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dolorosa_12) wrote2011-05-30 03:23 pm
dolorosa_12) wrote2011-05-30 03:23 pm
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Awesome book meme
This is a book meme taken from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ansketil_rose
1 - The best book you read last year:
Definitely, definitely The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan. It was hilarious, heartbreaking and so full of red herrings and plot twists that I had no idea how it was going to end.
2 - A book you've read more than 3 times:
I reread books all the time. Any book I've enjoyed I've definitely read at least three or four times. The book I've probably read the most in my life is either Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks, which is my go-to comfort book, or Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein, which was my favourite book when I was 10 and I knew off by heart (to the extent that when our teacher read it aloud in class, I would correct her when she skipped bits because I was just that annoying).
3 - Your favourite series:
In no particular order, The Pagan Chronicles by Catherine Jinks, the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, His Dark Materials and the Sally Lockhart mysteries by Philip Pullman, Romanitas bysophiamcdougall, The Troy Game by Sara Douglass, Roma Sub Rosa by Steven Saylor, The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan and Harry Potter (mainly for the social aspect, that is having a series of books that everyone's read and thus can discuss with me). There are some other two-part 'series' that I adore, but I'm discounting them because I've taken 'series' to mean 'three books or more'.
4 - A guilty pleasure book:
I'm not really ashamed of anything that I read, but I guess I could include Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, simply because admitting that you read them causes people to go 'huh?'
5 - A book that made you laugh:
Most recently, Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, although like all Pratchett, there were moments when I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
6 - A book that made you cry:
Oh God, Savage City by Sophia McDougall. I cried buckets.
7 - Most underrated book:
Victor Kelleher's The Beast of Heaven. Easily the best science fiction novel I have ever read, and yet barely anyone in Australia has heard of it, let alone people in the rest of the world. Kelleher, in general, is the most underrated author I've ever come across.
8 - Most overrated book:
To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm not saying it's not a good book - it is. But having studied it (or having it on the high school curriculum) doesn't magically make you - or your country free of racism.
9 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving:
Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I got given it one year for Christmas (my mother used to read book reviews and buy birthday and Christmas presents accordingly) and didn't want to read it because 'I didn't like books about animals' (it had a cover with Lyra, mouse-shaped Pan and Iorek Byrnison on the cover). Then I ran out of other books, whined about having 'nothing to read' and my amazing sister said, 'you haven't read this one yet'. I promptly read it three times in a row, and it changed my life. I met the most amazing people through that book. It is the reason why I am a professional newspaper book-reviewer, and the reason I am at Cambridge. I am so grateful to Pullman for having written it, to my mother for buying it, and to my sister for forcing me to read that 'book about animals' that I rejected all those years ago.
10 - Favorite classic book:
I don't really like the term 'classic' (because I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a literary canon), but I love Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Buile Shuibne, Acallam na Senórach and Lebor Gabála Érenn (medieval Irish literature totally counts as 'classic'), The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
11 - A book you hated:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This is the only book that I studied in 13 years of school and four years of undergraduate English classes that I disliked.
12 - A book you used to love but don’t any more:
When I first read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley I loved it to bits. I was 18 years old, which probably had a lot to do with it. Now when I read it it makes me want to grab Bradley and shake her and say PAGAN BRITAIN WAS NOT A FEMINIST UTOPIA AND YOUR BOOK NEEDS MORE NUANCE! ALSO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND RELIGIOUS HISTORY!
13 - Your favorite author:
I have many favourite authors, but I'm going to have to go with Philip Pullman simply because his books utterly transformed my life, and made it better.
14 - Favorite male character:
Pagan Kidrouk from Catherine Jinks' Pagan Chronicles. No contest.
15 - Favorite female character:
Noviana Una from Sophia McDougall's Romanitas series. Again, no contest.
16 - Your biggest fictional crush:
Pagan Kidrouk. He has been my ideal man since 1995. I'm faithful in that regard.
17 - A Good Quick Read:
The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld. It's a vampire apocalypse, so the logical thing to do is start a band and become famous, right? (This is the follow up to Peeps.)
18 - A book that disappointed you:
Wildfire by Sarah Micklem. Firethorn, its prequel, is fantastic, which is why Wildfire is such a disappointment. I discuss the reasons why here.
19 - Favorite book-to-movie conversions:
Adaptation, which is an adaptation of The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, but is really about the difficulties of making a book-to-movie conversion. On the whole, though, I think that TV series are a better vehicle for adapting books, as movies tend to need to be more superficial with characterisation due to time constraints. I'm also a sucker for 90s teen movie adaptations (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A (which is not from the 90s but should be)) of classics.
