy, one a collection of Katherine Mansfield’s works, one of Ray Bradbury’s and I Robot - which has several stories which were originally published as short stories. I can’t think of one that has stood out particularly... Short stories suck as a fast reader, because they blur together when published in an anthology and you don’t put the book down between them. Or at least that’s been my experience.
31) Work of nonfiction?
Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading when I find a book that replaces it I will be amazed. This was the book that of the 20 something of us doing extension english I (aka 3 unit english) only one person hasn’t obtained their own personal copy (I think). Even the teacher bought a copy for herself.
32) Graphic Novel?
X by CLAMP is great, but annoying to try and remember where I’m up to when going to buy one. I love Chobits even though it’s repetitive just because of the embarrassment the main male character goes through trying to deal with a “female” robot who has no inhibitions sexually.
33) Science Fiction?
If Good Omens counts then that. If it doesn’t the collection that is I Robot by Asimov... it’s something I can read without being too caught out by the technical details a lot of the modern sci-fi authors include.
34) Memoir?
Wild Swans by Jung Chang was what first introduced me to this genre... so I might have to say that. It’s not a genre I find particularly appealing, there tends to be a bit too much self importance being derived from the books it seems.
35) History?
Historical fiction - Lindsey Davis’ Falco series. Runner up: For the term of his natural life which reminds me again why I’m glad I live in present day Australia, not when my family came out (or before).
36) Mystery or Noir?
I don’t really read either - I don’t think Kathy Reichs is really mystery is she? - but I’ll read anything that’s available if I’m stuck without books of my own. Yes even the weetbix packet multiple times (I really *should* be able to rattle off the complete nutritional information for them).
37) Children's Book?
Lord of the Rings isn’t children’s literature is it? :P
Umm, Matilda by Roald Dahl, because it was someone I so easily identified with as a kid.
38) Who is your favourite writer?
I don’t really know. I read based on books not based on authors.
39) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer maybe, I haven’t actually read any of the books though. Otherwise one that I’ve actually read: Dan Brown.
40) What is your desert island book?
Can I take a library instead? Given that as a child I’d read my 10 library books (and my sister’s 10, and then get started on my parents books) if we had a holiday that lasted more than two weeks... I’d take A History of Reading but the sun glare off the glossy pages would be insane :S
41) What are you reading right now?
I’m not. I finished a book on Tuesday or Wednesday, and haven’t started another yet. I’ve got HP & the Deathly Hallows (J.K.Rowling), Paradise Lost (Milton) and Owen Suffolk’s Days of Crime and Years of Suffering sitting beside me at the moment so I’ll probably start one of those this weekend.
42) What books do you plan to read one day but haven't got around to yet?
As many as I possibly can. I’m trying to start with the books I currently own, but we’ll see how long that lasts for. I’m also planning to eventually setting up an account with the Hills shire libraries so that I don’t just have to buy my books (although I probably will end up doing so anyway).
and that’s that.
Book Meme
1) What author do you own the most books by?
I first thought it was Lindsey Davis who I own 19 books by, but double checking reveals I actually own 25 Terry Pratchett books (plus on compendium, plus Good Omens which he co-wrote).
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
If you count the fact that Alex and I merged our books when we got married it would be the Tomorrow when the war began series, we have doubles of book 1 - 4. The other I, personally, have double of is Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett because a friend gave me a copy of it for a birthday and then I received a second copy when one of my ex-workmates had to down-size her library and I received her entire Terry Pratchett collection.
I don't tend to try and collect multiple copies...
(There’s also something like 7 bibles in our house :P)
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No - I don't even know how to recognise a preposition. Yeah, that would be due to the lack of grammar teaching of the 1980/90s in the NSW public school system...
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
So not secretly, the first crush I think I had was on Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.
*smiles in fond memory* there were a lot of Purple Zoners vying for Legolas at one point, but I was quite happy in the Aragorn camp...
