So I found this book meme that *
GnomeLiberator created and I so had to do it!
Are you reading a book right now? How far are you into it and what do you think so far? If you're not, what was the last book you read and how did you feel about it? I am currently reading four books. I have about 100 pages left of the 800-page
Curse of the MistWraiths by Janny Wurst, which is really good and exciting but the writing style is definitely something I’m not used to, so it takes a few pages to really get into it. But the characters are awesome and the action well-done. I’m on page 247 in
Mistborn ((the mist theme was not intentional!) and have been debating whether to stop or continue reading. While I had enjoyed it up to a point, it’s losing my attention fast and every time I feel like reading it I reach for something else. Also just started
The Dark Lord of Derrhelm by Diana Wynne Jones…on the second chapter right now and enjoying it. Lastly, I am about 100 pages into the first of the
Artemis Fowl books, which I had given up on about a year ago, but enjoying it much better this time around.
Do you have a favorite book? Yes,
Catch-22 is my favorite book. Every time I think there might be a contender to my “favorite book”, I reread Catch-22 and fall in love all over again. Although I must add that
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a close, close second!
What would you say is your favorite genre to read? What to tend to steer away from? I have read a novel in pretty much every genre out there: westerns, mysteries, African-American lit, world lit, etc. I usually read fantasy or literature/fiction books, although recently I have been on a huge thriller binge and have been eating up those books a lot! I have headed back into the ‘epic fantasy’ genre with Curse of the Mistwraith and back into kids books too. I move around a lot. There isn’t really genre I steer clear from. I usually don’t read romance, unless it’s more literary driven (i.e., Outlander, etc.). I am also not too fond of military fiction where main character fights terrorists or where an author’s ideologies are too present in the book. I also don’t really like main female characters. :/
Do you read more fiction or non-fiction/information books? Definitely more fiction! When it comes to non-fiction, though, the Civil War is really the only topic that’ll keep my attention! I always want to branch out and read more nonfiction subjects, but I never remain interested long. Thankfully there is a wealth of Civil War books out there!
How about a favorite author, or perhaps a few? Albert Payson Terhune is my favorite author to date. I also will pick up anything written by Diane Wynne Jones knowing it’ll be good. My most current fav. author is Lawrence Block.
Have you read any terrible books? Something you'd recommend staying away from? I’ve read too many really terrible books, alas! I am so picky when it comes to what I read that I usually don’t finish most of what I buy.
Do you reread books, or is once enough? Any exceptions so far? I reread books all the time! This year I reread Catch-22 for the sixth or seventh time and – having bought my fourth edition of Jonathan Strange – I want to reread that one as well. Also this year, I reread Dracula (which I got as a super amazing edition), The Last Unicorn, Necroscope (which I had to buy because one of my friends let me his books originally…and I had to buy my own after I loved it!), Watership Down (LOVE!!!) and a few others I can’t remember at the moment. In any case, I do enjoy rereading books a lot!
What were some of your favorite books as a child? I was a very pretentious child and would only read super important adult books. Now, as an adult, I really enjoy reading kid’s books. Hmmm. Plague Dogs was one of my favorite books as a kid…now I don’t think I could get through the whole thing again. I also adored Victorian novels as I believed ‘modern’ writing – with those shorter, choppier sentences – was too stupid. Honestly. H. G. Wells books were nearest and dearest to my heart as a kid…I still own nearly all of his books, which is saying something! As for real, honest-to-goodness kids books, I really loved
There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom which I need to reread again!
Do you usually pick books from the kids, teen, young adult, or adult books? How old are you, if you don't mind? I’m 27 and am currently reading two books intended for the 10-12 crowd. I am also reading two books intended for adults. So I am all over the board: from kids, to teens, to YA to adults…as long as it has an interesting concept, GREAT characters and excellent writing, I’m sold!
Do you buy books much or mostly just borrow? I exclusively buy books. I do not like borrowing them at all and it’s been years since I’ve been to a library! However, now that I downloaded Kindle to my iPod, I think I’m going to start reading first chapters a lot more often before I decide to buy something!
Have you read any books after seeing them in movie form? Which did you enjoy more? Yes, this happens all the time, although I try to wait until the movie has been long out of theatres so I won’t have to buy the book with the movie edition cover. Oddly enough, after being taught it four times in college, after seeing the most recent film version of Pride and Prejudice, I finally read the book! And loved it! I also first fell in love with Diana Wynne Jones after seeing Howl’s Moving Castle and adoring the book (which would have been better with a movie cover…the US edition was so gross!). I also read Fluke after seeing the movie and thought that the book was so much worse (how often does that happen?).
