All about Books

[hells_half_acre]

1: Favorite Book

This is impossible to answer. At different stages of my life, I had different favourite books. I think I usually always say No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod and For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down by David Adams Richards. Those were my favourite books as a teenager. Now? Who knows. Maybe I should be cheerier and say The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

2: Least favorite book

I don't tend to read books that I dislike. So, I'll say the Twilight series, or anything to do with vampires.

3: Book that makes you laugh out loud

Ok, this is also impossible to answer, since I laugh at just about everything. I suppose the books that had me laughing the most were Ellen Degeneres' books...do those count? Right now I'm ready Good Omens, and that has me laughing quite a bit.

4: Book that makes you cry

Oh man, there was this YA book I read when I was a young teen...I forget what it was called, but this kids father dies of cancer, and he has this little owl figurine...and it was THE SADDEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF FOREVER. Anyway, I try to avoid sad books like the plague.

5: Book you wish you could live in

Harry Potter, I guess? Or actually, I mean, except for all the world upheavel and horrible circumstances, I'd love to live in the Wheel of Time series. I would be Matt, but marry Perrin. It's totally doable....and again, preferably without the horrible circumstances. I never did finish that series - it got too stressful.

6: Favorite young adult book

The Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. I also really liked a book called Hold On, Geronimo by Marilyn Halvorson.

7: Book that you can quote/recite

Hamlet? I guess that's a play....um... I know a lot of quotes from Harry Potter, of course. Other than that, it's odds and ends from various books.

8: Book that scares you

There's this scene in The Hatchet...oh man...I'm not even going to describe it.

9: Book that makes you sick

That scene in A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Ugh.

10: Book that changed your life

I don't think any book changed my life. They've challenged me intellectually, but that's just what books do.

11: Book from your favorite author

I don't really have a favourite author.

12: Book that is most like your life

I read books about other people - so, I don't think there is a book I've read that is most like my life. I think Lockpick Pornography by Joey Comeau does a good job of catching a particular mental states that I can sometimes fall into, but um...if you ever read that book, you will realize that it is NOTHING like me or my life.

13: Book whose main character is most like you

Maybe the dude in the Hatchet? He's very calm and matter of fact about things.

14: Book whose main character you want to marry 

I really liked Perrin in the Wheel of Time series...at least up until Book 8 (which is as far as I got). Other than that...um...Remus Lupin? He's not a main character though. Also, looking at these choices, it seems I have a thing for wolf-men. :-P

15: First “chapter book” you can remember reading as a child

The Noddy books. Sadly, they are now banned for supposedly being racist or something. I loved them. To my knowledge, I am not a racist.

16: Longest book you’ve read

Probably a history book for school. But, fiction? Um...the Wheel of Time series until book 8, if you count it as one giant book.

17: Shortest book you’ve read 

I have no idea. Probably something when I was learning to read. Dick and Jane?

18: Book you’re most embarrassed to say you like 

I'm not embarrassed by any of my books, I don't think.

19: Book that turned you on 

The Girl Who Couldn't Come by Joey Comeau (it's a collection of dirty stories).

20: Book you’ve read the most number of times 

Probably the third Harry Potter book. I read it in English, then German, then listened to the audio book...then possibly read it again. I also read Hold On, Geronimo a bunch of times back in the day. Oh wait...no, it's probably Catcher in the Rye...I've read that too many times to count, and also in German.

21: Favorite picture book from childhood 

I have no idea.

22: Book you plan to read next 

I'm currently reading like 6 books...so I plan to finish one of those. After that, I think the next book on the list is Cloud Atlas. It's already in my bed, and that usually means that it's next in line. (Yes, I sleep with books...I have a shortage of shelves, and it's just more convenient this way).

23: Book you tell people you’ve read, but haven’t (or haven’t actually finished)

1984, and a bunch of the "classics" - I just can't be bothered, and they've all been spoiled by now.

24: Book that contains your favorite scene 

There's a scene in For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down that I call the "New Shoes" scene....and it's just...brilliant. I love it. It's very understated and no one really says or does anything out of the ordinary, and yet it's so amazingly heartwrenching. I have read that scene many a time.

25: Favorite book you read in school 

Hamlet. Does that count yet? Other than that, there were some books in elementary school I liked - Sign of the Beaver, and My Side of the Mountain.

26: Favorite nonfiction book 

Oh man...um, Western Civilization? Empires of the Word: a language history of the world. What else...Night, by Elie Wiesel (that kind of skims the line, there are some events in it that are fictionalized, but it is still only the truth.) Yes...I think I'm going to go with Night by Elie Wiesel.

27: Favorite fiction book

See question one.

28: Last book you read 

Until the end? Come Thou, Tortoise by Jessica Grant. It was amazing and terrific.

29: Book you’re currently reading

1)Good Omens (Must finish this before Friday night.)
2)I Am A Strange Loop - it's a book on philosophical mathematics! 
3)Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: the genetic history of Great Britain and Ireland.
4, 5, 6, 7....) I currently have four or five bookmarks in other books that I have not picked up again in over a year. They are all (for the most part) non-fiction books, so I don't have to worry about remembering or following a narrative. I'll get back to them eventually.

