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Yay, I'm back online from home! I return with a book meme, and it's not even one of those book memes where you're supposed to impress everyone with how much classical literature you've read. This one is open-ended questions.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
I had to go take a look at my shelves and try to remember which books I got before or after other books, but it looks like I'm going to have to go with the novelization of the original Battlestar Galactica pilot called (surprisingly enough) Battlestar Galactica by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston. I think I read it when I was 12. I still have the whole series of 14 books.
2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
I'm currently reading Moonshine by Rob Thurman (the second in her series starring Cal and Niko Leandros).
My last read was Wally's World: Life With Wally the Wonder Dog by Marsha Boulton. It was assigned reading for a volunteer project I'm working on for Hadley School for the Blind. It was also the worst book I've read in a long time.
My next book will probably be A Cold Heart by Jonathan Kellerman (the seventeenth book in his Alex Delaware series). For some reason, I always feel like reading Alex Delaware books in the spring. I have no idea why.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Storm Front by Jim Butcher (the first book in the Dresden Files series). I have no idea why this series is so popular.
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. Yes, I am the only person on earth who has never read a Harry Potter book. Nothing anyone has told me about them (and literally everyone I know has read the series, including my dad who hates to read) has piqued my interest in any way.
5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
I'm not saving any. Why wait? There'll be more new books published after I retire to keep me busy.
6. Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
Wait 'til the end, unless the book is really sucking and I want to know if it gets better, or if I should cut my losses now.
7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
If it's just a list of people the author wants to thank, a waste of ink for me, although I'm sure the people being thanked appreciate it. If the author actually explains who the people are and why they're being thanked, then it could be an interesting aside.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
I really can't think of one. I read a lot of genre fiction, so the characters in my books all tend to have really terrible things happen to them. I love the characters, but I don't want to be them.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb takes place during a science fiction and fantasy convention that reminds me of a con or two I've been to (minus the murder, of course).
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
The Sleep Police by Jay Bonansinga. I was at the Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago a few years ago browsing at a table and was reading the back of this book when I heard a hopeful voice say, "Can I sign that for you?" The poor author was there for a signing, but nobody was paying any attention to him. I was literally the only person at that publisher's table. I felt so sorry for him that I bought his book and let him autograph it for me. I still haven't read it. I'll get around to it eventually.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I'm a librarian and most of the people I know (except my dad) are big readers, so I pretty much give books to everyone for every occasion.
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude by Keith Laumer (part of his Retief of the CDT series). It holds a special place in my heart for having a plot that bears absolutely no resemblance to the jacket blurb. Anyway, if I remember right, this was the book I dragged through Paris, France; Leningrad and Moscow in Russia; Odessa and Kiev in the Ukraine; and Riga, Latvia, over the course of 2 1/2 weeks with my BF when we were 18.
13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
No, I have no interest in rereading anything I was forced to read in high school. However, I did have to read Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal for 6th, 7th, and 9th grade English (don't ask). I hated it the first two times, but by the third time I read it I'd discovered Doctor Who, and the alien visitor in the play reminded me so much of Tom Baker's Doctor that I actually really liked it the third time around.
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
A prescription for heart medication.
15. Used or brand new?
I'm not picky. If it's a fairly new book, I'll probably wait for Borders to send me a coupon and buy it new. If it's an older or a really obscure book, or if I'm coming on board a series late, I'll hit up a used book store. I first got into the Alex Delaware books when there were fourteen of them out already, so I hit up a used book store and grabbed all of them at once. Sometimes it's fun to hit up a used book store just to see what's there. I found an awesome history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (copyright 1954) at John King's in Detroit.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Opiate of the masses. Sorry, fans. I've read two of his books and I don't understand the appeal.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
I don't think so. I've certainly seen movies I enjoyed just as much as the book (or disliked just as much as the book), but I don't think I've ever seen a movie I liked better.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. What the movie people did to that book should be a felony.
19. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
My BF's. And by "always," I mean "mostly." We have very similar tastes, but occasionally we wildly diverge ::eyes Liaden series by Steve Miller & Sharon Lee:: (Why haven't I taken those to the used book store yet?)
