bookish things
Bookmeme stolen from madly_love because ... well ... why not?
1) What author do you own the most books by?
That would be Terry Pratchett. Without a doubt.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
joint first place for Harry Potter volume 1 to 3
(twice in English, once in German, once in French)
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
First question: yes. I cringed reading it. Second question: not as much as with the first question.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
... never thought about that I must say. Don't think with anybody really. (And again with the preposition! *g*)
4a) What fictional character would you most like to be?
So, so many. Either of the four musketeers because they sound like great fun. The Red Zora because ... damn, I wanted to live in a castle ruin and be some kind of Robin Hood, too. (Well, I also want red hair but that's beside the point.) *shrugs* Almost any given character in an adventure book really. I did not read adventure stories, I gobbled them up when I was a kid. Though to tell you the truth, I didn't exactly want to be one of the characters, I'd rather be myself running around with these characters. Best example: Prince Valiant. You know, the comics by Hal Forster. Loved them. Loved, loved, loved Valiant and Gawain's antics whenever they were at Camelot together. I wanted in on the fun.
4b) What fictional character do you think most resembles you?
No idea.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
Probably one or the other Terry Pratchett or an Agatha Christie.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes, the Miss Marple books, Prince Valiant, Asterix ... *shrugs* I read a lot. I don't really remember what I loved. Probably some books about horses, too. Ooh, I also like those Enid Blyton (was it E.B.?) books ... adventure something something
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Twilight (well, only read the first chapter and then started ranting, and cussing, and yelling, and never picked it up again.)
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Tod und Teufel by Frank Schätzing - awesome book (at least I think I've read it last year. might have been the year before. I'm so bad at remembering what I read when.)
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, too.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra is beyond brilliant.
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Cohen / Lovejoy is a fun and quick read.
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett is breathtaking.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is terrific, too.
Good Omens by Pratchett / Gaiman is hilarious (though stay clear of it if you're a sensitive Christian).
While I'm on the subject of Pratchett ... If you want to try his Discworld books and don't know where to start, I'd recommend Going Postal.
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz is another of those brilliant reads (though the English version from Vintage Books, London has cut the text... at least, when compared to the German book).
oh, and one for madly_love : If you like Agatha Christie, try a P.D. James book. You might also enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's books about Mme Ramotswe from The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency.
In all honesty, I wouldn't recommend only one book. Everyone's tastes are different and I'd much rather recommend something the person might possibly enjoy reading...
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
I've never paid much attention to it.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Don't care. Films usually butcher a book beyond reckoning anyway.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
see 11)
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
No dreams involving writers, books or literary characters. At least, none I can remember.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Twilight or the multitude of stupid chicklit I gobble up occasionally. And I don't mean enjoyable chicklit. I mean really, really stupid chicklit where the title and cover is the best about the book.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Moby Dick. Five months of torturous boringness and then I gave up.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
*blinks* I didn't know there are any Shakespeare plays that are obscure. I thought they were all ... well, unobscure.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Have only read Voltaire, DeSade, Tolstoi, and Dostoyewski. Don't feel I'm well-read enough to make a decision. But of these four I've enjoyed cynical Voltaire the most. He, at least, was amusing. DeSade was boring. Tolstoi and Dostoyewski were all dark and depressing.
18) Roth or Updike?
Have so far read neither Phillip Roth nor John Updike.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
same as 18)
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
don't make me chose! Well, either Shakespeare or Chaucer.
21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I'm sadly unread in what they consider classics.
23) What is your favorite novel?
WHY DO THESE QUESTIONS ALWAYS WANT ME TO CHOSE ONE? I don't have just one favourite novel. I like many.
24) Play?
Much Ado About Nothing - what? I dig humour.
The Importance of Being Earnest - *snickers* Humour, I tell you.
Der Besuch der alten Dame - that would be Friedrich Dürrenmatt and I once played the teacher in a school production
25) Poem?
