Book thing
First of all, I bloody hate Daylight Savings Time. At least in the morning immediately following the time change. Grr.
Borrowed this from one of my new Buffyverse friends, ducktheduck
1) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
I think that honour would have to go to the one and only Star Trek novel I've ever read . . . called Uhura's Song. My mom actually read it to me when I was ten years old, and gave me her beat-up, missing-its-cover copy when she got herself a shiny new one.
2) What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
I'm not reading anything currently, other than fan fiction online. The last book I read was called Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder - one of those finish-cover-to-cover-in-five-hours-or-less types that I read while I was too sick to go skiing and my family was doing just that. I'm not sure what book I'll read next. I don't think I have anything new waiting in the queue.
3) What book did everyone like and you hated?
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I didn't precisely hate it, but found it exceedingly long and certainly not as exciting as I was led to believe. It wasn't enough to make me abandon reading it, but I'm glad I merely borrowed a coworker's copy and didn't go out and purchase my own.
4) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I'd have to agree that the Classics are something I really should read, and I keep telling myself every time I go into the bookstore and see the tidy little buy two, get the third free copies of said classics, that next time, I'll pick some of them up. I know I'm totally missing out . . . they are, after all, classics for a reason, right?
5) Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
That's probably the most ridiculous question ever. Saving a book? Hah!
6) Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
I always wait until the end. If I'm taking the time to read the book, I want to be surprised.
7) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
I usually have a look at them. Some of them are cute and funny and others just whatever. But I think, for the people thanked, they're probably wonderful.
8) Which book character would you switch places with?
A little while ago I would have said Jaina Solo, because, being a hot, X-wing piloting Jedi chick whose parents are famous, with three dark haired, green-eyed men making moon eyes at me? That'd be awesome. Considering the recent developments in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, let's just say I wouldn't want to be in Jaina's position anymore. I don't know who I'd pick. Maybe Ayla . . . prehistoric life can be hard, but at least she has Jondalar to keep it interesting.
9) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
That Star Trek one always gives me that nostalgic feeling, even though I haven't read it in years. Clan of the Cavebear and its sequels remind me of being in highschool and having to sneak around reading them because they're not something my mother wanted me to see. As far as persons, nothing specific.
10) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Hmm. I generally get them the usual way . . . me go to bookstore (in person or online), me pick book, me purchase book. The only thing I can think of is the final Harry Potter book. I pre-ordered it from my local bookstore. The day it came out, the store opened at like 7am even though the mall didn't open until 9. I had worked a night shift and so went straight from work to the store at 7:15 and stopped to watch the hired magician dazzle my sleep-deprived brain for a minute before taking my pre-paid copy home and spending many should-be-sleeping hours reading it.
11) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I hoard my books like they're going out of style. I lent some of them but I've never actually given one away.
12) Which book has been with you to the most places?
Hmm, good question. I brought Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier on a trip across the country with me but I can't recall anything being unduly carried around. Most of my books have travelled with me to work at some point in time but that's about it.
13) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
I haven't even looked twice at anything I read in highschool.
14) What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
I once found a couple of pages that had had some sort of printing error and had patches glued onto them to replace the portions of the text that hadn't come out right. I've also found typos in far too many books to count.
15) Used or brand new?
I am so superficial. I love shiny, pretty things and most of the time when I'm not looking for something specific, my book selection process goes 1)Pretty Cover 2)Interesting blurb on the back, 3)First page catches my interest in a writing style I don't hate. I have a difficult time at used book stores because the first step - Pretty Cover - generally doesn't work. But I'm a complete re-reader to usually buying new is okay because I'm likely to get several reads out of it.
16) Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I haven't read anything of his, so I couldn't say. I do know that he penned the novel that inspired the absolutely wonderful movie, The Shawshank redemption, so he can't be so bad.
17) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Because I tend to try and read the books first, I haven't come across this scenario. I have a feeling, though, that the Kite Runner, if I'd actually seen the film, would fit this category because I didn't like the book as much as I was apparently supposed to. I also read Children of Men because the movie trailer intrigued me, but I didn't care too much for that book either and so never ended up seeing the film, but I have a suspicion that would have been another case.
18) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
I read Eragon and enjoyed it -- well written and enough to interest me even if it was meant for teenagers -- but I hated the movie. It was one of those cases where the changes made seemed arbitrary and pointless and it just ended up making me angry the whole time I was watching it.
19) Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
My coworker Hyacinth, who is as much of a book-hoarder as I am, generally has a good idea of what's out there and we share recommendations all the time. That said, a lot of the stuff she reads I wouldn't touch, but when she recommends something that sounds right up my alley, I'll always take her advice.
