From calla_s [me-me]
Book You're Reading Now:
Beer, art and philosophy (Marioni), which has a lovely subtitle: The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art. But the actual book is a bit boring, self-indulgent and "postmodern".
Last Book You Read:
On the weekend, finally finished Volume 1 of Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith), which is made up of Book 1: Improvement in Productive Powers of Labour; Book 2: Nature, Accumulation and Employment of Stock, and Book 3: Progress of Opulence of Different Nations. I guess they were interesting from a historic perspective - it was interesting to see which ideas are totally culturally integrated and common now (supply-demand), and which have been superceded (static value of labour to the employee). But ye olde 18th century circuitousness and verbosity were a little wearing, not to mention the mind-glazing detail of examples of variation in the price of wheat, corn, cattle, silver and gold. I might leave Volume 2 (Books 4 and 5) for an indefinite point in the future.
Next Book You're going to Buy/Read:
"Next Read" will probably be The Algebraist (Banks), have had it for a few weeks now and not started it, and I really should return it to the owner within a reasonable period! I also finally picked up a copy of The Long Run (Keys Moran) months ago now. It's been sitting there and I'm a bit scared to start it because I liked The Last Dancer so much. "Next Buy": I dunno, but I just got a book voucher for my birthday! Yay! (Thanks Daria!) Maybe Quicksilver? Some pop sci? Stacks of books I've had in the back of my mind.
Book You've Read the Most Times:
Hm. Probably a Pratchett or a Heinlein (the juvies, Podkayne? Star Beast?) or a White (Sector General series) or some other author I got into in adolescence and can reread with a "golden age" glow. Really no idea though, and would be quite biased to books I actually own a copy of, which requires having happened across them at a secondhand store (when I don't really trawl much, and had little money during my golden age) or books bought for travelling (when without library access).
Longest Book You've Read:
How would you know this? Book sizes, page numbers, paper thickness, hardbacks, etc. - all so variable, and am pretty sure I haven't noticed any word counts. (Can I be bothered googling? Not right now).
I tried and failed with War and Peace AND A remembrance of things past. Don't think I'll try W&P again, might have another go with Proust. One day.
But I guess thickish books that I currently have on my shelf include Cryptonomicon (Stephenson), Ash (Gentle), the Mars series (Robinson) - multiple book series should SO count as one book.
Book You've Read in the Shortest Time:
I recently read The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle) while waiting for the bathroom at a party - probably within a couple of minutes.
One Book You Wanted To Read That Disappointed You:
Most recently, Steppenwolf (Hesse). But also... The Mill on the Floss (Eliot), The Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy), and Mansfield Park (Austen). I want to like classic lit more, but... Also, The Blind Watchmaker (Dawkins) and Consilience (Wilson). Hm. Oops, this does just ask for one book. I didn't realize I'd retained my disappointment in all these. I would've said that overall, I'm rarely disappointed - but I guess that's mostly due to lack of expectation, which "classics" and famous authors have against them.
Have You Read Books in a Different Language From Yours?
Um. Struggled through Le Petit Prince (Saint Exupery). But no, as C said, "appallingly monolingual". Also had the briefest look at Albertine disparue (Proust), but I couldn't even handle it in English.
Writer You've Read the Most From:
Somehow forgot to keep a running tally of number of words from each. But writers I've pretty much read the entire ouevre of, and enjoyed (but who range hugely in prolificness): Iain [M.] Banks, Vernor Vinge, Terry Pratchett, Robert Heinlein, Guy Gavriel Kay, Greg Egan, Neal Stephenson, David Brin, Jane Austen, Lois M. Bujold, P.G. Wodehouse,... stacks more. This is very hard to judge. I've also read a fair amount by calla_s's Cherryh, but nowhere near all (none of my libraries have been completists on her), which makes it feel like she's not part of "Read the Most From".
Some Books You Like:
[*Agrees with calla_s*]: Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song For Arbonne, Tigana, and The Lions of Al-Rassan.
[*Agrees with calla_s again*]: Iain M Banks, The Use of Weapons - and is SO time for a reread. After I made my housemate read it and when he tried to discuss it with me, I realized how much I'd forgotten.
[*Agrees with calla_s again - wonders if I have to choose any of my own*]: Greg Egan, Axiomatic and Luminous.
Maybe also just pick randoms from the authors in the previous list? (naturally with some exceptions, esp. with Heinlein and Brin).
Some Books You Don't Like:
Off top of head (generally try to forget actively unlikeable books):
Wizards First Rule (Goodkind).
