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tetsabYour Favorite Book Cover:
Uhhhh. I'll let you know if I ever think of one.
What are you reading right now?
The questions for a book meme...? Fine, fine:
The Road to Little Dribbling (which is far better subtitled 'More Notes From a Small Island' instead of 'Adventures of an American in Britain' due to 1. it basically is just a Notes revisit where if you were going to do one or the other, stick with Notes; 2. Bill Bryson is the most naturally British American I've ever encountered).
The Shock Doctrine.
What five books have you always wanted to read but haven’t got round to?
Oh this is just going to be depressing:
Snow Crash & The Diamond Age
Infinite Jest
Dune
His Dark Materials
Anything Sherlock Holmes
What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?
The Cure for Death by Lightning is what leaps to mind after my answer to the next question.
What book seemed really popular but you didn’t like?
Generation X. I keep Douglas Coupland on my Enemies List (though certainly not just 'cause of that book. He has many crimes).
What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
Uhhhh. I don't 'cause that seems nonsensically presumptive. That said, I'm responsible for multiple people having read the The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾.
What are your three favorite poems?
I don't know if they're my 3 favourites (certainly close enough!) but taken together they add up to something about me:
1.
you fit into me
like a hook into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
2.
O soft embalmer of the still midnight,
Shutting, with careful fingers and benign,
Our gloom-pleas'd eyes, embower'd from the light,
Enshaded in forgetfulness divine:
O soothest Sleep! if so it please thee, close
In midst of this thine hymn my willing eyes,
Or wait the "Amen," ere thy poppy throws
Around my bed its lulling charities.
Then save me, or the passed day will shine
Upon my pillow, breeding many woes,—
Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords
Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole;
Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul.
3.
FASTER than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.
Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
Here is a tramp who stands and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!
Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with man and load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each a glimpse and gone for ever!
Where do you usually get your books?
From the liy-bu-ree. After that, second hand shops and friends.
When you were little, did you have any particular reading habits?
I was a stack reader (series preferred). I'd get stacks out, laze on the couch and shift from a To Read pile to a Read pile.
What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was too good to put down?
Ah, damn. To
cija's offense I'm sure, I suspect it was Tales from Earthsea or The Other Wind.Have you ever faked reading a book?
Yes. Rather unhappily (and really it's just another one for the books I've wanted to read list), Beloved for a University English class. A combination of being unable to get a copy in time and being absolutely drowned with other things.
Have you ever bought a book just because you liked the cover?
Connected to that whole "can't actually think of a favourite cover" thing, I highly doubt it.
What was your favorite book when you were a child?
Really depends on what we mean by child. I oppressed by parents badly with a desire to have Winnie the Pooh read to me. I kept revisiting the Wind in the Willows. The Asterix and Tintin books are the first I ever became obsessive about.
What book changed your life?
Probably depends on what we mean by that too! There is no one stand out book I'd name for this.
What is your favorite passage from a book?
I rarely copy passages from books outside of essay quotes but I happen to recall that I've captured more than one in LJ so let's revisit those for convenience:
Jul. 18th, 2004
Aug. 10th, 2004
Aug. 11th, 2004
Nov. 18th, 2006
Jun. 24th, 2016
(FYI, all the ones before this year are friends only 'cause everything is locked over in LJ & I haven't looked into if there's some sort of mass unlock now that I've imported them over here).
Who are your top five favorite authors? (Aside from number 1, in no particular order)
Nnnnnrgh. I don't much like this exercise! Measured by my having books in multiples by them since my childhood:
Sue Townsend
Roger Zelazny
Neil Gaiman
Terry Pratchett
Ursula Le Guin
What book has no one heard about but should read?
Now is the time I wish I was writing this at home to scan my shelves and tell you.
What books are you an 'evangelist' for?
See above RE: presumptive.
What are your favorite books by a first time author?
See above RE: wish I was writing this at home. Humph.
What is your favorite classic book?
Do we we mean classic like The Borrowers classic or classic like the Complete Brother's Grimm or classic like any random thing by Shakespeare? You know what... I think I just really hate these "favourite" and "best" kinds of framing. Context matters, dammit!