Meme: Because reading is always interesting
Via gamiila, a new book meme [ETA sorry about the lingering code mixup. Never post and run off to make dinner - an important life lesson].
1. What author do you own the most books by?
Easy. Elinor M Brent-Dyer. I haven’t read a Chalet School book for ten years, but they are part of the mountain of books my parents are still (increasingly crabbily) keeping for me. And I own all but one of the 62 books. It says something for my emotional maturity that I can no longer remember which one... Georgette Heyer is probably second, and again, they’re mainly not under my own roof now.
2. What book do you own the most copies of?
I don’t deliberately buy multiple copies. I’d imagine it’s Niccolo Rising, by Dorothy Dunnett, as my mum does buy copies when covers are redesigned over the publication of a series because she likes to own matching sets. Our Dunnetts are a shared resource, ownership lost in the mists of time.
3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Judging by my book group last week, Atticus Finch. Not one I’d be ashamed of, certainly.
4. What book have you read more than any other?
The Liar, by Stephen Fry. Or the Wheel of Fortune, by Susan Howatch.
5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Erk. Not sure. Chalet School’s a good bet. I also read a young adult novel about Mary Queen of Scots at about that age - the first historical I ever read, which grabbed me with the fascination of the past and never let go.
6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
The Rapture, by Liz Jensen, went straight in the bin when I’d finished it. Everything and the kitchen sink. So did LeCarre's The Naive and Sentimental Lover, portrait of an author in midlife crisis. God knows what the plot was about.
To be fair, I’ve stopped reading plenty of worse ones; I think the Secret Scripture holds the prize - I stopped before 20 pages in.
7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Wolf Hall. Or A Place of Greater Safety. Can’t decide, but discovering Hilary Mantel has been the joy of my recent months.
8. If you could tell everyone reading this to read one book, what would it be?
A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, by Ian Mortimer.
No, it’s not ‘important’, and I could easily have said To Kill A Mockingbird, which is the easy answer. But it brings the world alive and reminds us that the remote past was a real place. Funny and readable.
Oooh, or Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky. An amazing exploration of how humanity crumbles under pressure and fear. Unfinished on account of Holocaust, a fact that made me so angry I barely read anything for weeks afterwards. The postscripts will rip your guts out and bring that unbelievable horror up fresh and raw for you. And she's just one victim among millions.
9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Emma, by Jane Austen. Not hard to read per se, but I had to flog myself to get to the end because I loathed her so much. Suite Francaise, above, is a tough read because it’s so rough round the edges, for reasons which are exceedingly understandable.
10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French. I keep meaning to go back and read some more Zola. Not something I’ve ever felt with a Russian author.
11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Chaucer. I’m a medievalist at heart. Also a reader not an audience, which is why Shakespeare comes second.
12. Austen or Eliot?
Austen, despite Emma. Social niceties perfectly skewered.
13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Second half of the 19th century, if we’re talking English language. There are scads of non-English cultures I’ve barely read, let alone non-Western.
14. What is your favourite novel?
Mmm. Tricky. Can I offer the Lymond chronicles as one novel? They’ve certainly been greatly read and passed on. I have also recommended the Time Traveller’s Wife to more people than any other book, though oddly I’ve never re-read it.
15. Play?
Copenhagen, currently. I love Michael Frayn.
16. Poem?
Again, currently, Atlas, by UA Fanthorpe, heard at a wedding in May. This one changes regularly.
17. Essay?
I’m going with a frivolous one here - Bill Bryson’s short Shakespeare book. Solid stuff, as funny as you’d hope, mercilessly cutting the Shakespeare industry off at the knees.
18. Short Story?
Not my medium. About the only thing I’ve got is the collected Dorothy Parker. I adore her, but she oppresses me. Never, ever read her just before bed. She sours your dreams.
19. Non-Fiction
The Lodger, by Charles Nichol, which only narrowly beats his own The Reckoning. How to take hardcore historical research and make it sing, even when what you find isn’t as solid as you’d hope. I enjoyed Tom Holland’s Rubicon and Persian Fire too.
20. Graphic Novel?
Don’t really read. Quite like Pratchett’s The Last Hero, but it’s in a field of about three.
