And go!

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

Probably either Anne McCaffery or Brian Jacques.  There was a wonderful used book store near my house when I was younger and I read (and bought) all of the Pern and Redwall books that I could find.  Definitely a pair of great series for fostering an appreciation of fantasy.

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

The Hobbit.  I have two paperback copies (one is part of an old boxed set) and I also have an annotated hardcover version with lots of awesome, old-timey sketches.  This was my favorite book for a large period of my life.  In addition to the three books, I also checked out the “books on tape” version from the library and made a copy of it when I was in middle school.  I listened to it as I feel asleep for quite a few years. <3 J.R.R.

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

Atticus Finch.  What’s not to love?  The man is truly remarkable.

4. What book have you read the most times in your life?

I’m not a big re-reader of books.  There are sooooooooo many different titles to pick from – I feel like it’s a bit of a waste to reread something when you could be reading something new instead.  That being said, I have re-read the first eight books of The Wheel of Time three times because it’s impossible to remember everything that happens in that ridiculous story and I got so damn excited every time a new volume came out and couldn’t help but want to continue reading the series immediately.   I’ve since learned my lesson.  I refuse to touch any of those books until it’s FINALLY (pseudo)completed… probably around the year 2025.

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

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Mark Twain is the greatest American author of all time.  Seriously.

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

If Minds Had Toes by Lucy Eyre.  This book sounds like it’s going to be so neat, but it has zero plot and zero interesting characters and was zero fun.  Maybe it wasn’t the worst book I’ve read in the past year, but it was certainly the most disappointing because it sounded like it had such potential.  I feel perfectly justified in putting it here.  Blech.

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

This is difficult.  “Best” could mean quite a few different things.  Best at making me laugh?  Best at making me think?  Best at making me feel?  Anything by Kevin Brockmeier could certainly qualify as “best”.  So could Wuthering Heights or The Road.  Take your pick!

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

Man, I’d love it if I could just force everyone to read any one book.  Reading is seriously one of the best ways to spend your time.  It’s fun and it makes you think and it improves your vocabulary and it educates you and even if you read a clunker, you’ve still improved yourself in some way when you’ve finished.  What else does all of these things?   Nothing!  We’re indebted to all of the authors out there.  Famous or not, you guys are awesome.  But, uh… go read A Confederacy of Dunces.  It’s funny.

9. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

Hmmm.  Most book-movies are terribly disappointing.  Children’s books seem to have a much easier time making this transition, so maybe a film based on The Great Brain books?  That could be very cool.

10. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

Anything that would make a casting director even consider calling in Paris Hilton.  Yuck-o.

11. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.

Sadly, I am the worst dream-rememberer EVER.  I know, I’m such a disappointment.  I am positive that in forgetting my dreams I’m missing out on an integral part of the human experience, and I should definitely remedy this somehow.  Are there ways to improve dream-memory?  I’ll have to investigate this…

12. What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?

Lowbrow… I’m going to assume this means vulgar?  Not the biggest fan of things most people would label as being lowbrow… I suppose that Sock by Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller) had a pretty uncultured flavor to it.  That guy is crazy.

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

I really struggled with The Scarlet Letter.  I never got excited about it and failed to put in the requisite effort in order to enjoy and benefit from it.  I’ll try again sometime when it’s not required reading for school… maybe that will help.

14. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?

I believe that I have only seen Twelfth Night and Othello. Neither of those is obscure in the least.  For shame.

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

Seems like you can’t have any single area well covered without leaving large holes everywhere else.  I’m positive that I haven’t read 99% of what many scholars would consider “classics”.  Maybe someday I’ll be a true literati.

16. What is your favorite novel?

Bah.  Too hard.  Cat’s Cradle is really good.

17. Play?

Something by Neil Simon.  I’ll take a comedy over a tragedy any day.

18. Poem?

Most things by Robert Frost are beautiful and simple and amazing, but If by Kipling might be my favorite.

19. Work of non-fiction?

I recently read Yes Man.  That was quite superb.  I’m also very fond of nature writings… Thoreau is amazing.

20. Who is your favorite writer?

Hmmm.  Bill Watterson.  The man never let me down (aside from the fact that he stopped writing).

21. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

Maybe Dan Brown?  This assumes overratedness correlates to the number of copies sold and accompanying commercial success as opposed to undeserved praise from critics.  That being said, I’ve only read excerpts of his work so this assessment is not the most founded.

22. What is your desert island book?

I’d probably cheat and grab some sort of anthology.  This would be a good one to have. Or maybe something like this. Seems like the latter might help you appreciate the wilderness aspect of being on a desert island, thereby decreasing the likelihood of you going nuts.  That would certainly be a plus.

23. And… what are you reading right now?

I’ve just started Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle.

Obviously I didn’t spend a ton of time thinking about these answers, so don’t judge me too much.  I’m sick of being in front of my computer… I think I’ll go grab a snack and READ.  You should, too (nothing complements reading quite like Cheez-Its).

See y’all soon.

Books read in 2009: 51

2009 pace: 79 books

Follow my progress. I update whenever I start a new book.

Away we go!

Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier

This is the final instalment of a trilogy and takes place in Ireland during the 9th century, touching on the ongoing battle between the indigenous Celts and the invading Britons.  However, this conflict is really just a backdrop for a mildly epic love story.   There are sorcerers and bandits and war lords and all that fun stuff, but the main conflicts were internal as the story is told from the first person perspective of a young woman.  The main story arc generally resembles the following: I LOVE HIM, I CAN’T BE NEAR HIM, HE’LL GET HURT, I LOVE HIM, NOW I’M NEAR HIM BUT I CAN’T STOP MYSELF!, HE GOT HURT, I’M GOING TO BERATE MYSELF FOR BEING WEAK.  This may seem like I am being critical, but I did really enjoy the book.  The story is definitely well written and doesn’t drag at all, but it does lack some of the more fantastic plot points that generally make fantasy so fun to read.  If you’re the type of person that tends to shy away from the genre of fantasy, this trilogy would definitely be a good way to slowly immerse yourself into all of the excitement and whimsy that you’re missing out on.  Rating: B+

Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow (this post’s title is taken from this book)

Satirical SciFi/Fantasy about a second virgin birth in contemporary New Jersey where  Julie (Jesus’s younger half-sister) is fathered by an old Jewish hermit and mothered by God.  Julie’s life turns out to be quite hard.  Apparently being a deity while growing up in the Garden State ain’t no walk in the park.  This story is far from cheery and has a tendency to dwell on the dangers inherent in religious fervor.  Morrow is critical of organized religion and seems to favor the idea that uncertainty is good, even necessary, unless you want to turn into an absolute nutter.  Personally, I agree with this philosophy and really enjoyed this novel.  I hadn’t heard of Morrow ’til recently and was excited to find out that he’s written several novels in the same vein.  I intend to read more by him.  Rating: A-

Yes Man by Danny Wallace

A few months ago, an obnoxious looking film by the same name, that seemed to be little more than a Jim Carrey vehicle (despite this, I kind of wanted to go see it because Zooey Deschanel is in it, and she’s the cutest, most awesome actress and I love her), was released in theatres.  Apparently, it was “based” (I read the summary of the film, it sounds awful and nothing like the book) on this book, except while the movie is doubtlessly stupid and ridiculous, the novel is super entertaining and chronicles what actually happens to Wallace when he vows to say only “Yes!” for a six month period of his life.  The book is basically a really long anecdote and is filled with optimism and happy times.  It makes you want to seize every opportunity and travel the globe and try new things and just have fun, fun, fun.  Woo.  Maybe I just have a deep-seated, heavily repressed wanderlust, but this book seemed surprisingly powerful.  Either way, I’d recommend it; it really makes you think about what you’re up to. Rating: A-

The Truth About Celia by Kevin Brockmeier

I just started this book, so I don’t want to pass judgement on it yet, but it’s about a family whose 7 year old daughter disappears and is never found, so I don’t expect it will be much of an “upper”.  I purchased a different Brockmeier novel earlier this year (for $1) because it had an interesting title, and I really, really liked it.  I’ve also read his two collections of short stories this year, and his style of writing is so simple and emotive and heartfelt and descriptive and it just seems like his words on the page kind of glow sometimes.  He’s definitely become one of my favorite authors.  For the longest time, I was not a fan of short stories, but I’ve been able to get pretty excited about them recently and I would say that Brockmeier is largely responsible.  If I were asked to recommend a book to someone, it would probably be one written by him.  Hopefully this book will be just as good as his others.

Blech.  That took much longer than I thought it would.  And I don’t even like this entry… In the future I’ll have to think of a different format to talk about books.  Hmmmm.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.  Thanks for readin’.

See y’all soon.

Follow my progress. I update whenever I start a new book.

Currently reading: The Truth About Celia by Kevin Brockmeier

Books read in 2009: 49

2009 pace: 77 books

Time for books!

This year, I’ve made  a real effort to set aside some time every night for book readin’.  I used to read tons and tons back in high school and earlier, but during my tenure at Alfred University, my bibliophilia waned distressingly.  Over the past year, I have done my best to address this unforgivable neglect and, with the help of the wonderful Half Price Books (with an excessive stockpile of $1 books) over in the U-district and the extensive collection possessed by the Seattle Public Library, reading has returned to its rightful prominence.  Who needs friends?  Books are better!

Not really.

But maybe…

Anyway, I started a book log back in September, and have been keeping track of the books I’ve read since then.  That made reading just that much more rewarding, knowing that at the completion of each book I’d get to swagger over to my computer and add a new entry to my list.  Those of you familiar with the incalculable joy that comes with checking something off of a list have experienced a feeling akin to this. Back in the beginning of January, I decided to establish a year long reading goal of fifty-two books.

Wow!  52!  That’s two every fortnight!

(For those of you unfamiliar with such classy vocabulary, a fortnight is simply 336 hours)

Initially, I wasn’t sure how feasible this goal was going to be. I’d previously witnessed the pseudo-failure of one of the best youtubers ever in her attempt to accomplish a similar challenge, so I was moderately concerned with my chances of success.  But then I read 6 books in January and have maintained that pace since.  NERD.   So while I may be a big ol’ loser who sits around and reads, reads, reads, at least I will win at this challenge.  And that’s what really matters.

Historically, I’ve been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, but lately I’ve attempted to vary my interests. We’ll see how this goes. I was planning on talking about some specific books, but I’m getting kinda snoozy, so I’ll do that next week instead.

See y’all soon.

Currently reading: Child of the Prophecy by Juliet Marillier

Books read in 2009: 46

2009 pace: 76 books