Possibly T.S. Elliot's cats poems. Or Shakespeare's sonnet 130... also like 145.
26) Essay?
I only read essays for uni, so the enjoyment I get out of them is limited.
27) Short story?
An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce - seriously cool. Had to read it in my first year at university, oh so many years ago. It has stayed with me since and has finally served as the idea for a story of my own.
28) Work of non-fiction?
London - The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie, Vikram Chandra, Amitav Ghosh, Kai Meyer, Walter Moers, Eoin Colfer ... geesh, another of these questions where I could just go on and on and on
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer? Dunno, there's a lot of crap out there and I wouldn't even call her a writer.
31) What is your desert island book?
Again with the one book question. D'uh, I'd need something that would give me many hours of reading, so I guess I'd pick something long and convoluted and that I wouldn't touch with a ten-feet-barge pole otherwise. Hmmm... Moby Dick maybe. Or War and Peace. Something like that.
32) And ... what are you reading right now?
ahahahahahhahaogod *takes deep breath* Here we go. (in no particular order)
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra
the last book of Die Wolkenvolk-Trilogie by Kai Meyer
the last book of Die Wellenläufer-Trilogie by Kai Meyer (also available in English as The Wave Walkers/Runners Trilogy)
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (though I'm actually not reading it at the moment as I don't want it to end. I've been not-reading the last two pages for two weeks now. *whines* I don't want it to be over!)
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer (very slow reading as I don't like the style of writing)
Mieses Karma by David Safier
Talking About Jane Austen In Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit
oh, and my eternal I-will-never-finish-this-because-I'm-so-easily-distracted-by-shiny-new-books Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingt Jours by Jules Verne (well, the fact that it's in French doesn't make it a speed-read exactly either)
I think that's it... well, there are several books, essays and whatnot I have to read for university but I don't think they count for this meme. :)
There you go. Not tagging anyone but you are very welcome to snag and tell us about your book preferences, too.
1) What author do you own the most books by?
That would be Terry Pratchett. Without a doubt.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
joint first place for Harry Potter volume 1 to 3
(twice in English, once in German, once in French)
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
First question: yes. I cringed reading it. Second question: not as much as with the first question.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
... never thought about that I must say. Don't think with anybody really. (And again with the preposition! *g*)
4a) What fictional character would you most like to be?
So, so many. Either of the four musketeers because they sound like great fun. The Red Zora because ... damn, I wanted to live in a castle ruin and be some kind of Robin Hood, too. (Well, I also want red hair but that's beside the point.) *shrugs* Almost any given character in an adventure book really. I did not read adventure stories, I gobbled them up when I was a kid. Though to tell you the truth, I didn't exactly want to be one of the characters, I'd rather be myself running around with these characters. Best example: Prince Valiant. You know, the comics by Hal Forster. Loved them. Loved, loved, loved Valiant and Gawain's antics whenever they were at Camelot together. I wanted in on the fun.
4b) What fictional character do you think most resembles you?
No idea.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
Probably one or the other Terry Pratchett or an Agatha Christie.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes, the Miss Marple books, Prince Valiant, Asterix ... *shrugs* I read a lot. I don't really remember what I loved. Probably some books about horses, too. Ooh, I also like those Enid Blyton (was it E.B.?) books ... adventure something something
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Twilight (well, only read the first chapter and then started ranting, and cussing, and yelling, and never picked it up again.)
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Tod und Teufel by Frank Schätzing - awesome book (at least I think I've read it last year. might have been the year before. I'm so bad at remembering what I read when.)
Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov, too.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra is beyond brilliant.
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Cohen / Lovejoy is a fun and quick read.
Bel Canto by Anne Patchett is breathtaking.
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is terrific, too.
Good Omens by Pratchett / Gaiman is hilarious (though stay clear of it if you're a sensitive Christian).
While I'm on the subject of Pratchett ... If you want to try his Discworld books and don't know where to start, I'd recommend Going Postal.