20 - Favorite romance:
I'm not sure if this question means 'romance novel' or 'fictional couple'. For fictional couple, I wrote my favourites here, although of that 10 I think I like Mai and Anji fromkateelliott's Crossroads series the most simply because theirs is an arranged marriage of equals, they are practical and pragmatic people, and individually they're amazing but together they're awesome. In terms of 'romance novels', I think I'll have to go with Sunshine by Robin McKinley, which is vampire romance as it should be.
21 - Favorite book from your childhood:
My earliest favourite books were Alison Lester's picture books. The first 'chapter books' that I enjoyed were Music From the Sea, The City By the Sand, The House of a Hundred Animals, The Metal Men and The Tribe that Sand to Trees by Jackie French (a series of books set in a post-apocalyptic Australia where everyone lived a much more hunter-gatherer-type lifestyle). I devoured everything by Robin Klein, and adored A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras. I could go on and on and on and on.
22 - A book you can't wait for:
The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan.
23 - A book you've been meaning to read for ages:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, which is the only book of hers I haven't read, and I feel that to have not at least read all of Austen when I studied English literature as an undergrad is kind of disgraceful.
24 - A book that you wish more people would read:
Everything by Victor Kelleher, but in particular The Beast of Heaven and Parkland, Earthsong and Fire Dancer. I wish more people overseas had read Australian books in general because I read so many of them growing up and it's frustrating not being able to talk about them to my friends.
25 - Character you are most similar to:
I used to be quite a lot like Noviana Una, which is probably why I love her so much, and I was totally like Sara Crewe from A Little Princess and Naomi Bernstein from The Girls in the Velvet Frame when I was a child. Now I think I'm most like Kella from Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles.
26 - A book that changed your opinion about something:
I actually don't think any book has caused me to change my opinion so much as give me the words to articulate my own opinions more clearly.
27 - Most surprising plot twist or ending:
The Beast of Heaven by Victor Kelleher, White Cat by Holly Black and The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.
28 - Favorite book title:
Oh, I always have so much trouble with this. I like Of Nightingales That Weep by Katherine Paterson, If On a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, Apricots at Midnight and A Lane to the Land of the Dead by Adele Geras, The Third Day, the Frost by John Marsden, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and basically every title by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (at least, the titles his books are given in English translation). The reasons for liking these titles vary - some are evocative and sound lovely, while other simply encapsulate what the book is about perfectly.
29 - A book everyone hated but you liked:
I liked Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertold Brecht, which we studied in school. No one else in the class seemed to like either one much.
30 - Your favorite book OF ALL TIME:
Yeah, not really able to answer that...
ansketil_rose1 - The best book you read last year:
Definitely, definitely The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan. It was hilarious, heartbreaking and so full of red herrings and plot twists that I had no idea how it was going to end.
2 - A book you've read more than 3 times:
I reread books all the time. Any book I've enjoyed I've definitely read at least three or four times. The book I've probably read the most in my life is either Pagan's Vows by Catherine Jinks, which is my go-to comfort book, or Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein, which was my favourite book when I was 10 and I knew off by heart (to the extent that when our teacher read it aloud in class, I would correct her when she skipped bits because I was just that annoying).
3 - Your favourite series:
In no particular order, The Pagan Chronicles by Catherine Jinks, the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, His Dark Materials and the Sally Lockhart mysteries by Philip Pullman, Romanitas by
sophiamcdougall, The Troy Game by Sara Douglass, Roma Sub Rosa by Steven Saylor, The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan and Harry Potter (mainly for the social aspect, that is having a series of books that everyone's read and thus can discuss with me). There are some other two-part 'series' that I adore, but I'm discounting them because I've taken 'series' to mean 'three books or more'.4 - A guilty pleasure book:
I'm not really ashamed of anything that I read, but I guess I could include Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, simply because admitting that you read them causes people to go 'huh?'
5 - A book that made you laugh:
Most recently, Night Watch by Terry Pratchett, although like all Pratchett, there were moments when I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
6 - A book that made you cry:
Oh God, Savage City by Sophia McDougall. I cried buckets.
7 - Most underrated book:
Victor Kelleher's The Beast of Heaven. Easily the best science fiction novel I have ever read, and yet barely anyone in Australia has heard of it, let alone people in the rest of the world. Kelleher, in general, is the most underrated author I've ever come across.
8 - Most overrated book:
To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm not saying it's not a good book - it is. But having studied it (or having it on the high school curriculum) doesn't magically make you - or your country free of racism.
9 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving:
Northern Lights/The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I got given it one year for Christmas (my mother used to read book reviews and buy birthday and Christmas presents accordingly) and didn't want to read it because 'I didn't like books about animals' (it had a cover with Lyra, mouse-shaped Pan and Iorek Byrnison on the cover). Then I ran out of other books, whined about having 'nothing to read' and my amazing sister said, 'you haven't read this one yet'. I promptly read it three times in a row, and it changed my life. I met the most amazing people through that book. It is the reason why I am a professional newspaper book-reviewer, and the reason I am at Cambridge. I am so grateful to Pullman for having written it, to my mother for buying it, and to my sister for forcing me to read that 'book about animals' that I rejected all those years ago.
