Book meme...

[cairistiona]

Swiped from samtyr: Pick a number (or numbers) and get an answer:

1: What book did you last finish? When was that?

2: What are you currently reading?

3: What book are you planning to read next?

4: What was the last book you added to your tbr?

5: Which book did you last re-read?

6: Which book was the last one you really, really loved?

7: What was/were the last book/books you bought?

8: Paperback or hardcover? Why?

9: YA, NA or Adult? Why?

10: Sci-Fi or fantasy? Why?

11: Classic or modern? Why?

12: Political memoirs or comedic memoirs?

13: Name a book with a really bad movie/tv adaption

14: Name a book where the movie/tv adaption actually was better than the original

15: What book changed your life?

16: If you could bring three books to a deserted island which would you bring and why?

17: If you owned a bookshop what would you call it?

18: Which character from a book is the most like you?

19: Which character from a book is the least like you?

20: Best summer read?

21: Best winter read?

22: Pro or anti e-readers? Why?

23: Bookdepository or Amazon?

24: Do you prefer to buy books online or in a bookshop?

25: If you could be a character from a book for just one day who would you be and why? (Bonus: any specific day in the story?)

26: If you could be a character from a book for their entire life who would you be and why?

27: If you could change one thing about mainstream literature what would you change? (i.e. more diversity, better writing, better plot etc.)

28: How many books have you read so far this year?

29: How do you sort your shelves? (i.e. by color, author, title etc.)

30: Who’s your favorite author?

31: Who’s your favorite contemporary author?

32: Who’s your favorite fantasy author?

33: Who’s your favorite Sci-Fi author?

34: List five OTPs

35: Name a book you consider to be terribly underrated

36: Name a book you consider to be terribly overrated

37: How many books are actually in your bookshelf/shelves right now?

38: What language do you (most often) read in?

39: Name one of your favorite childhood books

40: Name one of your favorite books from your teenage years

41: Do you own a library card? How often do you use it?

42: Which was the best book you had to read in school?

43: Are you the kind of person who reads several books at once or the kind of person who can only read one book at a time?

44: Do you like to listen to music when you read?

45: What is your favorite thing to eat when you read?

46: What is your favorite thing to drink when you read?

47: What do you do to get out of a reading slump?

48: Where is your favorite place to read?

49: When is your favorite time to read?

50: Why do you love to read?

Comments

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

25 & 31 please. :)

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Who would I want to be for a day... I'll say either Merry or Pippin on the day Isengard fell. To be able to sit and eat all I wanted while watching the Ents destroy evil sounds like a day made in heaven.

Fave contemporary author: I'm taking this to be an author living now as opposed to an author of contemporary fiction, mostly because I pretty much only read genre fiction and stay away from general contemporary novels. So I'll say Michael J Sullivan, with Martha Wells running a close second solely on the strength of her Murderbot series.

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

I'll play. 17 & 36

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

17... bookshop name? "Between the Leaves" springs to mind. To me, it refers to what the reader brings to a book. A leaf in a book is a single sheet of paper, so there's literally nothing *between* a single leaf, but there's spaces between the leaves where the words and the reader's thoughts live. I'd probably decorate the store with a giant faux tree in the center, a la the Party Tree, with lots of soft seating built into its roots. (Never let it be said that I am NOT influenced by living in the woods....)

36... the most overrated book I've ever come across is The Hunger Games trilogy, and I say that only because of the lame ending. To me, that last book in the series (that now I can't even remember the title of) completely torpedoed the better books that came before it.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Let's see. 5, 13, and 14? ^^

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

5 ... I'm actually currently rereading the Riyria Revelations series, both for enjoyment and also because it's been too long since I read it and I needed to refresh my memory on little details, in case Michael Sullivan chooses me again to beta. I'm on the last of those 6 books now (or the last of the three omnibus editions).

13... sadly, "The Hobbit" I enjoyed the first movie, was meh on the second, and severely disappointed by the third, so much so that I've never even bothered buying the last two DVDs.

