2 Bookish memes
both stolen from kiwiria
Meme #1: Reading Survey
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Georgette Heyer. She wrote a lot, and I have nearly all of them. Short by maybe three?
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I don't tend to buy multiple copies of books. I do have two different editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and I used to have two of The Count of Monte Cristo. There are so many books to buy, why spend money on the same book more than once? Unless it has a great cover, or is a different translation!
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not at all. It's actually good grammar.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Ooh, blushing moment here. Nemo, from Polymer (YA sci-fi), and also Solon from the Legendsong books (fantasy).
I've fallen for so many! Definitely had a crush on Mr Rochester, though. Darcy was never my kind of bloke.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
I've never counted, so it's hard to say. Probably nothing can beat the number of times I read Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake as a child. Still love that book! Otherwise, hm, Thunderwith, Jane Eyre, The Blue Castle and Obernewtyn.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Ten? Hm, grade 5 ... I think that was the year of Obernewtyn. Jane Eyre was grade 6.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
For 2009, it'd probably be a YA mystery called Kiss Me Kill Me.
I can't say for last year, though my most disappointing would be Crime and Punishment.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Going with calendar year again. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (international title: Somebody Knows My Name) and Daring Time by Beth Kery.
9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
These days, What is America? A Short History of the New World Order by Ronald Wright. There are so many great books though, it's hard to choose.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Ooh, tough. The Nobel goes to a body of work, not just one novel, and there aren't many literature authors I've read everything of. I think it should go to someone less conventional, like John Fowles or Richard Flanagan.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Actually, the one I'm reading right now I can totally see as a movie, and a really great one too: Bright of the Sky, a science fiction novel. But The Book of Negroes would be great as a movie, and Going Too Far.
Oh I could make a really long list for this question!
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Sundays at Tiffanys by James Patterson. And it's got tacky Hollywood movie stamped all over it.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Ha, Sundays at Tiffanys again. I actually felt some of my brain cells die while reading that.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Um, for as much as I liked Anna Karenina, it was a bit of a slog. As far as difficult books go, though - probably something I didn't finish! Ulysses anyone? God it gives me a headache just thinking about it!
16) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Probably French. I love Alexandre Dumas.
17) Umberto Eco?
Never. And I won't until someone recommends something that they feel I absolutely have to read. I don't even know what his books are about.
18) Roth or Updike?
Neither.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Haven't read either.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Y'know, I've never read Milton. Chaucer is loads of fun, especially if you read it in Middle English, and he's very clever too. I'm more familiar with Shakespeare though, and you just can't beat those constantly relevant stories.
21) Austen or Eliot?
I don't think I've read any Eliot - though I want to. I'll have to say Austen.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I don't know. Probably the classics. I'm slowly covering more ground but there are still lots I haven't read yet.
23) What is your favourite novel?
Ugh. You can't ask a bibliophile that! I could possibly give you a list of a hundred...
24) Play?
Haven't seen many to be honest. I really enjoyed seeing "A Comedy of Errors" in grade 10.
25) Short story?
There's this short story, the first one, in a book of stories for girls that my mum's best friend gave me years and years ago, that I absolutely love. It's set during the French Revolution and is a kind of YA Scarlet Pimpernell kind of story. Has a great female heroine too.
26) Work of non-fiction?
At the moment, probably The World Without Us because it's great for history, economics, politics, architecture, science etc. I learned so much!
27) Who is your favorite writer?
I'll read anything of Isobelle Carmody's. Love many more.
28) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Patricia Cornwell. Also Dan Brown.
29) What is your desert island book?
The Count of Monte Cristo - has everything you could want in a book, and it's very long, so it'll keep you occupied for ages!
30) And ... what are you reading right now?
Oh dear, this is embarrassing - not what I'm reading, just how many.
