books do furnish a room
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
I am very tired. Here is a meme about BOOKS.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Possibly the Winnie the Pooh books, I am not sure when I absorbed them into my shelves. Or maybe Frog and Toad Are Friends, I think it's a fairly safe bet that that one's been floating around for a while.
2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you'll read next?
Current read: Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. Novellas set in the Revelation Space universe.
Last read: The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Next up: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, lent to me by my mother: this was one of the big sellers when I used to work at WHSmiths, but I never got round to reading it then.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
The Time Traveller's Wife. The central relationship squicked me greatly. :/
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
Pass. I don't really think like that: if I acquire a book I will add it to the book pile and eventually read it (or ditch it if it is rubbish). If I want to read a book I will make a note in my brain to buy it next time I see it second hand. Oh wait, typing the subject line for this post has reminded me that I keep meaning to read A Dance To The Music Of Time, so ignore all that.
5. Which book are you saving for "retirement?"
Not for retirement, exactly, but I am not making a particularly huge effort to acquire Camilla by Fanny Burney, as it's the last of hers that I haven't read.
6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
Wait til the end! Anything else would be cheating. Usually I don't even let myself check how many pages there are, I force myself to estimate instead. I'm getting quite good at it.
7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
It doesn't do to make generalisations, as a general rule. Some of them are very interesting, and I always read them in case they are, and because I'd be terribly excited to be acknowledged and wouldn't like to think of all those people skipping over my name.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
There is a little voice in the back of my mind going "Jill! From Jill Has Two Ponies! Pick her! Or Pauline Fossil!" But I don't know. In general I think I would be a bit rubbish at coping with the things my heroines have to deal with. I don't think I have the fortitude to be any of them, really. Plus I quite like being me.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
I have my mum's copy of Little Women on my shelf (though it's not really mine, it's hers!) which reminds me of when she read it to me. Beth's illness made her cry so much that I had to take the book off her and read it to her instead. ♥
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Alas, I have no tales of exciting book acquiring exploits to share. Woe. Usually it is along the lines of: go to book shop, choose book, take book to counter, swap monies for book (with aid of long suffering salesperson), take book home, have book.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
Nope, I don't tend to give my books away. I lend books a lot, partly because it is the only way I can justify having so many. (btw if any of you ever want to borrow any of my books, just ask: as long as you do not scribble or dribble in them (as I am sure you would not), it's fine.)
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
The Once and Future King and Quotable Star Trek have been to a few places, they are my in case of emergency books.
13. Any "required reading" you hated inhigh secondary school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
To Kill a Mockingbird. Slogged through it aged about 13, loved it aged 24. I enjoyed most of my required reading, apart from Hardy. (GRRR.)
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
I found a 1972 bus timetable in page 53 of my dad's copy of Ulysses, reflecting a) how far he got and b) when he made the attempt.
15. Used or brand new?
Both! Brand new is SHININESS but used has history and booksmell and don't have the stiff spines that new books sometimes have.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I have indeed never read a single one of his books.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Not a film, but I enjoyed the first season of True Blood much more than the first book.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE DARK IS RISING, WE WILL BE HERE ALL NIGHT. Though I think it would make an excellent TV series, done properly.
19. Have you ever read a book that's made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
The Redwall series! Oh how I wanted to climb in and join the feast.
20. Who is the person whose book advice you'll always take?
Not exactly one person, but my friendslist is usually reliable. And Izzy off of school has a pretty good hit rate.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Possibly the Winnie the Pooh books, I am not sure when I absorbed them into my shelves. Or maybe Frog and Toad Are Friends, I think it's a fairly safe bet that that one's been floating around for a while.
2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you'll read next?
Current read: Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds. Novellas set in the Revelation Space universe.
Last read: The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Next up: The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, lent to me by my mother: this was one of the big sellers when I used to work at WHSmiths, but I never got round to reading it then.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
The Time Traveller's Wife. The central relationship squicked me greatly. :/
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
Pass. I don't really think like that: if I acquire a book I will add it to the book pile and eventually read it (or ditch it if it is rubbish). If I want to read a book I will make a note in my brain to buy it next time I see it second hand. Oh wait, typing the subject line for this post has reminded me that I keep meaning to read A Dance To The Music Of Time, so ignore all that.
