Book Meme 2021
Borrowing this from supernutjapan and dizzojay. Thanks for posting this! Here are my responses, for what they're worth:
1. Which book would you consider the best book you’ve ever read and why? That's a nearly impossible question to answer. I love Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the way it imbues the American landscape with meaning & reimagines old stories. I'm eternally grateful to Gaiman for creating Shadow Moon. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith is one of the few books that I could say contains mostly loveable characters. Pride and Prejudice's structure is nearly perfect. The Stand and The Haunting of Hill House haunt me to this day.
All of which is by way of begging you not to make me pick!
2. Are you an Austen person or a Bronte person? Austen. No contest--though I did enjoy Jane Eyre.
3. Are there any genres you will not read? I'm not a huge fan of romance, though I like it when it's blended into other genres.
4. Are you a fast or slow reader? It depends on the book. Some books are very fast reads, others require you to slow down and absorb the words or the material.
5. What was your relationship with books like as a child? I devoured them. I loved the re-read favorites--Nancy Drew, Burnett's The Secret Garden, & Peter Pan were all favorites. I also enjoyed scaring myself with true ghost stories...
6. Are you the type of person who will read a book to the end whether you like it or not, or will you put it down straight away if you’re not feeling into it? Nancy Pearl, an American librarian, has a rule which I've adopted: I give a book 50-100 pages. If it hasn't caught me by then, I put it down. I might pick it up and try again, though, down the road.
7. Have you ever despised something you have read? Wuthering Heights. Not my idea of a good time, reading about spoiled people making each other miserable, and destroying everyone else in the vicinity while they're at it. (The ghostly hand in the storm got me, though--)
8. Do you prefer to read first person or third person? Either. I am fond of a good first person narrator, though. My much-loved Nero Wolfe mystery series comes to mind--the narrator, Archie Goodwin, is great company. Likewise, Watson, Huck Finn, Harry Dresden, Cassandra from I Capture the Castle are all memorable narrators.
9. Are you for or against multiple narrators in the same book? I have nothing against it in principle, as long as it serves a purpose. I do have a soft spot for novels constructed from multiple characters' correspondence, diaries, and the like. Wilke Collins' The Moonstone is a great example of that.
10. Bookmarks, dog ears or leaving the novel open and face down to keep your spot? Bookmarks. Also receipts, scraps of paper--
11. Do you prefer to read at a certain time of day? These days I mostly read at night, before going to bed, or in bed.
12. Do you need to finish a book before you can move on to the next one, or will you have multiple books going at once? I usually read one book at a time, though I might have a print book and an audiobook going--one for bedtime, and one for the car or while doing chores.
13. How do you choose which book to read next? As a librarian, I'm often reading book club books (Somehow, I've wound up with 3 book groups--it's like college all over again!). These are chosen by my members, with some editorial help from me. Between clubs, I try to squeeze in a book for pure pleasure. I'll either pick something more or less at random from the library shelves or the e-book catalog, or try to catch up with favorite authors or series. I'm open to recommendations from co-workers, my brother, and friends, too.
14. What is your favorite children's book? Another tough one. I read and re-read The Secret Garden a lot when I was a kid, so that would be one. As an adult, I loved reading The Hobbit to my kids.
15. Do you agree that Jane Eyre should be considered a feminist novel? I never really thought about it as feminist. What are the pro and con arguments here? I mean, Jane is an independent and intelligent woman, but at the same time, her romantic choices are suspect--
16. What’s your favourite of Shakespeare’s plays? Hamlet. I think. On southerly days.
17. Do you know any poetry by heart? No, to my shame.
18. Did you enjoy the Hunger Games? I did.
19. E-reader or traditional book? I read both. Print books for the experience, e-books for expedience. I also really like audiobooks, which I download digitally.
20. Do you read in the bathroom? Yes, my husband says I camp out in the bathroom...
21. Ideal reading position? In bed with a couple of pillows, or on the couch with the book resting on a cushion in my lap. I used to be able to curl up in a chair, but not so much anymore.
22. Hardcover or paperback? Either, though I usually buy paperback.
33. Nicest edition or cheapest edition? Library edition!
24. Do you prefer happy endings or sad endings? Again, it depends. I just want it to be the right ending for the book, really.
25. Do you enjoy concepts in books to be concrete or abstract? I'm not sure of the question. Is it ultimately referring to writing style, or amount of subtlety involved? In general, I like books that are story and character driven, whether that's fiction or non-fiction. (It's all in the presentation.)
26. A book you studied in school and ended up loving? Shakespeare. Also, I took a graphic novel class in library school, and wound up loving the genre. I'd recommend Maus to anyone, and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, Craig Thompson's Blankets, not to mention Sandman.
7. Classics or modern literature? I read both, though probably more modern these days.
28. Thoughts on adults reading YA? Just because it's YA doesn't mean it's not good--whatever floats your boat, right?
29. Have you ever read a book in another language? In school I read parts of Don Quixote and Gil Blas in Spanish. I don't think I could do that now.