21. Science Fiction?
Oddly enough, I don’t read that much of this - prefer it on screen. There’s something nagging at me as I type though which suggests I’m missing something blindingly obvious. May revisit this question. (I'm not counting fantasy here.) ETA: I don't think this was the nagging thought, but if I can count Thursday Next as scifi, Jasper Fforde's books will do here - ludicrously logical fun.
22. Who is your favorite writer?
Terry Pratchett. For entertainment, humanity and not taking himself too bloody seriously. I don’t buy many people on day of publication. In fact, no one else. Anthony Price is a good second, but I only discovered him a couple of years ago and have swallowed his oeuvre whole. See also CS Forester - why are there no more Hornblowers for me? Sigh. Heyer’s another good bet, as is Dorothy Dunnett. People I reread when sick or sad are the only ones I dignify with ‘favourite’.
23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
So much to choose from... Martin Amis? Will Self? Literary lions are people I tend to avoid.
24. What are you reading right now?
I’ve literally just completed The Poisonwood Bible (book club again; not bad at all). I have the new Sue Grafton for pulpy pleasure.
25. Best Memoir?
Loathe the genre. Fictionalised memoirs are bearable, and having read through A Dance to the Music of Time this year I give it an unqualified thumbs up for a potted history of 50 years of British society.
26. Best History?
I believe I covered this up there *points*. Oh dear, all my fave non-fiction is history. It’s a disease. (See further up there under ‘favourite book aged ten’)
27. Best Mystery or Noir?
A favourite genre, but the ones I’ve consistently recommended in recent years are the 1960s Swedish writers Sjowall and Wahloo, and their Martin Beck decameron. If you don’t want to read it all, The Laughing Policeman, and The Fire Engine that Disappeared are my favourites. Don’t start with vol 1, IMO though. It’s the pattern for all today’s fashionable Scandi crime, and elegantly slender with it.
Alternatively, a fun thing I read recently is AA Milne’s The Red House - one of my favourite things is those one or two-off detective novels from the golden age, when everybody thought they could write one. A lot are excellent, and quirk like mad. This also has a preface I adore, which is rare!
Finally, good old Freeman Wills Crofts. Monumentally unfashionable these days, but a lovely plotter and with a great deal more character development than his detractors would have you believe.
1. What author do you own the most books by?
Easy. Elinor M Brent-Dyer. I haven’t read a Chalet School book for ten years, but they are part of the mountain of books my parents are still (increasingly crabbily) keeping for me. And I own all but one of the 62 books. It says something for my emotional maturity that I can no longer remember which one... Georgette Heyer is probably second, and again, they’re mainly not under my own roof now.
2. What book do you own the most copies of?
I don’t deliberately buy multiple copies. I’d imagine it’s Niccolo Rising, by Dorothy Dunnett, as my mum does buy copies when covers are redesigned over the publication of a series because she likes to own matching sets. Our Dunnetts are a shared resource, ownership lost in the mists of time.
3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Judging by my book group last week, Atticus Finch. Not one I’d be ashamed of, certainly.
4. What book have you read more than any other?
The Liar, by Stephen Fry. Or the Wheel of Fortune, by Susan Howatch.
5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Erk. Not sure. Chalet School’s a good bet. I also read a young adult novel about Mary Queen of Scots at about that age - the first historical I ever read, which grabbed me with the fascination of the past and never let go.
6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
The Rapture, by Liz Jensen, went straight in the bin when I’d finished it. Everything and the kitchen sink. So did LeCarre's The Naive and Sentimental Lover, portrait of an author in midlife crisis. God knows what the plot was about.
To be fair, I’ve stopped reading plenty of worse ones; I think the Secret Scripture holds the prize - I stopped before 20 pages in.
7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Wolf Hall. Or A Place of Greater Safety. Can’t decide, but discovering Hilary Mantel has been the joy of my recent months.
8. If you could tell everyone reading this to read one book, what would it be?
A Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England, by Ian Mortimer.
No, it’s not ‘important’, and I could easily have said To Kill A Mockingbird, which is the easy answer. But it brings the world alive and reminds us that the remote past was a real place. Funny and readable.
Oooh, or Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky. An amazing exploration of how humanity crumbles under pressure and fear. Unfinished on account of Holocaust, a fact that made me so angry I barely read anything for weeks afterwards. The postscripts will rip your guts out and bring that unbelievable horror up fresh and raw for you. And she's just one victim among millions.
