Reading meme
In place of an actual update (forthcoming, I promise!), have a meme. Taken from glorious_clio.
What books are your comfort reading--the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
In times of stress, it's best for me to dive into books I haven't read so I can lose myself in new worlds and situations. The books I cozy up with when I'm in the mood for an old friend are Patricia Wrede's Mairelon the Magician and Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted.
What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
This depends entirely on which age we're talking about here. I loved, at various points, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, I-Spy Christmas, a picture book with accompanying cassette tape on thunderstorm safety that ended every page with a crack of thunder, the Babysitter's Club series, and about a million other books I can't remember right now.
What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
Adolescence began my period of voracious reading, and I don't think I had a favorite. My favorite author was Tamora Pierce. One book I particularly adored was The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, but I think that only stands out because it was a single book I loved instead of an author or series.
What is the most unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf--the books you've bought but just never get around to reading?
Short story collections and anthologies. I like short stories, but I can't get invested in them like I can with novels. I buy them because I know I should be doing more short fiction reading, since I write short stories, damn it, but...then they end up collecting dust on my shelf. They only tend to get read when I need travel or waiting room reading.
What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
Anything published before 1980. The classics. Seminal novels in fantasy and sci-fi. History books. (Also the aforementioned short fiction anthologies and collections.)
What's the oddest book you've ever read?
That's a strange question. Perdido Street Station was pretty odd, I guess. I don't tend to enjoy odd books, so mostly this question is leading me to think of all the books I've read and didn't like, which is not necessarily the same thing as odd.
What book were you never able to get through, despite the recommendations of people you respect?
...Perdido Street Station. Also the Lord of the Rings series. Oh, and The Catcher in the Rye, though I did eventually make it through when it was assigned for my YA lit class.
What's the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
I have never been devoted enough to the idea of reading a book I didn't enjoy to keep picking it up, though I suspect I'll give Lord of the Rings another go eventually.
What's your favorite short story--or do you even have one?
"These Hands" by Kevin Brockmeier, though I think it's probably technically a novelette. This story still gives me chills just thinking about it, two years after I first encountered it. I would have extreme writer envy, but the story is so far beyond anything I'll ever be capable of producing that it's not even worth being jealous over. Others that live in my mind and keep cropping up over and over again include "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link (actually a novella--I like longer fiction?), and "Followed" by Will McIntosh. (All available to read free online/downloadable! Sweet!)
The desert island. Three books (and collected works don't count. If you want the Lord of the Rings it'll cost you all three slots). Go:
Eek. I would be so undecided that they'd probably drag me off to the island while I hemmed and hawed, and then I'd end up with no books. Assuming survival how-to books are out of the question, I guess I'd probably toss in at least one enormous short fiction anthology (that doesn't count as a "collected work," does it? I'll say not.). I just don't have a single favorite book that is a grand and voluminous tome that could occupy me for hours and hours, and that's the sort of thing one would like to have when stranded on a desert island.
What books are your comfort reading--the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
In times of stress, it's best for me to dive into books I haven't read so I can lose myself in new worlds and situations. The books I cozy up with when I'm in the mood for an old friend are Patricia Wrede's Mairelon the Magician and Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted.
What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
This depends entirely on which age we're talking about here. I loved, at various points, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, I-Spy Christmas, a picture book with accompanying cassette tape on thunderstorm safety that ended every page with a crack of thunder, the Babysitter's Club series, and about a million other books I can't remember right now.
What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
Adolescence began my period of voracious reading, and I don't think I had a favorite. My favorite author was Tamora Pierce. One book I particularly adored was The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian, but I think that only stands out because it was a single book I loved instead of an author or series.
What is the most unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf--the books you've bought but just never get around to reading?
Short story collections and anthologies. I like short stories, but I can't get invested in them like I can with novels. I buy them because I know I should be doing more short fiction reading, since I write short stories, damn it, but...then they end up collecting dust on my shelf. They only tend to get read when I need travel or waiting room reading.
What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
Anything published before 1980. The classics. Seminal novels in fantasy and sci-fi. History books. (Also the aforementioned short fiction anthologies and collections.)
What's the oddest book you've ever read?
That's a strange question. Perdido Street Station was pretty odd, I guess. I don't tend to enjoy odd books, so mostly this question is leading me to think of all the books I've read and didn't like, which is not necessarily the same thing as odd.
What book were you never able to get through, despite the recommendations of people you respect?
...Perdido Street Station. Also the Lord of the Rings series. Oh, and The Catcher in the Rye, though I did eventually make it through when it was assigned for my YA lit class.
What's the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
I have never been devoted enough to the idea of reading a book I didn't enjoy to keep picking it up, though I suspect I'll give Lord of the Rings another go eventually.
What's your favorite short story--or do you even have one?
"These Hands" by Kevin Brockmeier, though I think it's probably technically a novelette. This story still gives me chills just thinking about it, two years after I first encountered it. I would have extreme writer envy, but the story is so far beyond anything I'll ever be capable of producing that it's not even worth being jealous over. Others that live in my mind and keep cropping up over and over again include "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Magic for Beginners" by Kelly Link (actually a novella--I like longer fiction?), and "Followed" by Will McIntosh. (All available to read free online/downloadable! Sweet!)
The desert island. Three books (and collected works don't count. If you want the Lord of the Rings it'll cost you all three slots). Go:
Eek. I would be so undecided that they'd probably drag me off to the island while I hemmed and hawed, and then I'd end up with no books. Assuming survival how-to books are out of the question, I guess I'd probably toss in at least one enormous short fiction anthology (that doesn't count as a "collected work," does it? I'll say not.). I just don't have a single favorite book that is a grand and voluminous tome that could occupy me for hours and hours, and that's the sort of thing one would like to have when stranded on a desert island.