*clears throat* Okay, here we go:
Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon (sci-fi)
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran (historical fiction)
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (fantasy)
How to Be Single by Liz Tuccillo (chick-lit)
Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison (memoir)
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb (YA fantasy)
Broken by Megan Hart (erotic romance)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (classics) (haven't picked this up in a while)
Penguin History of Canada by Robert Bothwell (non-fiction)
Rumors by Anna Godberson (YA historical romance)
The Chosen Sin by Anya Bast (paranormal/sci-fi romance)
I think that about covers it.
Meme #2: Book Splurge
Imagine you were customer no. 1,000,000 in and as a price you were told to go nuts - you could choose any 10 books you wanted, and get them for free. Which books would you ask for? Assume the bookstore was unlimited and could get hold of a version of any book every written (i.e. asking for first editions or autographed copies isn't possible).
This is harder than it looks, considering I tend to buy books as soon as they catch my eye. Most of the books I want to read but haven't bought yet are still in hardcover, or are North American versions with crappy covers and I'd rather wait to be back in Australia.
1. The Stars My Destination, an old sci-fi book someone recommended recently. Yeah I know, the title sounds like it's missing an apostrophe
2. The hardcover, illustrated version of Life of Pi
3. Trudi Canavan's new fantasy, The Magician's Apprentice (it's hardcover=expensive)
4. The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay - one of kiwiria's favourites but it's hard to find
5. The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer (I've been waiting for paperback)
6. Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (ditto)
7. A nice, new edition (which doesn't exist - yet) of L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle - mine fell apart and my mum had to staple the pages together, so now it's hard to read. When will a publisher realise what a goldmine they'd have on their hands if they re-released it??
8. The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer - one of the few I don't own, though I read and loved it.
9. Diary of a Wombat - a picture book that makes me laugh every time
10. The $50 edition of The Canterbury Tales that we used in first year English, which I couldn't afford at the time - it was a big fat blue book with the original text in it; my professor joked that it made a good doorstop. It was a definitive edition, unadulterated, and naturally I've never been able to find it since.
Meme #1: Reading Survey
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Georgette Heyer. She wrote a lot, and I have nearly all of them. Short by maybe three?
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I don't tend to buy multiple copies of books. I do have two different editions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and I used to have two of The Count of Monte Cristo. There are so many books to buy, why spend money on the same book more than once? Unless it has a great cover, or is a different translation!
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not at all. It's actually good grammar.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Ooh, blushing moment here. Nemo, from Polymer (YA sci-fi), and also Solon from the Legendsong books (fantasy).
I've fallen for so many! Definitely had a crush on Mr Rochester, though. Darcy was never my kind of bloke.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
I've never counted, so it's hard to say. Probably nothing can beat the number of times I read Mr Magnolia by Quentin Blake as a child. Still love that book! Otherwise, hm, Thunderwith, Jane Eyre, The Blue Castle and Obernewtyn.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Ten? Hm, grade 5 ... I think that was the year of Obernewtyn. Jane Eyre was grade 6.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
For 2009, it'd probably be a YA mystery called Kiss Me Kill Me.
I can't say for last year, though my most disappointing would be Crime and Punishment.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Going with calendar year again. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (international title: Somebody Knows My Name) and Daring Time by Beth Kery.
9) If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
These days, What is America? A Short History of the New World Order by Ronald Wright. There are so many great books though, it's hard to choose.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Ooh, tough. The Nobel goes to a body of work, not just one novel, and there aren't many literature authors I've read everything of. I think it should go to someone less conventional, like John Fowles or Richard Flanagan.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Actually, the one I'm reading right now I can totally see as a movie, and a really great one too: Bright of the Sky, a science fiction novel. But The Book of Negroes would be great as a movie, and Going Too Far.
Oh I could make a really long list for this question!
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Sundays at Tiffanys by James Patterson. And it's got tacky Hollywood movie stamped all over it.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Ha, Sundays at Tiffanys again. I actually felt some of my brain cells die while reading that.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Um, for as much as I liked Anna Karenina, it was a bit of a slog. As far as difficult books go, though - probably something I didn't finish! Ulysses anyone? God it gives me a headache just thinking about it!
16) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Probably French. I love Alexandre Dumas.
17) Umberto Eco?
Never. And I won't until someone recommends something that they feel I absolutely have to read. I don't even know what his books are about.
18) Roth or Updike?
Neither.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Haven't read either.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Y'know, I've never read Milton. Chaucer is loads of fun, especially if you read it in Middle English, and he's very clever too. I'm more familiar with Shakespeare though, and you just can't beat those constantly relevant stories.
21) Austen or Eliot?
I don't think I've read any Eliot - though I want to. I'll have to say Austen.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I don't know. Probably the classics. I'm slowly covering more ground but there are still lots I haven't read yet.
23) What is your favourite novel?
Ugh. You can't ask a bibliophile that! I could possibly give you a list of a hundred...
24) Play?
Haven't seen many to be honest. I really enjoyed seeing "A Comedy of Errors" in grade 10.
25) Short story?
There's this short story, the first one, in a book of stories for girls that my mum's best friend gave me years and years ago, that I absolutely love. It's set during the French Revolution and is a kind of YA Scarlet Pimpernell kind of story. Has a great female heroine too.
26) Work of non-fiction?
At the moment, probably The World Without Us because it's great for history, economics, politics, architecture, science etc. I learned so much!
27) Who is your favorite writer?
I'll read anything of Isobelle Carmody's. Love many more.
28) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Patricia Cornwell. Also Dan Brown.
29) What is your desert island book?
The Count of Monte Cristo - has everything you could want in a book, and it's very long, so it'll keep you occupied for ages!
30) And ... what are you reading right now?
Oh dear, this is embarrassing - not what I'm reading, just how many.
*clears throat* Okay, here we go:
Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon (sci-fi)
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran (historical fiction)
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (fantasy)
How to Be Single by Liz Tuccillo (chick-lit)
Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison (memoir)
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb (YA fantasy)
Broken by Megan Hart (erotic romance)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (classics) (haven't picked this up in a while)
Penguin History of Canada by Robert Bothwell (non-fiction)
Rumors by Anna Godberson (YA historical romance)
The Chosen Sin by Anya Bast (paranormal/sci-fi romance)
I think that about covers it.
Meme #2: Book Splurge
Imagine you were customer no. 1,000,000 in and as a price you were told to go nuts - you could choose any 10 books you wanted, and get them for free. Which books would you ask for? Assume the bookstore was unlimited and could get hold of a version of any book every written (i.e. asking for first editions or autographed copies isn't possible).
This is harder than it looks, considering I tend to buy books as soon as they catch my eye. Most of the books I want to read but haven't bought yet are still in hardcover, or are North American versions with crappy covers and I'd rather wait to be back in Australia.
1. The Stars My Destination, an old sci-fi book someone recommended recently. Yeah I know, the title sounds like it's missing an apostrophe
2. The hardcover, illustrated version of Life of Pi
3. Trudi Canavan's new fantasy, The Magician's Apprentice (it's hardcover=expensive)
4. The Rosary by Florence L. Barclay - one of kiwiria's favourites but it's hard to find
5. The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer (I've been waiting for paperback)
6. Girl with a Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (ditto)
7. A nice, new edition (which doesn't exist - yet) of L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle - mine fell apart and my mum had to staple the pages together, so now it's hard to read. When will a publisher realise what a goldmine they'd have on their hands if they re-released it??
8. The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer - one of the few I don't own, though I read and loved it.
9. Diary of a Wombat - a picture book that makes me laugh every time
10. The $50 edition of The Canterbury Tales that we used in first year English, which I couldn't afford at the time - it was a big fat blue book with the original text in it; my professor joked that it made a good doorstop. It was a definitive edition, unadulterated, and naturally I've never been able to find it since.