book maven meme
Here is the "Book Maven" meme, via
almostbasquiat. Repost and answer! (If it amuses you.)
1) What author do you own the most books by?
Stephen King. I really like most of his stories, they have lots of liver for me. There are other authors I would own more of, if they had written more books. Conrad Richter, for instance. Sharyn McCrumb. Toni Morrison.
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
The Stand...sort of. Hard back and paperback copies of both the original and uncut versions. Hardback because I love hardback, and paperback because I like to read in bed, and if The Stand fell out it might kill the dog.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
I didn't notice. (Ohio's where I'm from.)
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
If I told, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it? Besides, ahem. It's shamefully not a book character but a tv one.
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)?
Where the Red Fern Grows. I read it every year on Christmas Eve to make the time go faster. See next question.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Black Beauty. I read it every year on the day before my birthday to make the time go faster.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
I am going to take the fifth on this one because I hope I never google myself and find someone has listed me as author of the worst book they read last year!
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Sophie's Choice, by William Styron. Well, the writing was not the best, but the story swept all that to the side.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Don't get me started on forcing people to read. I believe that's why my kid, formerly known as The Book Baby, doesn't like to read. I would say just go to the library or the used bookstore and blindly grab a book from the stacks, make sure it's by someone you've never heard of, and try it. It might be broadening. Or not. But it'll be interesting to see, huh?
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
I'm sure I don't know who deserves what in this life. That's why someone invented American Idol.
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Before, After, and Somebody in Between by Jeannine Garsee! (Okay, I guess I do think I know who deserves what in this life, ha.)
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? It doesn't matter to me, because even if they make the most sucky book in the world into a movie (and they probably will) I don't have to go see it.
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I dreamed I was having dinner with Stephen King, Jeffrey Dahmer, Doc Holliday, and my first husband. I had extreme hope that ex would piss Doc off, Doc would shoot him, and then Jeff would eat him while Steve took notes. Then Tabitha King arrived, gave me a dirty look, pulled my old Royale typewriter out of the sideboard and started beating the ex with it. Doc called out advice, Jeff cried, and Steve kept eating. We were having fish sticks.
My apologies to the Kings, and make of it what you will.
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Pish posh, lowbrow. I am lowbrow. I gravitate towards lowbrow. I love popular fiction.
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Pub 17.
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I saw one Shakespearean play during high school. I don't recall which one it was. Either Hamlet or Macbeth I think, neither of which qualifies as obscure.
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French dressing, Russian hamsters. Okay, I know this means books. So far I prefer Flaubert, so I guess French.
18) Roth or Updike?
I haven't read them to compare.
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I haven't read them to compare.
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Only ever read Shakespeare.
21) Austen or Eliot?
Eliot...but don't ask me to justify it, as I can't.
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I don't like old fiction much.
23) What is your favorite novel?
My favorite books change, but The Trees by Conrad Richter is always at the top.
24) Play?
I dunno, I haven't been to any grownup plays. I like musicals though. I hear people say that musicals are dumb because real people don't just burst into song, and it is my mission in life to make that statement a lie.
25) Poem?
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
27) Short Story?
Sticks by Karl Edward Wagner, or The Last Rung on the Ladder, by Stephen King.
28) Work of nonfiction?
Chilton's manual.
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Conrad Richter
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
I don't know and I'm not taking it upon myself to determine the worth of other people or their work.
31) What is your desert island book?
How to Survive on a Desert Island.
32) What are you reading right now?
I stopped reading three other books to read through mine, so I'll just say Godlight.