14... Dances With Wolves, hands down. I saw the movie, was so entranced by it that I grabbed up the book as soon as I could get to the bookstore, and was supremely disappointed by the hackneyed writing. The story itself was okay, but the writing was very... amateurish, so much so that I had the, "I can write better than *that*" moment that actually started me down my writing hobby/tiny career. Someday I might go back and read it again to see if my opinion is still the same, but then... meh. There are far too many new books I want to read first.

[mikononyte.livejournal.com]

Just one 50. You can be as in depth or as shallow as you will ☺

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Ooh, why do I love to read.... I've never actually thought very hard about it, because a love of reading is just something that seems coded into my DNA. There've been seasons of life where I didn't read as much as other times, but the desire to dive into a really good book is always there at the forefront of my mind. Sometimes I think when I haven't been reading much it wasn't so much me than it was the lack of good (to me) authors, but sometimes it was just stress of life stuff. Going through my parents' declines and deaths knocked me out of reading much beyond short articles online for a long time, and then Dink during the teen years also made it a little hard to concentrate on a long-form book, but I still found myself reading other things. Now, though, life is calmer and I'm enjoying a steady reading pace again, albeit slower than I used to. I guess I have to build up those reading muscles again!

Anyway, not sure I've actually answered the question! I love immersing myself in another world, seeing people take on problems and struggles and come though intact and stronger. I'm *not* interested in dark and dreary sad endings where I watch the main character descend into madness, failure or whatever tragedy the author thinks is "good storytelling." I want to be inspired by a story, not depressed. I need that sort of encouragement.

I also like to see how writers use words. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of verbiage, but if an author can spin a word picture with elegance and (especially) brevity, I'm there. Some of Cormac McCarthy's books are like that. Some of his are ridiculously overblown. But some, like The Road, are just brilliant, imho. (And I've always found The Road to be hopeful, whereas too many find it dark... but it's a good reflection of what it really means to be a parent and that struck a chord with me.)

So, somewhere in all this rambling I hope there's an answer. LOL

[dreamflower]

48 and 49

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Favorite place to read: my living room. There's no TV or computer there, and the dog and cats usually come around and sit either by me or in a nearby chair. In the winter, I can start a fire in the fireplace. There are big windows looking out over the front yard and the woods. It's filled with photos of family and artwork that we've picked up over the years (one of my favorites is a giant canvas b&w of New York skyline and the Empire State Building). It's just a peaceful, nice room and the only room in the house that's "finished" and not full of distracting visuals like weedy-looking furniture that needs replaced or clutter that needs dealt with. It's definitely my sanctuary. (And it's not closed off from the rest of the house... so I'm still "available" to the family, which is something I like.) I also will read in the car if Dink snags the shotgun seat and I'm in the backseat. I let her have "Daddy time" and I read on my phone. Thankfully, unlike when I was a child, I don't have any issues with carsickness.

Time to read: any chance I get?? But I do like mornings in the living room, after I've taken care of the animals, done whatever household chores need doing, and finished with any online stuff. There's usually about an hour or so before lunch that's a perfect time to sit with a book. I also like to read just before bed. I usually read fanfic then, which I can find one I like, but sometimes I'll read a chapter in a book. By the time I fall into bed, though, my brain is starting to shut down. A chapter is about all I usually manage before the eyes start to droop!

[layne67.livejournal.com]

8, 23, 29, 39, 44

Edit: You've already answered 13!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

8... actually, these days, e-reader (Kindle). I can adjust it for my aging eyes better, plus I always have a book with me because I always have my phone with me (using the Kindle app), and that probably also answers 23, Amazon. I get most of my books via their daily deals where I can pick a book up for a dollar or two. I've never used bookdepository.

9... I sort shelves very loosely by genre, then author. Books that are odd-sized tend to get put on whatever shelf they'll fit. I'm not worried about alphabetical order. I've never been a highly organized person in any aspect of life (except in my kitchen), and my bookshelves reflect that a little.

39... one of my favorite childhood books: the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

44... no music. I have this annoying need for the music to match the story and it rarely does, so even reading fantasy with "epic fantasy" music or even mellow fantasy music playing usually doesn't work because I'll inevitably be reading a quiet scene when the battle music part comes on or a battle scene when a quiet section comes on and it's just too distracting!