Skip to main content

A Life in Pages

1. What author do you own the most books by?
Mary Stewart. 40 at last count. There's a pretty good story behind that number. Maybe I'll share it with you one of these days.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
I own four copies of The Blue Sword and four copies of The Ivy Tree. That's right. It's a tie.

3. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
So you're saying I have to pick just one...well, I won't. Today you get two--one that I've been crushing on for several months now and one that I've been in love with for going on two decades. Poe/Jamie/Pajamie (the Ivy League Novels by Diana Peterfreund) and George Cooper (The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce). Respectively.

4. What book have you read more than any other?
Ooh. I'm gonna have to go with The High King by Lloyd Alexander. Although The Hero and the Crown and Lioness Rampant are not far behind.

5. What was your favorite book when you were 10 years old?
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. First line: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." Yep. Still awesome.

6. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Unfortunately, that honor goes to Breaking Dawn for its monumental jumping of the shark. Sigh.

7. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Riiiiight. We'll just break it down by genre now, shall we? UF: Iron Kissed. Fantasy: Heir to Sevenwaters. Mystery: Silent in the Sanctuary. Steampunk: Clockwork Heart. Fairy Tale: A Curse Dark as Gold. SciFi: The Host. YA: Graceling. Contemporary: Rites of Spring (Break).Wow. Now I feel like re-reading several of those...

8. If you could tell everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Middlemarch by George Eliot. I will never get over this book. So much compassion for the human condition in its pages.

9. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Ulysses by James Joyce. Now, admittedly, I was suffering from extreme morning sickness the entire time I was reading. But still. Brain candy it's not. But I finished it. "yes I said yes I will Yes."

10. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I'm actually gonna have to go with the Russians on this one.

11. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Yeah. Only one answer there. Shakespeare.

12. Austen or Eliot?
You're really gonna make me choose between these two? Very well. Austen.

13. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Okay, here it is. *deep breath* I've never actually read Little Women. *runs*

14. What is your favorite novel?
You don't really know me at all if you think I can answer that question.

15. What is your favorite play?

16. What is your favorite poem?
Something by Yeats. Probably "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven."

17. What is your favorite essay?
"Professions for Women" by Virginia Woolf

18. What is your favorite short story?
"The Dead" by James Joyce. Poe and O'Connor are made of awesome, but this one's probably my favorite.

19. What is your favorite non-fiction?
A Room of One's Own. She's just so good.

20. What is your favorite graphic novel?
I haven't read enough for my opinion to matter really. I'd like to read more. But of what I've read so far I really enjoyed The Professor's Daughter.

21. What is your favorite science fiction?
Fahrenheit 451. I've read a lot of killer scifi, but this one still wins. Man, I love Bradbury.

22. Who is your favorite writer?
See answer to #14 above.

23. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
I really have no idea. Hard as I try, I can't seem to get into Diana Wynne Jones. But as she is so beloved, I've always assumed the fault was mine.

24. What are you reading right now?
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. Kate's swingin' Slayer around and Curran's on the prowl. So far, so great!

25. Best memoir?
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. If you haven't read this slender gem you're missing something truly lovely.

26. Best history?
I'm going to tweak this one to favorite historical/biographical. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. Fascinating.

27. Best mystery or noir?
I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. Up in the middle of the night, sitting on the cold bathroom floor, dying to find out what happens kind of good.

And what about you?
Labels:

Comments

  1. Christine12:53 PM

    I loved your answer(s) to 7. What is the best book you've read in the past year? Seeing that of a small few of those books I have read, they were also my favorites, I think I ought to pick up all the others and make them must reads as well.

    I totally agree with you regarding Breaking Dawn being the worst book I read in 2008, too.

    Not only that.. *whispers* ... I never read Little Women either! It never bothered me too much... until recently when my 10 year old read The Mother Daughter Book Club by Heather Vogel Frederick, which is a contemporary novel about four middle school girls who belong to a mother-daughter book club and read Little Women together. I wish I had read Little Women so I could better pick up on those subtle connections. *sigh*

    I'm also embarrassed to say that I don't think I read Fahrenheit 451 Eeep! But I did read Bradbury's The Illustrated Man and LOVED it. I read it in seventh grade and it stuck with me for a long time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:44 PM

    Thank you! You're the first person I've met who's read The Professor's Daughter!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lana2:30 PM

    Also completely in love with George Cooper :-).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Angiegirl1:22 AM

    Christine, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Although, that book does sound like a fun read to share with your daughter. Perhaps we should do a LW challenge at some point to get us to do it. :)

    SunShine, isn't it a delightful book? I loved it. Do you recommend any other graphic novels?

    Lana, ah, George. He's just he one isn't he?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christine8:05 AM

    I was thinking the same thing! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Li3:44 PM

    Ah, George Cooper! I had forgotten. I have just bought Bloodhound :-)

    Can't believe you haven't read Little Women. Though I remember preferring one of its sequels, can't remember which one now.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Christine3:58 PM

    There are sequels? *gulp*

    Clearly, I need a course in the classics. *blushes*

    ReplyDelete
  8. Li4:42 PM

    Oh, seeing that I would totally draw a blank when it comes to later questions (favourite essay??!), I wouldn't read too much into the fact I've read the LW sequels :-D

    ReplyDelete
  9. Diana Peterfreund6:37 PM

    Too funny! I just did this (am posting tomorrow) and my ten year old self put Voyage, too!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Angiegirl9:59 PM

    Li, I should be shunned for it, I know. I'm about 60 pages into BLOODHOUND right now, though. Beka's still awesome in case anyone was wondering.

    Diana, rock on. VOYAGE is the best. I'll be sure to drop by tomorrow to see the rest of your answers. This was a fun meme to write up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Aaron2:35 AM

    Hold the phone. You've never read Little Women? You have defended it's honor to me on more than one occasion! Where you defending it on principle alone? Where merely standing up for Winona Ryder? My entire world is shaken here. What's right? Who am I? Who are you?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Angiegirl2:05 PM

    Now hang on a minute there, mister. I was defending Alcott herself. And in my defense, I have read both Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom by Alcott and loved them both. For those alone she merits honor-defending. I just somehow never made it around to LW...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Jenny Girl5:03 PM

    Yea, I guess Breakin Dawn did jump the shark. Hadn't thought of it that way before, but I liked it better than Eclipse. I gor bogged down a bit in Eclipse.
    84, Charing Cross Road...that's the second time this week i saw that mentioned. Consider it an omen.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Angiegirl1:27 AM

    Jenny Girl, I know what you mean. Eclipse ran on a bit, although I did like the fight at the end.

    And I would definitely consider it an omen. Go find a copy now! :) The movie is also simply wonderful. Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

This book has made the rounds and no mistake. I started seeing early reviews awhile back and read a few delightful interviews with Leanna Renee Hieber and found myself intrigued to read her first novel-- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker . I was, therefore, tickled to receive a copy for review from Ms. Hieber and quickly set about settling in. I knew it was a Gothic paranormal mystery of sorts, featuring (among other things) a group of loyal comrades, a private London academy, a bit of magic, an albino, and a swoon-worthy broody professor a la Richard Armitage in North & South . *moment of silence for the awesomeness of The Armitage* And that was the extent of my pre-reading knowledge. That and the fact that I loved the cover with its simple yet moody, midnight blue and its slightly off-kilter, scripty title. Miss Percy Parker is about to embark on an adventure, albeit a much larger one than she imagines. Leaving the convent--the only home she's ever known--a...
9 comments
Read more

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a...
4 comments
Read more

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count b...
2 comments
Read more