5. Which book are you saving for "retirement?"
Not for retirement, exactly, but I am not making a particularly huge effort to acquire Camilla by Fanny Burney, as it's the last of hers that I haven't read.
6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
Wait til the end! Anything else would be cheating. Usually I don't even let myself check how many pages there are, I force myself to estimate instead. I'm getting quite good at it.
7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
It doesn't do to make generalisations, as a general rule. Some of them are very interesting, and I always read them in case they are, and because I'd be terribly excited to be acknowledged and wouldn't like to think of all those people skipping over my name.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
There is a little voice in the back of my mind going "Jill! From Jill Has Two Ponies! Pick her! Or Pauline Fossil!" But I don't know. In general I think I would be a bit rubbish at coping with the things my heroines have to deal with. I don't think I have the fortitude to be any of them, really. Plus I quite like being me.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
I have my mum's copy of Little Women on my shelf (though it's not really mine, it's hers!) which reminds me of when she read it to me. Beth's illness made her cry so much that I had to take the book off her and read it to her instead. ♥
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Alas, I have no tales of exciting book acquiring exploits to share. Woe. Usually it is along the lines of: go to book shop, choose book, take book to counter, swap monies for book (with aid of long suffering salesperson), take book home, have book.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
Nope, I don't tend to give my books away. I lend books a lot, partly because it is the only way I can justify having so many. (btw if any of you ever want to borrow any of my books, just ask: as long as you do not scribble or dribble in them (as I am sure you would not), it's fine.)
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
The Once and Future King and Quotable Star Trek have been to a few places, they are my in case of emergency books.
13. Any "required reading" you hated in
To Kill a Mockingbird. Slogged through it aged about 13, loved it aged 24. I enjoyed most of my required reading, apart from Hardy. (GRRR.)
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
I found a 1972 bus timetable in page 53 of my dad's copy of Ulysses, reflecting a) how far he got and b) when he made the attempt.
15. Used or brand new?
Both! Brand new is SHININESS but used has history and booksmell and don't have the stiff spines that new books sometimes have.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I have indeed never read a single one of his books.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Not a film, but I enjoyed the first season of True Blood much more than the first book.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE DARK IS RISING, WE WILL BE HERE ALL NIGHT. Though I think it would make an excellent TV series, done properly.
19. Have you ever read a book that's made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
The Redwall series! Oh how I wanted to climb in and join the feast.
20. Who is the person whose book advice you'll always take?
Not exactly one person, but my friendslist is usually reliable. And Izzy off of school has a pretty good hit rate.
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no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 15:05 (UTC)*makes a note not to dribble in your books...*
*giggles madly*
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 18:10 (UTC)*makes a note not to dribble in your books...*
Appreciated! ;)
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 18:17 (UTC)Appreciated! ;)
*grins*
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 15:17 (UTC)(Also, SNAP! :D)
DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THE DARK IS RISING, WE WILL BE HERE ALL NIGHT.
*LMAO* A woman after my own heart! I kind of DO want to get you started on this at some point!
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 18:11 (UTC)♥ you too! (oh, and I will indeed be in Cheltenham this weekend, barring unexpectedness...)
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 16:03 (UTC)Me too! Added to the fact that I found both characters immensely dislikable meant that I did't enjoy that book At All.
And I shall join you at Grrr-ing at Hardy, I still haven't forgiven the lecturer who made me read nothing but Hardy for an entire term.
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 18:12 (UTC)I can't get over the fact that someone thought this would be a good idea. A whole term of Hardy. *shudders*
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 17:03 (UTC)I have acquired a lot more books since joining Amazon last summer. Which sites do you use to buy books online?
Amazon - big is best?
Ebay?
greenmetropolis.com ? Have you ever used that one and do they have enough variety?
Shop websites?
Anywhere else that's good?
no subject
Date: 20 Jan 2010 18:17 (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Jan 2010 07:05 (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Jan 2010 13:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 21 Jan 2010 20:41 (UTC)I did like the books a lot, except for Will, but the "and then they forgot everything that had happened" ending ruined them for me. I absolutely hate that trope, along with "it was all a dream". They lost everything they'd learned about themselves and what the were capable of, except for Will of course. Even Bran. Feh.
no subject
Date: 21 Jan 2010 20:58 (UTC)