Meme: Book Questionnaire
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything book-related or whatnot (a result of the World Cup earlier this month, homework/research and re-watching old episodes of Babylon 5, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: ENT and now new episodes of Identity—it’s pretty much decreased my reading time substantially, lol) so here’s a questionnaire I snagged off from The Book Coop (who got it off from The Literary Lollipop =)
1. Favourite childhood book: The Madeline books by Ludwig Bemelmans and the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? book series (learned a lot from the books).
2. What are you reading right now? Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (at long last) and Joel Shepherd’s Killswitch (been in a major sci-fi kick at the moment).
3. What books do you have on request at the library? Ehhh, none *blushes*
4. Bad book habit: Buying books *blushes*
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Haven’t used the public library in years now (not since that fine I had to pay because I forgot the deadline) *blushes*
6. Do you have an e-reader? No and I’m not planning on picking one up anytime soon.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? During the school year I stick to one because I’m reading so many other books but during the summer I’ve been reading about two or three at the same time.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Mmm, not really. Having a blog helps me to express my thoughts about a book I read and sites like GoodReads help me with recommendations and stuff but otherwise I don’t think my reading habits have really changed.
9.Least favourite book you read this year: Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
10. Favourite book I’ve read this year: I have a few (okay, more like a bunch) –
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I don’t know because at this point I seem to be dipping into a cross of genres: classics, modern lit/general fiction, suspense/thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, history, etc.
12. What is your reading comfort zone? Just mentioned in the previous question 
13. Can you read on the bus? Not really as I’m still battling motion sickness every now and then xD
14. Favourite place to read: In bed at night when everyone’s gone to sleep =)
15. What’s your policy on book lending? Mmm, the only people whom I usually lend books to are my brother and my best friend, lol. They know to take care of my books, lol.
16. Do you dogear your books? Big no-no for me =S
17. Do you write notes in the margins of your books? Only in my textbooks and non-fiction, history or otherwise books
18. Do you break/crack the spine of your books? I avoid it as much as I can
19. What is your favourite language to read? English since it’s my mother tongue. Haven’t really read anything in Tagalog yet (my copy of Noli Me Tangere is translated into English); tried a bit of French which is o-kay. Still working on my Russian =P
20. What makes you love a book? The characters and the plot
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, was amazed by the characters and just the overall presentation of the story
22. Favourite genre: classic literature particularly from 19th century Britain
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did): drama/plays (same answer as Fiona)
24. Favourite Biography: Pope Benedict XVI wrote an amazing biography on Jesus’s life during his ministry, placing his life and works in a historical context.
25. Have you ever read a self-help book? (And, was it actually helpful?) When I was younger, yes. Dunno if it really helped though, LOL
26. Favourite Cookbook: Don’t really crack open cookbooks, lol
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction): Russia After the War: Hopes, Illusions and Disappointments, 1945 – 1957 by Elena Zubkova; truly affected the scope of my research project
28. Favourite reading snack: Coffee
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: Maybe Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol but I guess I was over his style at this point.
30. How often do you agree with the critics about about a book? Maybe rarely; I usually try to avoid reading critics before reading a book so that I can formulate my own opinion. Usually my opinions aren’t close to theirs so yeah…
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? It’s their opinion, you know? If they have a negative review but it’s presented in an articulate and reasonable manner, it’s understandable. People who bash a book but aren’t very reasonable or articulate about it…well, that just looks bad.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? Russian (slowly getting there though!), Spanish (can pick out a few words here and there but I can’t read it fluidly)
33. Most intimidating book I’ve read: From this year? Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana. I don’t know why but the size of the mass bound paperback was massive, maybe affected the way I approached the book xD
34. Most intimidating book I’m too nervous to begin: Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (which is ridiculous because I have read War and Peace a few years ago)
35. Favourite Poet: Federico Garcia Lorca, followed by John Keats
36. How many books do you usually have checked out from the library at any given time? When I used to, it was about one at a time
37. How often do you return books to the library unread? Happened only once; I was halfway through and I was running out of time because of high school deadlines
38. Favourite fictional character: Not fair, I have too many favourites -_-; Okay, Eugene Rayburn from Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend
39. Favourite fictional villain: Bradley Headstone from Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend. Dunno if you could really call him a “villain” per say but he was driven to some rather violent acts. It was creepy =S
40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation: I’m bringing Harlan Corlan’s Tell No One for my trip next month. It’s light xD
41. The longest I’ve gone without reading: Probably a month; it was essay deadline after deadline those times.
42. Name a book you could/would not finish: Frank Herbert’s God Emperor of Dune. After the original characters and their descendents, it started getting a little too weird for me to get through. I had no idea what was going on.
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? If something prior to reading is preoccupying my thoughts.
44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel: Ian McEwan’s Atonement, J.R.R. Tolkien’s LOTR
45. Most disappointing film adaptation: …Christopher Paolini’s Eragon is all I can think of. Gosh, that was such a crappy movie, even Jeremy Irons couldn’t save the film.
46. Most money I’ve ever spent in a bookstore at one time: CAD$90 maybe?
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? Rarely; I read the first few pages before deciding to pick it up or not.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through? If I characters annoy me/don’t evoke any emotions from me, if the plot is trite, if the plot is confusing me, if the narrative is irksome or dodgy in some way, etc.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized? Used to; now I have to many books that it’s more a matter of where I can stick them -_-;
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once they’ve been read? Depends; I usually keep them but if I really dislike it or if it was okay, I might give them away or something.
51. Are there any books that you’ve been avoiding? Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. I don’t know why but I feel as if I’m not ready to read that book yet.
52. Name a book that made you angry: China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station — hours of my life I can never get back >=(
53. A book I didn’t expect to like but did: Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory
54. A book I expected to like but didn’t: China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station
55. Favourite guilt-free guilty pleasure reading: Chick-lit xD
Tags: meme: books
July 30th, 2010 at 8:17 am
This is great! Thanks for joining in!
It’s amazing that you’re taking the steps to learn Russian. I’m still stuck on the alphabet. We’ll see if actually sticks.
I have yet to read Atonement, but it’s patiently waiting on my shelf, so I better get at it!
-Lydia
[Reply]
July 30th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Lolita was crap. (IMO) Just a lot of pretty words strung together to make pretty sentences. If you cut all that out you could condense the whole story, characters, everything into about two pages.
I guess in those days it was quite shocking, but thanks to the media I’m quite desensitised to it all and prefer more realistic books then those cloaked in metaphors and carefully constructed, fluffed up sentences.
And you’ve read War and Peace? *bows down* I really want to read more Russian novels – what I do find intimidating about those are all the names. I didn’t understand it when I first started Crime and Punishment at 16 though liked the writing and story well enough… but after reading a couple of other english books set in Russia I felt a bit more confident.
[Reply]
July 30th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Lydia – Atonement is a lovely book I hope you enjoy it. I enjoy McEwan though not every one does but I think even if you don’t read any more of his books, Atonement is a must.
I’d love to learn another language, Russian sounds very interesting but I can barely speak my first language properly.
By the way, thanks for linking me on your blog.
[Reply]