What about reading the book before there was a movie? How did you feel about the movie? Did you even bother seeing it? It really depends. I was incredibly excited about Lord of the Rings being made into a movie and loved the changes in the movie. Sometimes I have to remember that things can happen in books that won’t fly in a movie. The Harry Potter movies, which improving over time, aren’t really that great as films.
Do you read any other forms of literature aside from novels? Such as graphic novels, comics, (fan fiction???) etc.? Yup, I’m a fan of comics, manga and graphic novels, etc. although not as much as I used to be!
What is a book you want to read, but haven't yet? What intrigues you about it? I really want, at some point in my life, to call myself a true American and read a Stephen King book. Hasn’t happened yet, but it will someday. I just can’t get into his style of writing. I want to start
The Gunslinger but we’ll see.
I also really want to read some good steampunk books, but haven’t found any that I like so far.
If you could rewrite the end of one book (or any other part, I suppose), which would you choose? If you were satisfied with every book you read's end, yay. The ending to
The Book of the Dead, which is one of the Pendergast novels. Honestly, Pendergast is the awesomest of fictional FBI agents, of the tortured Fox Mulder variety, but this fake FBI agent has family bizarreness and amazingly old fashioned fashion sense that I just adore. He also has a psycho brother that, throughout the six or so books prior to Book of the Dead, is set up as the most intelligent of criminal masterminds. And has a deep-seated passion for screwing with his younger brother. SO Book of the Dead is reaching its conclusion and Pendergast’s brother is killed by being thrown into a volcano, by Pendergast’s ward, who was born in the 18th Century and never been outdoors in 100+ years because she has a very intense social disorder…and she is not only able to kill someone fully capable of protecting themselves, but she also is able to travel halfway around the world alone, be able to outwit Pendergast’s brother because she had read obscure Italian poetry (wtf?!) and then throw him into a volcano. Most lame ending ever. I’d have rewritten it with a show down between the two brothers, and no volcanoes.
If you can think of one, name a book that made you: - cry: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows . Whenever I want to reread the HP series, I need to read that one at home. I cry too much whenever I read it! A lot of other books have made me cry, but now I can’t remember them. :/
- laugh: Catch-22 was filled with way too many laugh out loud moments. Also, any Bertie and Jeeves book will have me laughing! Aaaaah, that good old British humor!
- think, in a deeper sense than the obvious: I know there are some but I can’t think of any!
- feel pure happiness: Evil Genius and its sequel Genius Squad. I can’t recommend these books high enough, especially Genius Squad, which had me rooting for the characters out loud!
- become so addicted you put off everything in order to finish it: This happens a lot. With every HP book, I took to taking it with me all over the place, even hanging out with friends, in order to finish it…but everyone has a story like that, don’t they? When I become that addicted to a book, I know I’m onto something good! If I don’t get that wrapped up into it, I usually get bored and start seeking other books to read!
- die of boredom: I never force myself to finish a book if its that boring; I’ll just stop reading it!
- learn something new: Last Full Measure was full of these moments of ‘oh wow! That’s what the Civil War is about?’, because it really made me think differently of the Civil War and thus spark my eternal love for that war. I just never cared too much for history class in school, so finally realizing the importance of the Civil War and the
real reasons behind it and such was so amazing. Seriously, people, it wasn’t all about slavery.
- squirm with squickiness: Strange for a series intended for kids, but Darren Shan’s Demonata series is probably the freakiest books I’ve ever read. Much worse than the “Vampire’s Assistant” books, which I need to finish reading. But yes, the detailed disembodiments of family members/innocent public is enough to convincingly put the main character in an insane asylum. Excellent writing!
- squirm with glee: Gone With the Wind, the ending. When Scarlett realizes she threw anyway an amazingly awesome thing with the super most sexiest man in the universe for real Rhett Butler. I wasn’t glee-filled because she lost him, but because she became single-mindedly determined to win him back. And then the book ends. LOOOOVE the fact that Gone With the Wind ends at such an amazing moment.
- very embarrassed to be reading it: Twilight.
- angry: Water for Elephants was so stupidly written that I had to stop reading it. Honestly, how could you root for star-crossed lovers when they flaunt their love in front of the woman’s husband and then get really, really confused – and sad; very, very sad – when he figures out they’re having an affair? Also, the husband abuses elephants. That means he’s
a bad person. Really, this is a book for adults?
ALL RIGHT!! Meme is done! If you do it, let me know so I can read your answers!!
Also…does anyone have any book recommendations??
I ALWAYS need more of those!
Amazingly talented artists and very good friends!
Need to update
Joy
