7.28.2010

29 Random Reading-Related Questions

I'm embarrassed to admit that I have lost the origin of this meme. I got so into answering the questions that I closed the window and thus, the link. If this is yours, please comment and let us all know :)

1. What author do you own the most books by? Probably Jan Karon because I like to have full collections, and I love her Fr. Tim series (my MIL got me hooked)

2. What book do you own the most copies of? Only one of each now, although at one time I owned multiple copies of 2 books because I kept loaning them out and never getting them back: We’re On a Mission From God by Mary Beth Bonacci and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with a preposition? Nope

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? I'm not sure I want to answer this one because then I'll be admitting to having read a few romance novels, and for some reason I find that embarrassing ... but if I'm honest, then it will be Murphy from Born in Shame by Nora Roberts. It's gotta be the Irish in me :)

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding children’s picture books)? Lamb by Christopher Moore – I can probably quote the thing by now. It’s my go-to book when I don't have anything that peaks my interest at the moment.

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott or anything Nancy Drew

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood ... probably the first and last book of hers that I pick up. I couldn't even finish it. It was truly awful.

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the last year? One Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

9. If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature? I don't really care. Looking at the list for the winners of the past 20 years, I don't know who any of them are, anyway. I'd vote for Dave Barry or Christopher Moore, just because they make me laugh.

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? Lamb – because I love it so much.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie? Lamb – because I love it so much.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I don’t usually remember my dreams and don’t recall one involving any of the above.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you read as an adult? I don't remember the name but it was a period romance novel set in England where a beautiful farmer's daughter and the 'stable boy' you know then have to elope, only to find out he's rich and snobby with a bad rep, and upset about this marriage. They hate each other, blah blah blah, but of course declare their love just when you think all is lost.

15. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? Anna Karinina – that thing took a sweet forever to wade through

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve ever seen? Does he have obscure plays? I suppose. I don’t even know who to answer this. Guess I’ll go with Love’s Labours Lost though I don’t really think it’s obscure.

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Probably Russians, but only because I find their history so fascinating. Their books can become a quagmire of words and conflict. Sheesh.

18. Roth or Updike? Never read either and couldn't care less.

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Dave Barry

20. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare

21. Austen or Eliot? Austen

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? hmmm … there are so many! Probably A Catcher in the Rye. I haven't read Kurt Vonnegut yet either (I know, I know!)

23. What is your favorite novel? How do I pick?!! Probably To Kill a Mockingbird, followed closely by The Lord of the Rings, Gone with the Wind and The Robe.

24. Favorite play? Love’s Labours Lost

25. Favorite poem? “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman and "Hope" by Emily Dickinson

26. Favorite essay? I tend to like the transcendentalists, Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, though it's been years and years since I have picked any of them up. I doubt I've read one since college.

27. Favorite short story? The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin or The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

28. Favorite work of nonfiction? In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

29. Favorite writers? Mary Stewart, Harper Lee

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Dan Brown

31. What is your desert island book? hmmm ... probably The Lord of the Rings. It's long enough to last many re-readings :)

32. What are you reading now? The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman