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Monday, April 18, 2011

Monday Morning Meme

I actually got this a couple years ago, but forgot to do it.


Reading Meme

to play: Copy the questions into your own post, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this. Don't bother trying to italicize your book titles. We know you want to.**

1) What author do you own the most books by?

Nora Roberts.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?

Storm Front by Jim Butcher--3 or 4 paperbacks, a couple different hardcovers, and an audiobook. Oh, and an episode of the TV show.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?

No. I think the prohibition against ending sentences with prepositions is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put. :D

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

First literary love: Francisco d'Anconia. *sigh* Current heartthrob: Harry Dresden.

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)?

Hard to say. There are several I've read more than half a dozen times: Atlas Shrugged, Outlander, Naked in Death (and probably the next 4 or 5 in that series), Storm Front.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

When I was ten?? Hmmm. Maybe the Black Stallion series by Walter Farley. I've never been a horse-person, but I loved that series.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?

Probably the one where an army captain in on a 6-month "leave of absence" from the military (??) because the male general is sexually harassing him (?? no mention of DADT?), and he falls in love with a woman who can bench press TWICE her own body weight (?????? the world record holder doesn't even do that!). I got so bogged down and irritated by things like that I could barely get to the plot.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?

Changes by Jim Butcher. So aptly named, and it's his best yet. Ghost Story is even better, but taunting isn't nice, so that's all I'm saying about that.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?

Why We Suck by Denis Leary. There's something there to annoy pretty much everybody. :)

Alternatively: The Big Necessity by Rose George.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?

I don't keep up with current "literature"--too often I've found it to be over-hyped and either tedious or pedestrian. So I have no idea what would even been in the running. I've been impressed by the past winners I've read, though.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

Furies of Calderon, though I'm afraid they'd turn it into a kids' movie, so maybe just skip to Captain's Fury. So many great special effects in that series. And I've always thought Nora Roberts's Hot Ice would make the perfect romantic adventure/caper movie.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

Laura Kinsale's For My Lady's Heart and Shadowheart--I don't think a movie could capture the intensity, and the middle-English would be very hard to watch. Likewise, Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. Too busy, intense, and subtle for film.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.

Well, there was the dream where I was making oven-fried chicken and fish nuggets in a church basement kitchen with Jennifer Crusie and Nora Roberts. That was vivid and memorable and weird.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?

Defining a "lowbrow book" as one for the uneducated/uninterested/uninvolved, I'd have to say those "mysteries" that are just shells for recipes or crossword puzzles. And also some of the "erotica" or "romantica" that when you read it, you can almost hear the author snickering in the background about how naughty and daring they are.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?

House of Leaves was definitely not an easy book to read.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?

I don't think I've ever seen an actual Shakespeare play.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

I've read very little of either, so I have no real preference.

18) Roth or Updike?

I've read more Roth than Updike, but I'm not sure that indicates I like Roth more.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?

Never read either.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?

Not that big of a fan of any of them.

21) Austen or Eliot?

Austen--Eliot seems to be a little more long-winded and tedious, although I do like her plots and characters.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

There are a lot of "classics" I never read, but I've been remedying that with those 100 free classics I got with my first e-reader.

23) What is your favorite novel?

So many different ones for different reasons.

24) Play?

Noises Off. :D

25) Poem?

I am not at all a fan of poetry. I find most of it pretentious, and I simply don't have the patience for or the interest in absorbing imagery.

26) Essay?

Anything by Mil Millington.

27) Short story?

Tod Golberg's collection Simplify is a notable exception to my dislike for short stories in general. And I noticed when I was looking up the links for this that he has a new collection out: Other Resort Cities. Must buy.

28) Work of nonfiction?

I've been reading a lot more nonfiction lately, and I've been enjoying it, but none of the books has reached the status of "favorite" yet.

29) Who is your favorite writer?

Neil Gaiman. Closely followed by Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher, Jennifer Crusie, & Laura Kinsale

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

Nicholas Sparks. *shudder*

31) What is your desert island book?

Probably Atlas Shrugged--it's got everything: romance, adventure, philosophy, mystery, drama, plus it's a big fat doorstop of a book that has proven to stand up to re-reading.

32) And... what are you reading right now?

I just finished The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony, and am reading a couple short stories from Murder by Magic and a chapter from a women's fiction book that irritates me (like 95% of all women's fiction that I've read) but that I still feel compelled to finish. I haven't decided yet what to read next.

** whoops. I italicized my book titles anyway.


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