Less banal than usual book meme
1) The worst reading experience that you have ever had?
Not counting stuff I had to read for school or other academic purposes - I have probably mentioned far too often already the orrible trauma caused by reading Marie of Roumania's The Lily of Life when I was about 7 or 8. I also still cringe at the memory of finding myself on a train with nothing to read but George Meredith's The Egoist (which I had read years before and believed myself to have enjoyed) and hating it to the point of wanting to throw it out of the window, except the windows didn't open.
2) The best reading experience you have ever had?
I'm not sure there's any one best - how does one decide between Miss J at primary school reading The Curious Lobster to the class on Friday afternoons, and on first looking into the pages of John Stuart Mill after crawling painfully through the rebarbative prose of Thomas Carlyle? I will go for something that may not even be primarily about reading at all. - I would have been about 15 or so and for some reason the rest of the family were out and my mother and I were alone in the house for the evening. We had a supper of something only we liked (and I think this was the first time I'd had it) and read at the table which normally didn't happen: as I recall, what I was reading was How Green Was My Valley for the first time. And then we went out to the pictures (Lawrence of Arabia?).
3) Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?
If a book has influenced one that much, one probably doesn't even remember what it was, it's too embedded in one's being.
4) Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of?
See above re The Lily of Life, which had some really gruesome passages. Also, when I was subletting a room in a student house during the long vacation, among the books around were a couple of horror anthologies I wish I could erase from memory.
5) What do you use as a bookmark?
Although there are various bookmarks around, e.g. from Persephone Books or freebies from booksellers, I seldom seem to be able to put my hand on them as needed. I do reprehensible things like turning down corners or leaving book open, if I can't find some odd scrap of paper
6) When do you usually read? At home, work, while cooking, in the morning, noon, afternoon, before you go to bed...?
At home, on transport, at meals, while waiting for things...
7) Do you remember the first book that you read?
Not unless you count the first episode in the 'Janet and John' school reading series, which was, I think, Here We Go
8) Which do you prefer - paperback or hardcover?
Paperback for portability, but hardbacks where that's what's available.
9) What are you currently reading? What page are you on?
Peter O'Donnell, The Night of Morningstar, page 104, H G Cocks, Classifed: the secret history of the personal column, page 24, and approximately page 222 or of printout of thesis I am reading.
10) Do you ever leave "a mark" (deliberate and/or not deliberate) in your books? For example, write in them, underline quotes, coffeemarks or food crumbs and etc.
O dear yes: see above re reading at meals. I also have been known to annotate, underline, etc, for research or review purposes.
11) Does the title, amount of pages and the cover affect you when you are considering a specific book?
Only if the issue at stake is will it go into my handbag does size become a concern. Title, no, cover no: I have some things in my collection with covers that make me cringe.
12) Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending?
Yes - usually if I'm thinking of giving up on something and want to see if my guess at how it's all going to end is correct
13) Has knowing the ending of a book (example, through spoilers or a movie) ever made you decide whether you will read the book or not?
No
14) Is there a book that you have read more than five times?
Too many to count, really, and many lots more than five times.
15) Have you ever been in an accident where the book was the cause? (for example, almost getting hit by a car when reading while walking, or having stacks of books falling on you from a bookshelf...)
I think there have been occasional falling books.
16) Do you sell/give away your books or do you keep them, even though you don't like one of them?
I try to get rid of them, but I find it's very hard, even if I know I won't ever look at them again.
17) Do you have some kind of book system, where you write down what you are reading, have bought, will read, will buy and etc?
Only very recently: I have begun log reading on my Facebook and in my Vox blog (which is really all I use it for). I used to keep notes of books to look out for in the library or buy in the notes at the back of my appointment diaries, but this lapsed a long time ago. But really, I have too many books for it to seem practicable to start inputting them into some kind of database.