utter randomonium

Just a simple survey this week.

1. Favorite childhood book?
There are so many, but probably Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

2. What are you reading right now?
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, The Secret Scripture by Sabastian Barry, and Holes by Louis Sachar.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None at the moment, but I have Foundation by Isaac Asimov checked out for when I finish Holes.  When I start Foundation I’ll put the next book on hold.  (I don’t like browsing the shelves.)

4. Bad book habit?
Sometimes, despite my best intentions, the spine gets broken. The horror, I know.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Holes and Foundation, as mentioned above. They’re both audiobooks; that’s all I use the library for these days. I have plenty of regular books to read on my shelves at home.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Nah. I sit in front of a screen all day long already. That, and you can’t BookCross e-books.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Several at once. I have one main book (mostly read in bed at night), one audiobook in the car, and one book in my gym bag for reading while on the stationary bike.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I give more thought to what I thought about them and why. Sometimes I even make notes for my review before I finish the book.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
The Taking by Dean Koontz. Cripes that was terrible.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Didn’t want it to end.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
More often than I used to, that’s for sure. It’s amazing the things that have fallen into my lap since joining BookCrossing.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Oh, I dunno. Science fiction and fantasy, I suppose.

13. Can you read on the bus?
No, I get motion sickness very easily.

14. Favorite place to read?
My recliner with a sleeping kitty on my lap. :)

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I don’t lend any book I absolutely must get back.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Not anymore. I did as a kid.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Generally no.

18. Not even with text books?
Not uness I’m correcting a mistake in the text.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. It’s the only one I can read in!

20. What makes you love a book?
That’s far too in-depth of a question to be answered in a single survey post.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I really really loved it and can actually articulate why.

22. Favorite genre?
Probably SF/F.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
History and historical fiction.

24. Favorite biography?
Um. I haven’t read many biographies.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Not unless you count the Inner Bitch books.

26. Favorite cookbook?
I don’t cook, but my husband says Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child is essential.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Inspirational? I guess probably The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova.

28. Favorite reading snack?
I avoid eating while reading, as I tend to pay more attention to the book and end up eating far more than I should without thinking about it.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Hard to say. I certainly wasn’t as impressed with The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini as I’d expected.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I don’t know. I don’t pay much attention to critics.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
About the same as giving good/positive reviews.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Japanese.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Jeez, I dunno. Possibly The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

35. Favorite Poet?
Shel Silverstein.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
One or two.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Several times, always because the book was unlistenable due to either a terribly scratched disc or a terrible narrator.

38. Favorite fictional character?
I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one, but at the moment I’m kind of in love with The Colonel from Looking For Alaska by John Green.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
That’s not any easier to narrow down. Maybe Javert in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Whatever I’m currently reading plus several paperbacks – usually at least two more than I could possibly read in the timespan I’ll be gone. I’m paranoid about running out of things to read.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Until college I almost never read for pleasure, so probably months.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
The Void by Georges Perec, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, others.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
The television.  A cat rubbing her face on my book.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
The Last Unicorn

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
There are so many. Probably Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, not because it was a particularly bad movie, but because the book was just so good that I had hoped to recapture those feelings with the film. And I didn’t.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Not counting textbooks, probably somewhere around $100, but it was mostly Christmas presents.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
I don’t. I read the back and the first few paragraphs, and if it sucks me in, I read it for real. I don’t like skipping ahead, though as a kid I always read the very last word before starting a book. I have no idea why I did that.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If I just really wasn’t enjoying it and every page was a chore. Life’s too short to read bad books.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I don’t, really, though I often play around with my TBR spreadsheet.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I release them into the wild, of course.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. It’s pretty much my husband’s favorite story ever but I am reluctant because The Hobbit gave me narcolepsy.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
The Death of Common Sense by Philip K. Howard.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Sigh…

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore. More recently, The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight by Gina Ochsner.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Jennifer Weiner.