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
I had to go take a look at my shelves and try to remember which books I got before or after other books, but it looks like I'm going to have to go with the novelization of the original Battlestar Galactica pilot called (surprisingly enough) Battlestar Galactica by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston. I think I read it when I was 12. I still have the whole series of 14 books.
2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
I'm currently reading Moonshine by Rob Thurman (the second in her series starring Cal and Niko Leandros).
My last read was Wally's World: Life With Wally the Wonder Dog by Marsha Boulton. It was assigned reading for a volunteer project I'm working on for Hadley School for the Blind. It was also the worst book I've read in a long time.
My next book will probably be A Cold Heart by Jonathan Kellerman (the seventeenth book in his Alex Delaware series). For some reason, I always feel like reading Alex Delaware books in the spring. I have no idea why.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Storm Front by Jim Butcher (the first book in the Dresden Files series). I have no idea why this series is so popular.
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. Yes, I am the only person on earth who has never read a Harry Potter book. Nothing anyone has told me about them (and literally everyone I know has read the series, including my dad who hates to read) has piqued my interest in any way.
5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
I'm not saving any. Why wait? There'll be more new books published after I retire to keep me busy.
6. Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
Wait 'til the end, unless the book is really sucking and I want to know if it gets better, or if I should cut my losses now.
7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
If it's just a list of people the author wants to thank, a waste of ink for me, although I'm sure the people being thanked appreciate it. If the author actually explains who the people are and why they're being thanked, then it could be an interesting aside.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
I really can't think of one. I read a lot of genre fiction, so the characters in my books all tend to have really terrible things happen to them. I love the characters, but I don't want to be them.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb takes place during a science fiction and fantasy convention that reminds me of a con or two I've been to (minus the murder, of course).
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
The Sleep Police by Jay Bonansinga. I was at the Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago a few years ago browsing at a table and was reading the back of this book when I heard a hopeful voice say, "Can I sign that for you?" The poor author was there for a signing, but nobody was paying any attention to him. I was literally the only person at that publisher's table. I felt so sorry for him that I bought his book and let him autograph it for me. I still haven't read it. I'll get around to it eventually.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I'm a librarian and most of the people I know (except my dad) are big readers, so I pretty much give books to everyone for every occasion.
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude by Keith Laumer (part of his Retief of the CDT series). It holds a special place in my heart for having a plot that bears absolutely no resemblance to the jacket blurb. Anyway, if I remember right, this was the book I dragged through Paris, France; Leningrad and Moscow in Russia; Odessa and Kiev in the Ukraine; and Riga, Latvia, over the course of 2 1/2 weeks with my BF when we were 18.
13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
No, I have no interest in rereading anything I was forced to read in high school. However, I did have to read Visit to a Small Planet by Gore Vidal for 6th, 7th, and 9th grade English (don't ask). I hated it the first two times, but by the third time I read it I'd discovered Doctor Who, and the alien visitor in the play reminded me so much of Tom Baker's Doctor that I actually really liked it the third time around.
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
A prescription for heart medication.
15. Used or brand new?
I'm not picky. If it's a fairly new book, I'll probably wait for Borders to send me a coupon and buy it new. If it's an older or a really obscure book, or if I'm coming on board a series late, I'll hit up a used book store. I first got into the Alex Delaware books when there were fourteen of them out already, so I hit up a used book store and grabbed all of them at once. Sometimes it's fun to hit up a used book store just to see what's there. I found an awesome history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (copyright 1954) at John King's in Detroit.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Opiate of the masses. Sorry, fans. I've read two of his books and I don't understand the appeal.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
I don't think so. I've certainly seen movies I enjoyed just as much as the book (or disliked just as much as the book), but I don't think I've ever seen a movie I liked better.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. What the movie people did to that book should be a felony.
19. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
My BF's. And by "always," I mean "mostly." We have very similar tastes, but occasionally we wildly diverge ::eyes Liaden series by Steve Miller & Sharon Lee:: (Why haven't I taken those to the used book store yet?)
