book survey (taken from hayleyghoover)
1. What author do you own the most books by?
JK Rowling. I have a copy of each of the 7, and then another copy of Deathly Hallows (I rescued it from a used book store), Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch through the ages, and fantastic beasts. ...Though maybe I shouldn't count Sorcerer's Stone or Fantastic Beasts...I can't find my copies. =[
2. What book do you own the most copies of?
I don't really own multiple copies. I own 2 copies of Deathly Hallows, and sometimes I think even that is excessive. (But I can't bear to give either one away!)
3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
I don't care. My French teacher would care, but I'm not insane.
4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Harry Potter. And Dex something-or-other from that Sarah Dessen book. Oh, and don't forget half of the other male characters in Harry Potter.
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 really don't know. I want to say the Harry Potter books, but I have a weird relationship with those books. I just pick them up and start reading at whichever page I open up to (though I really want to reread the entire series one of these days). Maybe The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, by Roald Dahl, I've read that at least 20 times.
6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Giraffe and the Pelly, and Me, Ella Enchanted, and Harry Potter. Amazingly, they're still on my list of favorite books.
7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
I don't want to say the Twilight series, but I'm having a hard time thinking of any others. Oh, okay, this isn't necessarily a "bad" book, but it was a disappointing book. The Bermudez Triangle. I'm not a huge fan of Maureen Johnson as an internet personality, but I had higher expectations for her writing. I suppose I thought since she was friends with John, I'd enjoy her writing as much as I did his. ...But, I didn't.
8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
The Catcher in the Rye, The great Gatsby, Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns.
9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
The Catcher in the Rye. Some people can't relate to Holden, but I do. (...That says something about me and it doesn't paint the best picture, does it?)
10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Sometimes I want to see books made into movies, but only the way I see them in my head. So no movie will ever be good enough.
11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Where the Wild Things Are. I can't figure out whether it's looking good or bad...I'm scared.
12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
My dreams tend to be weird, but I can't remember any.
13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I'm not an adult yet. You can't judge me yet.
14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Amor en los tiempos del colera. (Love in Times of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marques). I tried to read it in Spanish a couple of years ago, but being fluent in speaking didn't seem to translate to the page very well. I'll try it again soon. I'm reading a lot better now and I can always ask my mom if I'm completely lost.
15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm such a theatre nerd and it's the only one I've seen, so that makes me want to cry. I am a little scared however, to see the Scottish play. I have way too many hardcore theatre friends to not get massacred if I say the name by accident.
16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Haven't read any Russians, and yesterday I finally finished translating Petit Prince, so French.
17. Roth or Updike?
...
18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
... Where's my English major friend? Jez, I don't know these!
19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare, but only because I fell in love with Midsummer when I read it in the 8th grade.
20. Austen or Eliot?
I tentatively say Austen.
21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
This survey makes my self-esteem take a beating. My only defense is that the two college majors I'm considering are biology or Culinary Studies which are unrelated to literature, for the most part.
22. What is your favorite novel?
The Catcher in the Rye, the Great Gatsby, Looking for Alaska, and Deathly Hallows. And no one seems to love Katherines, but it's the first Green book I ever read, so it'll always be special to me.
23. Play?
Midsummer. I have the end memorized.
24. Poem?
I'm not a poetry buff, but I do like Whitman a lot.
25. Essay?
Here is where my self-esteem takes another beating.
26. Work of nonfiction?
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I just finished it, so it's fresh in my mind.
27. Who is your favorite writer?
John Green. He's been a huge influence in my life because not only is he a writer whose writing I liked before I discovered him online, but because of his presence online he has always felt really accessible. I mean, Kate wrote her college essay about him and Paper Towns and it got her a full ride, and she was actually able to tell him and he asked to read it. That's incredible.
28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
That woman. The creator of the glitter brigade.
29. What is your desert island book?
Can I ask for a library? I was just thinking yesterday, if I could spend the rest of my life reading, without having to worry about other obligations, it wouldn't be so bad. And a desert island seems to be pretty perfect for that purpose.
30. And... what are you reading right now?
Eldest, The Kite Runner, and Angels and Demons. And I should start the Memory Keeper's Daughter, because I figured that would be my summer reading, as my mom already owns it.