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I don't often re-read books. I've read the whole Lord of the Rings series well twice, plus my father read it to me as a child, so to me that counts as 3 times... And although I've only read it though in it's entirety only once, I've gone back and re-read so many different parts of A History of Reading (by Alberto Manguel) it feels like I've read it many times. There's probably a handful of other books I've read twice...
6) What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
I was 10 in year 4... um probably the Narnia series or Lord of the Rings (yeah my father had read that to me by then). Or maybe Matilda by Roald Dahl.
7) What was your favourite book when you were fifteen years old?
Year 9... I really don't remember... I think by that stage I had a whole lot of favourites. Now if I still had my favourites list from then I could tell you.
8) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
In the past year, none really... There are really two books I have really read and loathed both in the "Fantasy" genre and I know I'm not the only one to seriously dislike them. They don’t need to be named and shamed unless someone is about to pick them up and needs guidance to not do so.
9) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
I haven't read much by way of traditional books in the past year, at least not until Jan. this year (there probably were some, but I can't remember what books I read when now). That I have finished reading so far The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers
10) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
I have a different book for every person... not one single definitive book. I would say A History of Reading but it wouldn’t suit some people mores the pity.
11) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
No idea. I’ve not read many of those that have won the prize so I don’t know what the criteria would be - I’m guessing that most of the books I read wouldn’t be considered suitable candidates for it though.
12) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Honestly, none. I’m really not a visual person so movies don’t often appeal to me.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
“I did have a dream where I attended Hogwarts, but I think everyone's had one of those.” (<- Regi!)
Yep, me too!
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I’m sure Alex would tell me it’s the Harry Potter series. I think fan-fiction might sometimes come below that... And I'd be guessing Stefanie Meyer... but I can't say that until I've actually read at least one book of hers (or attempted to).
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
It was hard getting through Wild Swans when I was 12/13. But I wanted to because I’d given up when I was 9 (after I got to the cultural revolution)... I remember Mrs O - my english teacher at the time - was quite impressed I’d managed it. The only reason books really stand out as hard is if the subject matter is something not well known to me, like astrophysics, and it’s not a basic book.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
Assuming it means live theatre I’ve only seen King Lear I think. Albeit twice.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more, but I’d feel obligated to read the story first so I know what’s going on.
17) What book has made you laugh out loud in public?
Many, much to Alex’s embarrassment when we’re travelling together. The last Tanya Huff book I read (The Heart of Valour) made me do that most recently (Kathy Reichs doesn't have quite the same effect).
18) What book has made you cry?
Books don’t often make me cry. No idea why... they just don’t. My heart will break but I won’t cry. Either that or I just don’t remember.
19) What book has made you throw it against the wall in fury?
One. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was more thrown down onto the bed and hit the wall at the same time. I was upset that J.K.Rowling would kill off another of Harry’s “family” even though I knew it was going to happy. By Deathly Hallows I was used to it though.
I also “punched” (aka hit my fist against the book) Lion of Senet by Jennifer Fallon, because a certain female character was such a manipulator/bitch and kept getting away with it, and I wanted to punish her then.
20) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I haven’t read any Russian works, and not enough French works to be able to compare the literary merits or my preferences for one style more.
21) Roth or Updike?
Um, who? I get the feeling I should know... but I don’t. Alex tells me they’re fiction writers. I’m now feeling like I should be reading them.
22) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Who? (again) (This time even Alex doesn’t know :P )
23) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
I have read the first and the third. I have Milton sitting beside me, perhaps to start this weekend. I like Chaucer better than Shakespeare, because the narrative is easier to understand without cheat notes.
I also loved the fact that I could easily understand Chaucer but the girls getting 15/15 for their english essays couldn’t understand him so well (because of the lack of uniform spelling)... even if it did result in things like “bothe” turning up in my writing months later.
24) Austen or Eliot?
I’ve only read one George Eliot book, which wasn’t bad. I’ve liked every Austen novel except Emma. So either - as long as it’s not Emma *shudder*
25) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
A lot of the classics - especially the high brow fiction. :S But there’s plenty more books to read and I’ll get there one day... I hope
26) What is your favourite novel?