Borrowed this from one of my new Buffyverse friends, ducktheduck
1) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
I think that honour would have to go to the one and only Star Trek novel I've ever read . . . called Uhura's Song. My mom actually read it to me when I was ten years old, and gave me her beat-up, missing-its-cover copy when she got herself a shiny new one.
2) What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
I'm not reading anything currently, other than fan fiction online. The last book I read was called Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder - one of those finish-cover-to-cover-in-five-hours-or-less types that I read while I was too sick to go skiing and my family was doing just that. I'm not sure what book I'll read next. I don't think I have anything new waiting in the queue.
3) What book did everyone like and you hated?
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I didn't precisely hate it, but found it exceedingly long and certainly not as exciting as I was led to believe. It wasn't enough to make me abandon reading it, but I'm glad I merely borrowed a coworker's copy and didn't go out and purchase my own.
4) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I'd have to agree that the Classics are something I really should read, and I keep telling myself every time I go into the bookstore and see the tidy little buy two, get the third free copies of said classics, that next time, I'll pick some of them up. I know I'm totally missing out . . . they are, after all, classics for a reason, right?
5) Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
That's probably the most ridiculous question ever. Saving a book? Hah!
6) Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
I always wait until the end. If I'm taking the time to read the book, I want to be surprised.
7) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
I usually have a look at them. Some of them are cute and funny and others just whatever. But I think, for the people thanked, they're probably wonderful.
8) Which book character would you switch places with?
A little while ago I would have said Jaina Solo, because, being a hot, X-wing piloting Jedi chick whose parents are famous, with three dark haired, green-eyed men making moon eyes at me? That'd be awesome. Considering the recent developments in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, let's just say I wouldn't want to be in Jaina's position anymore. I don't know who I'd pick. Maybe Ayla . . . prehistoric life can be hard, but at least she has Jondalar to keep it interesting.
9) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
That Star Trek one always gives me that nostalgic feeling, even though I haven't read it in years. Clan of the Cavebear and its sequels remind me of being in highschool and having to sneak around reading them because they're not something my mother wanted me to see. As far as persons, nothing specific.
10) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Hmm. I generally get them the usual way . . . me go to bookstore (in person or online), me pick book, me purchase book. The only thing I can think of is the final Harry Potter book. I pre-ordered it from my local bookstore. The day it came out, the store opened at like 7am even though the mall didn't open until 9. I had worked a night shift and so went straight from work to the store at 7:15 and stopped to watch the hired magician dazzle my sleep-deprived brain for a minute before taking my pre-paid copy home and spending many should-be-sleeping hours reading it.
11) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I hoard my books like they're going out of style. I lent some of them but I've never actually given one away.
12) Which book has been with you to the most places?
Hmm, good question. I brought Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier on a trip across the country with me but I can't recall anything being unduly carried around. Most of my books have travelled with me to work at some point in time but that's about it.
13) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
I haven't even looked twice at anything I read in highschool.
14) What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
I once found a couple of pages that had had some sort of printing error and had patches glued onto them to replace the portions of the text that hadn't come out right. I've also found typos in far too many books to count.
15) Used or brand new?
I am so superficial. I love shiny, pretty things and most of the time when I'm not looking for something specific, my book selection process goes 1)Pretty Cover 2)Interesting blurb on the back, 3)First page catches my interest in a writing style I don't hate. I have a difficult time at used book stores because the first step - Pretty Cover - generally doesn't work. But I'm a complete re-reader to usually buying new is okay because I'm likely to get several reads out of it.
16) Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I haven't read anything of his, so I couldn't say. I do know that he penned the novel that inspired the absolutely wonderful movie, The Shawshank redemption, so he can't be so bad.
17) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Because I tend to try and read the books first, I haven't come across this scenario. I have a feeling, though, that the Kite Runner, if I'd actually seen the film, would fit this category because I didn't like the book as much as I was apparently supposed to. I also read Children of Men because the movie trailer intrigued me, but I didn't care too much for that book either and so never ended up seeing the film, but I have a suspicion that would have been another case.
18) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
I read Eragon and enjoyed it -- well written and enough to interest me even if it was meant for teenagers -- but I hated the movie. It was one of those cases where the changes made seemed arbitrary and pointless and it just ended up making me angry the whole time I was watching it.
19) Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
My coworker Hyacinth, who is as much of a book-hoarder as I am, generally has a good idea of what's out there and we share recommendations all the time. That said, a lot of the stuff she reads I wouldn't touch, but when she recommends something that sounds right up my alley, I'll always take her advice.