30. Have you ever written your own book? No. And most likely, won't, which is ok.
1. Which book would you consider the best book you’ve ever read and why? That's a nearly impossible question to answer. I love Neil Gaiman's American Gods for the way it imbues the American landscape with meaning & reimagines old stories. I'm eternally grateful to Gaiman for creating Shadow Moon. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith is one of the few books that I could say contains mostly loveable characters. Pride and Prejudice's structure is nearly perfect. The Stand and The Haunting of Hill House haunt me to this day.
All of which is by way of begging you not to make me pick!
2. Are you an Austen person or a Bronte person? Austen. No contest--though I did enjoy Jane Eyre.
3. Are there any genres you will not read? I'm not a huge fan of romance, though I like it when it's blended into other genres.
4. Are you a fast or slow reader? It depends on the book. Some books are very fast reads, others require you to slow down and absorb the words or the material.
5. What was your relationship with books like as a child? I devoured them. I loved the re-read favorites--Nancy Drew, Burnett's The Secret Garden, & Peter Pan were all favorites. I also enjoyed scaring myself with true ghost stories...
6. Are you the type of person who will read a book to the end whether you like it or not, or will you put it down straight away if you’re not feeling into it? Nancy Pearl, an American librarian, has a rule which I've adopted: I give a book 50-100 pages. If it hasn't caught me by then, I put it down. I might pick it up and try again, though, down the road.
7. Have you ever despised something you have read? Wuthering Heights. Not my idea of a good time, reading about spoiled people making each other miserable, and destroying everyone else in the vicinity while they're at it. (The ghostly hand in the storm got me, though--)
8. Do you prefer to read first person or third person? Either. I am fond of a good first person narrator, though. My much-loved Nero Wolfe mystery series comes to mind--the narrator, Archie Goodwin, is great company. Likewise, Watson, Huck Finn, Harry Dresden, Cassandra from I Capture the Castle are all memorable narrators.
9. Are you for or against multiple narrators in the same book? I have nothing against it in principle, as long as it serves a purpose. I do have a soft spot for novels constructed from multiple characters' correspondence, diaries, and the like. Wilke Collins' The Moonstone is a great example of that.
10. Bookmarks, dog ears or leaving the novel open and face down to keep your spot? Bookmarks. Also receipts, scraps of paper--
11. Do you prefer to read at a certain time of day? These days I mostly read at night, before going to bed, or in bed.
12. Do you need to finish a book before you can move on to the next one, or will you have multiple books going at once? I usually read one book at a time, though I might have a print book and an audiobook going--one for bedtime, and one for the car or while doing chores.
13. How do you choose which book to read next? As a librarian, I'm often reading book club books (Somehow, I've wound up with 3 book groups--it's like college all over again!). These are chosen by my members, with some editorial help from me. Between clubs, I try to squeeze in a book for pure pleasure. I'll either pick something more or less at random from the library shelves or the e-book catalog, or try to catch up with favorite authors or series. I'm open to recommendations from co-workers, my brother, and friends, too.
14. What is your favorite children's book? Another tough one. I read and re-read The Secret Garden a lot when I was a kid, so that would be one. As an adult, I loved reading The Hobbit to my kids.
15. Do you agree that Jane Eyre should be considered a feminist novel? I never really thought about it as feminist. What are the pro and con arguments here? I mean, Jane is an independent and intelligent woman, but at the same time, her romantic choices are suspect--
16. What’s your favourite of Shakespeare’s plays? Hamlet. I think. On southerly days.
17. Do you know any poetry by heart? No, to my shame.
18. Did you enjoy the Hunger Games? I did.
19. E-reader or traditional book? I read both. Print books for the experience, e-books for expedience. I also really like audiobooks, which I download digitally.
20. Do you read in the bathroom? Yes, my husband says I camp out in the bathroom...
21. Ideal reading position? In bed with a couple of pillows, or on the couch with the book resting on a cushion in my lap. I used to be able to curl up in a chair, but not so much anymore.
22. Hardcover or paperback? Either, though I usually buy paperback.
33. Nicest edition or cheapest edition? Library edition!
24. Do you prefer happy endings or sad endings? Again, it depends. I just want it to be the right ending for the book, really.
25. Do you enjoy concepts in books to be concrete or abstract? I'm not sure of the question. Is it ultimately referring to writing style, or amount of subtlety involved? In general, I like books that are story and character driven, whether that's fiction or non-fiction. (It's all in the presentation.)
26. A book you studied in school and ended up loving? Shakespeare. Also, I took a graphic novel class in library school, and wound up loving the genre. I'd recommend Maus to anyone, and Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, Craig Thompson's Blankets, not to mention Sandman.
7. Classics or modern literature? I read both, though probably more modern these days.
28. Thoughts on adults reading YA? Just because it's YA doesn't mean it's not good--whatever floats your boat, right?
29. Have you ever read a book in another language? In school I read parts of Don Quixote and Gil Blas in Spanish. I don't think I could do that now.
30. Have you ever written your own book? No. And most likely, won't, which is ok.