Depends on genre... general literature (not fantasy) could be Jasper Fforde’s books, The City of Dreaming Books, or Goodnight Mr Tom which I read in year 7 for English and which I still remember.
27) Play?
I don’t read plays... I’m not a visual person so it really conflicts with the way my brain seems to try and process written material.
28) Poem?
One I’m sure I’ll never find again. There was a book of poems in the old Hornsby library (when it used to be across from the pool). I found it one visit there, borrowed it a few times, and had some poems in it I really loved... but it was a compilation, and I don’t know the title, and would never find it in the new(er) library because I wouldn’t know where to look.
29) Essay?
Some of the chapters in A History of Reading read like essays, but I don’t think they were. There was one in The Handling of Words by Vernon Lee that really resounded with me, but I can’t remember it’s title.
30) Short story?
I think there’s five books of collected short stories on my big bookshelf at home. One horror, one fantasy, one a collection of Katherine Mansfield’s works, one of Ray Bradbury’s and I Robot - which has several stories which were originally published as short stories. I can’t think of one that has stood out particularly... Short stories suck as a fast reader, because they blur together when published in an anthology and you don’t put the book down between them. Or at least that’s been my experience.
31) Work of nonfiction?
Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading when I find a book that replaces it I will be amazed. This was the book that of the 20 something of us doing extension english I (aka 3 unit english) only one person hasn’t obtained their own personal copy (I think). Even the teacher bought a copy for herself.
32) Graphic Novel?
X by CLAMP is great, but annoying to try and remember where I’m up to when going to buy one. I love Chobits even though it’s repetitive just because of the embarrassment the main male character goes through trying to deal with a “female” robot who has no inhibitions sexually.
33) Science Fiction?
If Good Omens counts then that. If it doesn’t the collection that is I Robot by Asimov... it’s something I can read without being too caught out by the technical details a lot of the modern sci-fi authors include.
34) Memoir?
Wild Swans by Jung Chang was what first introduced me to this genre... so I might have to say that. It’s not a genre I find particularly appealing, there tends to be a bit too much self importance being derived from the books it seems.
35) History?
Historical fiction - Lindsey Davis’ Falco series. Runner up: For the term of his natural life which reminds me again why I’m glad I live in present day Australia, not when my family came out (or before).
36) Mystery or Noir?
I don’t really read either - I don’t think Kathy Reichs is really mystery is she? - but I’ll read anything that’s available if I’m stuck without books of my own. Yes even the weetbix packet multiple times (I really *should* be able to rattle off the complete nutritional information for them).
37) Children's Book?
Lord of the Rings isn’t children’s literature is it? :P
Umm, Matilda by Roald Dahl, because it was someone I so easily identified with as a kid.
38) Who is your favourite writer?
I don’t really know. I read based on books not based on authors.
39) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer maybe, I haven’t actually read any of the books though. Otherwise one that I’ve actually read: Dan Brown.
40) What is your desert island book?
Can I take a library instead? Given that as a child I’d read my 10 library books (and my sister’s 10, and then get started on my parents books) if we had a holiday that lasted more than two weeks... I’d take A History of Reading but the sun glare off the glossy pages would be insane :S
41) What are you reading right now?
I’m not. I finished a book on Tuesday or Wednesday, and haven’t started another yet. I’ve got HP & the Deathly Hallows (J.K.Rowling), Paradise Lost (Milton) and Owen Suffolk’s Days of Crime and Years of Suffering sitting beside me at the moment so I’ll probably start one of those this weekend.
42) What books do you plan to read one day but haven't got around to yet?
As many as I possibly can. I’m trying to start with the books I currently own, but we’ll see how long that lasts for. I’m also planning to eventually setting up an account with the Hills shire libraries so that I don’t just have to buy my books (although I probably will end up doing so anyway).
and that’s that.