Voltaire's Bastards (Saul)
The Pulse of Eternity (Daud)
Beer, art and philosophy (Marioni), which has a lovely subtitle: The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art. But the actual book is a bit boring, self-indulgent and "postmodern".
Last Book You Read:
On the weekend, finally finished Volume 1 of Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith), which is made up of Book 1: Improvement in Productive Powers of Labour; Book 2: Nature, Accumulation and Employment of Stock, and Book 3: Progress of Opulence of Different Nations. I guess they were interesting from a historic perspective - it was interesting to see which ideas are totally culturally integrated and common now (supply-demand), and which have been superceded (static value of labour to the employee). But ye olde 18th century circuitousness and verbosity were a little wearing, not to mention the mind-glazing detail of examples of variation in the price of wheat, corn, cattle, silver and gold. I might leave Volume 2 (Books 4 and 5) for an indefinite point in the future.
Next Book You're going to Buy/Read:
"Next Read" will probably be The Algebraist (Banks), have had it for a few weeks now and not started it, and I really should return it to the owner within a reasonable period! I also finally picked up a copy of The Long Run (Keys Moran) months ago now. It's been sitting there and I'm a bit scared to start it because I liked The Last Dancer so much. "Next Buy": I dunno, but I just got a book voucher for my birthday! Yay! (Thanks Daria!) Maybe Quicksilver? Some pop sci? Stacks of books I've had in the back of my mind.
Book You've Read the Most Times:
Hm. Probably a Pratchett or a Heinlein (the juvies, Podkayne? Star Beast?) or a White (Sector General series) or some other author I got into in adolescence and can reread with a "golden age" glow. Really no idea though, and would be quite biased to books I actually own a copy of, which requires having happened across them at a secondhand store (when I don't really trawl much, and had little money during my golden age) or books bought for travelling (when without library access).
Longest Book You've Read:
How would you know this? Book sizes, page numbers, paper thickness, hardbacks, etc. - all so variable, and am pretty sure I haven't noticed any word counts. (Can I be bothered googling? Not right now).
I tried and failed with War and Peace AND A remembrance of things past. Don't think I'll try W&P again, might have another go with Proust. One day.
But I guess thickish books that I currently have on my shelf include Cryptonomicon (Stephenson), Ash (Gentle), the Mars series (Robinson) - multiple book series should SO count as one book.
Book You've Read in the Shortest Time:
I recently read The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Carle) while waiting for the bathroom at a party - probably within a couple of minutes.
One Book You Wanted To Read That Disappointed You:
Most recently, Steppenwolf (Hesse). But also... The Mill on the Floss (Eliot), The Mayor of Casterbridge (Hardy), and Mansfield Park (Austen). I want to like classic lit more, but... Also, The Blind Watchmaker (Dawkins) and Consilience (Wilson). Hm. Oops, this does just ask for one book. I didn't realize I'd retained my disappointment in all these. I would've said that overall, I'm rarely disappointed - but I guess that's mostly due to lack of expectation, which "classics" and famous authors have against them.
Have You Read Books in a Different Language From Yours?
Um. Struggled through Le Petit Prince (Saint Exupery). But no, as C said, "appallingly monolingual". Also had the briefest look at Albertine disparue (Proust), but I couldn't even handle it in English.
Writer You've Read the Most From:
Somehow forgot to keep a running tally of number of words from each. But writers I've pretty much read the entire ouevre of, and enjoyed (but who range hugely in prolificness): Iain [M.] Banks, Vernor Vinge, Terry Pratchett, Robert Heinlein, Guy Gavriel Kay, Greg Egan, Neal Stephenson, David Brin, Jane Austen, Lois M. Bujold, P.G. Wodehouse,... stacks more. This is very hard to judge. I've also read a fair amount by calla_s's Cherryh, but nowhere near all (none of my libraries have been completists on her), which makes it feel like she's not part of "Read the Most From".
Some Books You Like:
[*Agrees with calla_s*]: Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song For Arbonne, Tigana, and The Lions of Al-Rassan.
[*Agrees with calla_s again*]: Iain M Banks, The Use of Weapons - and is SO time for a reread. After I made my housemate read it and when he tried to discuss it with me, I realized how much I'd forgotten.
[*Agrees with calla_s again - wonders if I have to choose any of my own*]: Greg Egan, Axiomatic and Luminous.
Maybe also just pick randoms from the authors in the previous list? (naturally with some exceptions, esp. with Heinlein and Brin).
Some Books You Don't Like:
Off top of head (generally try to forget actively unlikeable books):
Wizards First Rule (Goodkind).
Voltaire's Bastards (Saul)
The Pulse of Eternity (Daud)