A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz is another of those brilliant reads (though the English version from Vintage Books, London has cut the text... at least, when compared to the German book).
oh, and one for madly_love : If you like Agatha Christie, try a P.D. James book. You might also enjoy Alexander McCall Smith's books about Mme Ramotswe from The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency.
In all honesty, I wouldn't recommend only one book. Everyone's tastes are different and I'd much rather recommend something the person might possibly enjoy reading...
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
I've never paid much attention to it.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Don't care. Films usually butcher a book beyond reckoning anyway.
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
see 11)
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
No dreams involving writers, books or literary characters. At least, none I can remember.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Twilight or the multitude of stupid chicklit I gobble up occasionally. And I don't mean enjoyable chicklit. I mean really, really stupid chicklit where the title and cover is the best about the book.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Moby Dick. Five months of torturous boringness and then I gave up.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
*blinks* I didn't know there are any Shakespeare plays that are obscure. I thought they were all ... well, unobscure.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Have only read Voltaire, DeSade, Tolstoi, and Dostoyewski. Don't feel I'm well-read enough to make a decision. But of these four I've enjoyed cynical Voltaire the most. He, at least, was amusing. DeSade was boring. Tolstoi and Dostoyewski were all dark and depressing.
18) Roth or Updike?
Have so far read neither Phillip Roth nor John Updike.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
same as 18)
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
don't make me chose! Well, either Shakespeare or Chaucer.
21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I'm sadly unread in what they consider classics.
23) What is your favorite novel?
WHY DO THESE QUESTIONS ALWAYS WANT ME TO CHOSE ONE? I don't have just one favourite novel. I like many.
24) Play?
Much Ado About Nothing - what? I dig humour.
The Importance of Being Earnest - *snickers* Humour, I tell you.
Der Besuch der alten Dame - that would be Friedrich Dürrenmatt and I once played the teacher in a school production
25) Poem?
Possibly T.S. Elliot's cats poems. Or Shakespeare's sonnet 130... also like 145.
26) Essay?
I only read essays for uni, so the enjoyment I get out of them is limited.
27) Short story?
An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce - seriously cool. Had to read it in my first year at university, oh so many years ago. It has stayed with me since and has finally served as the idea for a story of my own.
28) Work of non-fiction?
London - The Biography by Peter Ackroyd
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie, Vikram Chandra, Amitav Ghosh, Kai Meyer, Walter Moers, Eoin Colfer ... geesh, another of these questions where I could just go on and on and on
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer? Dunno, there's a lot of crap out there and I wouldn't even call her a writer.
31) What is your desert island book?
Again with the one book question. D'uh, I'd need something that would give me many hours of reading, so I guess I'd pick something long and convoluted and that I wouldn't touch with a ten-feet-barge pole otherwise. Hmmm... Moby Dick maybe. Or War and Peace. Something like that.
32) And ... what are you reading right now?
ahahahahahhahaogod *takes deep breath* Here we go. (in no particular order)
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra
the last book of Die Wolkenvolk-Trilogie by Kai Meyer
the last book of Die Wellenläufer-Trilogie by Kai Meyer (also available in English as The Wave Walkers/Runners Trilogy)
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (though I'm actually not reading it at the moment as I don't want it to end. I've been not-reading the last two pages for two weeks now. *whines* I don't want it to be over!)
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer (very slow reading as I don't like the style of writing)
Mieses Karma by David Safier
Talking About Jane Austen In Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit
oh, and my eternal I-will-never-finish-this-because-I'm-so-easily-distracted-by-shiny-new-books Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingt Jours by Jules Verne (well, the fact that it's in French doesn't make it a speed-read exactly either)
I think that's it... well, there are several books, essays and whatnot I have to read for university but I don't think they count for this meme. :)
There you go. Not tagging anyone but you are very welcome to snag and tell us about your book preferences, too.