Friday Five 20-October
1. What book frightened you as a young person?
I remember back then, during a family trip to Europe, our last stop was London, and we were exploring around. I was very sick - I forgot when we went, but the air in London was so dry I was basically coughing my throat raw. I remember passing by a bookshop and Mom allowed my sister and I to each choose a book. I don't remember the name of the book I chose (nor the contents), but the bookcover was a tree with an owl at night. Meanwhile my sister chose Terry Pratchett's Mort. At that time I didn't know Terry Pratchett. But the cover sort of spooked me. It wasn't the skeleton (now I know is Death). It was that white haired woman that spooked me, and I didn't dare touch that book for the longest time.
Then, during my University time, I discovered Terry Pratchett, the joys of Discworld, and Hey WTF I always had a Pratchett book lying around at home! And that was when I read it. That was like, almost 20 years?? Took me long enough!
2. If you had to become a ‘living book (i.e. able to recite the contents of a book cover to cover upon request - reference Fahrenheit 451), what book would it be?
I think it would either be Pride and Prejudice or Black Beauty. Pride and Prejudice because you wouldn't believe how many times I've read it. Not particularly because I liked it, but because I had it as the school curriculum... it was part of our Literature O-levels. So we had to deal with that book for 2 years. Every week, during literature class, the class (40-something people) was made to either read the passages altogether, or one student would be called out to read after another. If a student who was fluent in English got picked, then it was smooth sailing. If it was a student who couldn't read English, then it would be a drag. The teacher would nit-pick at every single word she read. (which really, shouldn't happen. By Form 4, I guess everyone should have reached a certain level of English proficiency, but I digress).
Anyway, I would be reading ahead on my own everytime. After around 2 chapters ahead, I had to backtrack and go back to where the class was reading at... in case the teacher pop quizes and asks me to answer a question... it wouldn't be that I didn't know what happened in the book, it would be that I didn't know in which point of the book the question was about.
As for Black Beauty, that was my first real "novel-length" novel and I was damn proud of having that book. During my school years, every time summer holidays came around, that's the first book I'd read. Sometimes I'd read it over Christmas break too. So I've read that book for... a good 13 times or so?
3. What movie or TV show scared you as a kid?
I can only think of.... Pet Cemetery...
4. What movie (scary or otherwise) will you never ever watch?
I'm not big on movies to boot. But I do go watch some scary movies. The last one I watched, if I'm not mistaken was Annabel (however you spell that)... or was that the other movie that was pre-Annabel? Don't remember.
5. Do you have any phobias?
I have a variation of crowd-phobia (more annoyance than phobia) but I don't think I have anything that's clinically phobiatic or whatever.
I remember back then, during a family trip to Europe, our last stop was London, and we were exploring around. I was very sick - I forgot when we went, but the air in London was so dry I was basically coughing my throat raw. I remember passing by a bookshop and Mom allowed my sister and I to each choose a book. I don't remember the name of the book I chose (nor the contents), but the bookcover was a tree with an owl at night. Meanwhile my sister chose Terry Pratchett's Mort. At that time I didn't know Terry Pratchett. But the cover sort of spooked me. It wasn't the skeleton (now I know is Death). It was that white haired woman that spooked me, and I didn't dare touch that book for the longest time.
Then, during my University time, I discovered Terry Pratchett, the joys of Discworld, and Hey WTF I always had a Pratchett book lying around at home! And that was when I read it. That was like, almost 20 years?? Took me long enough!
2. If you had to become a ‘living book (i.e. able to recite the contents of a book cover to cover upon request - reference Fahrenheit 451), what book would it be?
I think it would either be Pride and Prejudice or Black Beauty. Pride and Prejudice because you wouldn't believe how many times I've read it. Not particularly because I liked it, but because I had it as the school curriculum... it was part of our Literature O-levels. So we had to deal with that book for 2 years. Every week, during literature class, the class (40-something people) was made to either read the passages altogether, or one student would be called out to read after another. If a student who was fluent in English got picked, then it was smooth sailing. If it was a student who couldn't read English, then it would be a drag. The teacher would nit-pick at every single word she read. (which really, shouldn't happen. By Form 4, I guess everyone should have reached a certain level of English proficiency, but I digress).
Anyway, I would be reading ahead on my own everytime. After around 2 chapters ahead, I had to backtrack and go back to where the class was reading at... in case the teacher pop quizes and asks me to answer a question... it wouldn't be that I didn't know what happened in the book, it would be that I didn't know in which point of the book the question was about.
As for Black Beauty, that was my first real "novel-length" novel and I was damn proud of having that book. During my school years, every time summer holidays came around, that's the first book I'd read. Sometimes I'd read it over Christmas break too. So I've read that book for... a good 13 times or so?
3. What movie or TV show scared you as a kid?
I can only think of.... Pet Cemetery...
4. What movie (scary or otherwise) will you never ever watch?
I'm not big on movies to boot. But I do go watch some scary movies. The last one I watched, if I'm not mistaken was Annabel (however you spell that)... or was that the other movie that was pre-Annabel? Don't remember.
5. Do you have any phobias?
I have a variation of crowd-phobia (more annoyance than phobia) but I don't think I have anything that's clinically phobiatic or whatever.