9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Emma, by Jane Austen. Not hard to read per se, but I had to flog myself to get to the end because I loathed her so much. Suite Francaise, above, is a tough read because it’s so rough round the edges, for reasons which are exceedingly understandable.
10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French. I keep meaning to go back and read some more Zola. Not something I’ve ever felt with a Russian author.
11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Chaucer. I’m a medievalist at heart. Also a reader not an audience, which is why Shakespeare comes second.
12. Austen or Eliot?
Austen, despite Emma. Social niceties perfectly skewered.
13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Second half of the 19th century, if we’re talking English language. There are scads of non-English cultures I’ve barely read, let alone non-Western.
14. What is your favourite novel?
Mmm. Tricky. Can I offer the Lymond chronicles as one novel? They’ve certainly been greatly read and passed on. I have also recommended the Time Traveller’s Wife to more people than any other book, though oddly I’ve never re-read it.
15. Play?
Copenhagen, currently. I love Michael Frayn.
16. Poem?
Again, currently, Atlas, by UA Fanthorpe, heard at a wedding in May. This one changes regularly.
17. Essay?
I’m going with a frivolous one here - Bill Bryson’s short Shakespeare book. Solid stuff, as funny as you’d hope, mercilessly cutting the Shakespeare industry off at the knees.
18. Short Story?
Not my medium. About the only thing I’ve got is the collected Dorothy Parker. I adore her, but she oppresses me. Never, ever read her just before bed. She sours your dreams.
19. Non-Fiction
The Lodger, by Charles Nichol, which only narrowly beats his own The Reckoning. How to take hardcore historical research and make it sing, even when what you find isn’t as solid as you’d hope. I enjoyed Tom Holland’s Rubicon and Persian Fire too.
20. Graphic Novel?
Don’t really read. Quite like Pratchett’s The Last Hero, but it’s in a field of about three.
21. Science Fiction?
Oddly enough, I don’t read that much of this - prefer it on screen. There’s something nagging at me as I type though which suggests I’m missing something blindingly obvious. May revisit this question. (I'm not counting fantasy here.) ETA: I don't think this was the nagging thought, but if I can count Thursday Next as scifi, Jasper Fforde's books will do here - ludicrously logical fun.
22. Who is your favorite writer?
Terry Pratchett. For entertainment, humanity and not taking himself too bloody seriously. I don’t buy many people on day of publication. In fact, no one else. Anthony Price is a good second, but I only discovered him a couple of years ago and have swallowed his oeuvre whole. See also CS Forester - why are there no more Hornblowers for me? Sigh. Heyer’s another good bet, as is Dorothy Dunnett. People I reread when sick or sad are the only ones I dignify with ‘favourite’.
23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
So much to choose from... Martin Amis? Will Self? Literary lions are people I tend to avoid.
24. What are you reading right now?
I’ve literally just completed The Poisonwood Bible (book club again; not bad at all). I have the new Sue Grafton for pulpy pleasure.
25. Best Memoir?
Loathe the genre. Fictionalised memoirs are bearable, and having read through A Dance to the Music of Time this year I give it an unqualified thumbs up for a potted history of 50 years of British society.
26. Best History?
I believe I covered this up there *points*. Oh dear, all my fave non-fiction is history. It’s a disease. (See further up there under ‘favourite book aged ten’)
27. Best Mystery or Noir?
A favourite genre, but the ones I’ve consistently recommended in recent years are the 1960s Swedish writers Sjowall and Wahloo, and their Martin Beck decameron. If you don’t want to read it all, The Laughing Policeman, and The Fire Engine that Disappeared are my favourites. Don’t start with vol 1, IMO though. It’s the pattern for all today’s fashionable Scandi crime, and elegantly slender with it.
Alternatively, a fun thing I read recently is AA Milne’s The Red House - one of my favourite things is those one or two-off detective novels from the golden age, when everybody thought they could write one. A lot are excellent, and quirk like mad. This also has a preface I adore, which is rare!
Finally, good old Freeman Wills Crofts. Monumentally unfashionable these days, but a lovely plotter and with a great deal more character development than his detractors would have you believe.