10 - Favorite classic book:
I don't really like the term 'classic' (because I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a literary canon), but I love Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Buile Shuibne, Acallam na Senórach and Lebor Gabála Érenn (medieval Irish literature totally counts as 'classic'), The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe and Daniel Deronda by George Eliot.
11 - A book you hated:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. This is the only book that I studied in 13 years of school and four years of undergraduate English classes that I disliked.
12 - A book you used to love but don’t any more:
When I first read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley I loved it to bits. I was 18 years old, which probably had a lot to do with it. Now when I read it it makes me want to grab Bradley and shake her and say PAGAN BRITAIN WAS NOT A FEMINIST UTOPIA AND YOUR BOOK NEEDS MORE NUANCE! ALSO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND RELIGIOUS HISTORY!
13 - Your favorite author:
I have many favourite authors, but I'm going to have to go with Philip Pullman simply because his books utterly transformed my life, and made it better.
14 - Favorite male character:
Pagan Kidrouk from Catherine Jinks' Pagan Chronicles. No contest.
15 - Favorite female character:
Noviana Una from Sophia McDougall's Romanitas series. Again, no contest.
16 - Your biggest fictional crush:
Pagan Kidrouk. He has been my ideal man since 1995. I'm faithful in that regard.
17 - A Good Quick Read:
The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld. It's a vampire apocalypse, so the logical thing to do is start a band and become famous, right? (This is the follow up to Peeps.)
18 - A book that disappointed you:
Wildfire by Sarah Micklem. Firethorn, its prequel, is fantastic, which is why Wildfire is such a disappointment. I discuss the reasons why here.
19 - Favorite book-to-movie conversions:
Adaptation, which is an adaptation of The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, but is really about the difficulties of making a book-to-movie conversion. On the whole, though, I think that TV series are a better vehicle for adapting books, as movies tend to need to be more superficial with characterisation due to time constraints. I'm also a sucker for 90s teen movie adaptations (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A (which is not from the 90s but should be)) of classics.
20 - Favorite romance:
I'm not sure if this question means 'romance novel' or 'fictional couple'. For fictional couple, I wrote my favourites here, although of that 10 I think I like Mai and Anji from
kateelliott's Crossroads series the most simply because theirs is an arranged marriage of equals, they are practical and pragmatic people, and individually they're amazing but together they're awesome. In terms of 'romance novels', I think I'll have to go with Sunshine by Robin McKinley, which is vampire romance as it should be.21 - Favorite book from your childhood:
My earliest favourite books were Alison Lester's picture books. The first 'chapter books' that I enjoyed were Music From the Sea, The City By the Sand, The House of a Hundred Animals, The Metal Men and The Tribe that Sand to Trees by Jackie French (a series of books set in a post-apocalyptic Australia where everyone lived a much more hunter-gatherer-type lifestyle). I devoured everything by Robin Klein, and adored A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Girls in the Velvet Frame by Adele Geras. I could go on and on and on and on.
22 - A book you can't wait for:
The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan.
23 - A book you've been meaning to read for ages:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, which is the only book of hers I haven't read, and I feel that to have not at least read all of Austen when I studied English literature as an undergrad is kind of disgraceful.
24 - A book that you wish more people would read:
Everything by Victor Kelleher, but in particular The Beast of Heaven and Parkland, Earthsong and Fire Dancer. I wish more people overseas had read Australian books in general because I read so many of them growing up and it's frustrating not being able to talk about them to my friends.
25 - Character you are most similar to:
I used to be quite a lot like Noviana Una, which is probably why I love her so much, and I was totally like Sara Crewe from A Little Princess and Naomi Bernstein from The Girls in the Velvet Frame when I was a child. Now I think I'm most like Kella from Isobelle Carmody's Obernewtyn Chronicles.
26 - A book that changed your opinion about something:
I actually don't think any book has caused me to change my opinion so much as give me the words to articulate my own opinions more clearly.
27 - Most surprising plot twist or ending:
The Beast of Heaven by Victor Kelleher, White Cat by Holly Black and The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.
28 - Favorite book title:
Oh, I always have so much trouble with this. I like Of Nightingales That Weep by Katherine Paterson, If On a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino, Apricots at Midnight and A Lane to the Land of the Dead by Adele Geras, The Third Day, the Frost by John Marsden, Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and basically every title by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (at least, the titles his books are given in English translation). The reasons for liking these titles vary - some are evocative and sound lovely, while other simply encapsulate what the book is about perfectly.
29 - A book everyone hated but you liked:
I liked Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertold Brecht, which we studied in school. No one else in the class seemed to like either one much.
30 - Your favorite book OF ALL TIME:
Yeah, not really able to answer that...
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