Book Meme

[shipperx]

Book Meme gakked fromflake_sake :

1. What author do you own the most books by?

Honestly?  Probably Jim Butcher and that answer surprises me.


2. What book do you own the most copies of?

I don't tend to buy multiple copies of books unless I somehow manage to lose a book, buy a replacement, and then find the original book again.  So in the multiple copies category:  Good Omens (Gaiman and Pratchett)  and Neverwhere (Gaiman), but it was unintentional.

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

Can't think of one at the moment (but when I was fifteen it was definitely Raurk in Kathleen E. Woodiwiss' Shanna.  LOL!  Seriously, good guy pretending to be a pirate, putting up with an Shanna's amazing amount of shit, and then there was sex in a hurricane.  How was a fifteen year old to resist?

4. What book have you read more than any other?

Probably Pride and Prejudice or Wuthering Heights.  Another answer that surprises me.

5. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?

I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that it starred Trixie Belden.  IF it was in my post-Trixie time period, it was either Merlin's Keep or something written by Lois Duncan

6. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?

This is a tough question because the two that were bad were very, very, very bad.  Dead to the World by Charlain Harris (Plot?  What plot?  What characterization? ::snore::) and Insatiable by Meg Cabot  (OMG!  It's so excruciatingly awful that I could only LOL!  Well, snark and LOL.)

7. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

Read: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connis Willis     (Delightfully lighthearted time-travel romp to the Victorian Era)
Audiobook:  The Alchemist and the Executioness  (Epic, feminist, fairytale)

8. If you could tell everyone reading this to read one book, what would it be?

That really depends.  It has to do with tastes and subject matter.  I do think A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great, informative non-fiction read.  And Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen is quite informative for an American reader.

9. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

The Elegant Universe by Briane Greene (What is gravity?  What is light?  OMG, I don't understand anything anymore!) and Hyperspace by Michio Kaku (I... don't understand).  Oh, and The Black Hole War by David Susskind (I feel stupid, okay?!) 

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

French, I suppose. 

11. Shakespeare, Milton or Chaucer?

Shakeaspeare.

12. Austen or Eliot?

Austen.

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

There are a ton, I'm sure.

14. What is your favorite novel?

I love different books in different ways.  It's impossible to pick a favorite that covers everything.

15. Play?

Dunno.

16. Poem?

Dunno.

17. Essay?

Dunno.  Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard and The Relevance of the Beautiful by Robert Bernasconi stick out.  Design of Cities by Edmund Bacon was pretty much required reading.  And From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe comes to mind, though having actually attended Architecture School, I don't agree with many of his arguments.  

18. Short Story?

Something by Poe, probably.
 
19. Non Fiction

In addition to A Short History of Nearly Everything mentioned above, I'd definitely add The River of Doubt by Candice Millard and Anthony Everitt's Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor

20. Graphic Novel?

I don't feel well enough versed in the subject to say.

21. Science Fiction?

Hmmm...  pass.  I can't think how to break it down.

22. Who is your favorite writer?

Depends on subject matter and mood

23. Who is the most over rated writer alive today?

Stephenie Meyer.

24. What are you reading right now?

Still finishing up To Say Nothing of the Dog, but really enjoying it.

25. Best Memoir?

I know I've read a few but little comes to mind.

26. Best History?

Lies My Teacher Told Me

27. Best Mystery or Noir?

Since most of the mysteries I bother to read are smash-ups of mystery/noir/urban fantasy, I... still don't know.