This is, sadly, how I read books. I blame university. 

30: Favorite coffee table book 

I don't have time for coffee table books! Have you seen the list of books that I'm reading?! I don't do casual!

I've stolen this from franztastisch, who stole it from tumblr.

Comments

[jeymien.livejournal.com]

You know.. Perrin and Remus have alot in common - both of them fight against and dislike their wolf. Makes sense you like both those characters.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Very true! I apparently have a thing for conflicted wolf-men. ;)

[khek.livejournal.com]

I loved Hold On, Geronimo! I even went on amazon.ca to get all of Marilyn Halverson's other books, because they weren't available in the US. I keep trying to recommend it to kids to read, but I think the cover and size (we have the tiny laurel-leaf edition at my library) puts them off.

You have some great choices there.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man! I have never met another person who has read Hold On, Geronimo! AWESOME! :)

It's too bad kids are turned away by the cover and the size - it is a good story. I remember trying to find more of Marilyn Halverson's books after reading it, but back then I couldn't find them easily. I bet I'd have a much easier time of it now.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

#4 sounds like Mama's Going to Buy You a Mockingbird by Jean Little. It also made me cry, a lot.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man! YES that was it! BUCKETS OF TEARS.

[an-cat-dubh.livejournal.com]

I love (it might not be a strong enough word) Good Omens, I think I reread it everytime I fly to England. I might also strongly encourage all my friends to read it, mostly because it will make you laugh. I also happen to love Neil Gaiman.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series?

My absolute most favorite series in the whole world!

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

This is, sadly, how I read books. I blame university.

LOL I read like this too, and I can't really blame uni because I've never enrolled in one. I blame my short attention span.

I've never finished Good Omens, or American Gods, but I've been thinking of picking them up again. And you read a lot of Joey Comeau! The only one I've read so far is Overqualified, and I found that slightly heartbreaking and really hilarious. Been meaning to check his other books out, so thanks for the recs.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really like him. I'm loving Good Omens.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I have not! I will look into them (eventually...so much to read already!)

But thanks for the recommendation!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's my short attention span too :P Also, I find that I like to read certain books in certain scenarios - for some reason, my "beach reading" (ie: sitting in the hot sunshine) is philosophical mathematics. My "couch reading" is quick light reads, like A Spot of Bother or Good Omens, etc...

American Gods would have been hard for me to finish if I had read it in book form, but I read it via audio-book, so it was a little easier to get through. That's how I read Anansi Boys too - and I LOVED the narrator for that one.

I haven't read ALL of Joey's stuff, because his horror is too horrific for me. So I've only read Lockpick Pornography, The Summer Is Over And We Are Not Yet Saved, Overqualified, and the "sequel" to Lockpick Pornography (whose name escapes me and is about completely different characters). Oh...and The Girl Who Couldn't Come, of course. So, yeah...I guess it's kind of obvious that Joey Comeau is one of my favourite authors. I really like his writing style and the sort of simple understated "poetry" of his work. "We laughed like glass broke - easily and believing we were never going back."

Also, how can you not love someone who says something like this: "Whenever people judge me for how much of my time I spend watching TV and horror movies I wonder if they've ever even been happy ever. EVER."

[jeymien.livejournal.com]

*grins


You know you should pick WoT back up :) Robert/James actually tried to get somewhere before he died and Brandon Sanderson's doing a good job finishing it up. It's too bad the too many subplots moving ahead the main plot problem got going in the first place. The last one should be out next year. Perrin's story got pretty good! (I love Faile. I really do.)

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

\o/ Gary Paulsen \o/ I love his stuff especially the books about dog sledding. He has a couple illustrated by his wife and she paints lovely pictures. I'm still a fan of "kid ends up on his/her own in the wilderness and survives" kind of books. Island of the Blue Dolphins was another one I liked as a kid.

Good Omens is one of the best things I've read in a while. He had me at "sauntered vaguely downwards." As a librarian on leave, I'm probably going to have to put something like this in my journal.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, I SHOULD pick WoT back up one of these days. I'm interested to see what happens to everybody. Mat and Perrin were my faves, because they reminded me of me and my best friend. (only far more conflicted versions...if *I* turned into a wolf-person, I would have been like YES! THIS IS THE GREATEST!)

Haha...I'll see if the library has them maybe. I always borrowed my best friend's copies, so when he moved out of the country and stopped buying them, I stopped reading.

And I really like Faile as well. She's so awesome. I kind of want to marry BOTH her and Perrin really.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ooo, neat. I didn't know that his wife illustrated some of them too. I can't remember how many of Gary Paulsen's books I've read...but yeah, I really like the "kid ends up on his own in the wilderness and survives" plot line too. Actually, it's part of the novel I'm writing, though the "kid" is a little bit older.

I loved the "sauntered vaguely downwards" too, but I think he actually had me at "I had it here a minute ago. I'll forget my head next." :)