I yoinked this fantastic meme from The Book Smugglers. Woo hoo, it’s time to waste time talking about books!
1. What author do you own the most books by?
J.K. Rowling, but mainly because I have duplicate copies of the American editions of the Harry Potter series, and I’m collecting the British editions, too. Why are you all looking at me like that?
If we’re going for the most original titles, it’s Elizabeth Peters. The Amelia Peabody series is huge!
2. What book do you own the most copies of?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have the American hardback and paperback editions, plus a British adult cover hardback and two British children’s cover hardbacks. I found the British editions in a really spiffy set for dirt cheap at a used bookstore.
3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Do I have to limit myself to one? The most obvious one (at least at the moment) is Wolverine. :D If we’re going literary, I’ve got to be clichéd and say Mr. Darcy. He’s just so… brooding and dreamy!
4. What book have you read more than any other?
The first three books of the Harry Potter series. I lost count of how many times I’ve re-read them, but it’s definitely over 20 times each. In my defense, when I lived in Germany I had a job that involved many hours of sitting around. My manager quilted behind the counter, I read Harry Potter books.
5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I freaking LOVED that book, and it really helped shape my way of thinking.
6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I read it once and liked it, then read it again for class and cannot for the life of me figure out what the hell was wrong with me for liking it in the first place.
7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Hmm… I’m going to have to go with The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Nation by Terry Pratchett. Both were absolutely amazing.
8. If you could tell everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson. It’s creative nonfiction, describing the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. Not only does it deal with a disaster that shaped one of my favorite cities, it’s also beautifully written.
9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
Here, I will balk and say any number of literary criticism texts I’ve had to slog through as an undergrad and a grad student. There’s something to be said for trying to comprehend what in the living hell this author is trying to say about Lacan or composition theory when they’re trying to be as purposefully obtuse as possible.
10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Would I be cheating if I said the British? I’m a terrible English major, guys. I can’t recall if I’ve ever read anything by the Russians (or if I did, I’ve blocked it from my memory), and the only French novel I’ve read that I can recall off the top of my head was The Phantom of the Opera. Which wasn’t that great.
So, yeah. I like the Brits.
11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?
Oh my GOD, how can I choose?! I love Shakespeare. I adore Shakespeare. Milton’s Satan is one of the most brilliantly created characters in literature. Chaucer is freaking hilarious, once you learn how to navigate the Middle English (and reading it in modern English is CHEATING!). I can’t choose.
12. Austen or Eliot?
Austen, all the way. Pride & Prejudice is one of my favorite novels.
13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I have a bad habit of not reading what I “should” read. I’ve only read one Dickens novel, and that was under duress. I’ve never read Wuthering Heights or Moby Dick. Maybe it’s because I lean more toward pop culture studies, but I try to avoid books in the literary canon. Sure, some of them are excellent, but I get sniffy when a bunch of old white guys in their ivory tower try to tell me what I should read. I’m looking at you, Harold Bloom.
14. What is your favorite novel?
Dear lord, I can’t pick one! If you’re going to force me, I’ll have to say Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
15. Play?
No question, Much Ado About Nothing. I adore the banter between Beatrice and Benedick.
16. Poem?
I love “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
17. Essay?
Uh…
Uh.
You’d think I’d remember the titles of articles I really liked. Or maybe you wouldn’t think so. Hell, I can’t think of one right now, and I’m far too lazy to get up and find one.
18. Short Story?
Ooh. Hm. I love Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”. Let’s keep going in the creepy vein and add Gaiman’s “Snow, Glass, Apples” and “A Study in Emerald,” the latter of which I got to hear Neil read aloud at an event. Bliss!
19. Non Fiction
The aforementioned Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson along with The Five Ages of the Universe by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin, a book describing cosmological periods of the universe’s lifespan in pleasantly understandable terms.
20. Graphic Novel?
I’m going to pretend this asked what my favorite graphic novel series is. At the moment, I’m going to have to go with Hellboy by Mike Mignola.
21. Science Fiction?
Hmmmm. This is a tough one. I’m going to have to go with Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax series at the moment; I love the character-driven narrative and the creative setting.
22. Who is your favorite writer?
Neil Gaiman. Definitely Neil Gaiman, followed closely by J.K. Rowling.
23. Who is the most over rated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyer, hands down. Her prose is painfully bad and her characters one-dimensional and incredibly stupid. I have no idea why these books are so popular. They’re about a basketcase girl being emotionally abused by a sparkly vampire. WHAT.
24. What are you reading right now?
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs and The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (for class).
25. Best Memoir?
Gotta admit, I really don’t read memoirs.
26. Best History?
I’m quite fond of Terry Jones’s Who Murdered Geoffrey Chaucer?.
27. Best mystery or Noir?
Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody series.
Related posts:
I completely forgot about Who Murdered Geoffrey Chaucer until I saw it here! Now I want to re-read it.