That Book Meme

So there's this book meme floating around, and I totally get the feeling that the questions are aimed at people who, you know, read for purposes of feeling smarter than others. You know the kind of people I'm talking about. You'll probably figure this out right quick, but I don't, as a rule, intentionally read those kinds of books. Which is totally not to say I don't read them or don't enjoy them. But I don't read stuff intended, specifically, to give me a headache.

Also, if you notice the blank spaces, that's either because I don't read those, or I don't make a point of noticing that's what they are. Yes, I'm weird.

This meme apparently also requires the tagging of other people, but I'm not going to do that. If you do the meme, though, please comment with a link to your post, so I can go read your answers!


1) What author do you own the most books by? Probably Stephen King

2) What book do you own the most copies of?  There's a vegetarian cookbook that we received three times as gifts from different people.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?  Yes. Knock it off.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Like I'd tell you.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?  It's a toss up between a couple that I had on heavy repeat while growing up, but the one I probably read most was Watership Down by Richard Adams

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? For your information, I barely remember being ten years old... My best guess is either White Fang by Jack London  or The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year? I ordered The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger for MonkeySee and decided to pre-read it to make sure it was apporpiate. I couldn't even make it a third of the way through. I read the damn thing in high school and I have no idea how I got through it.

8 ) What is the best book you've read in the past year? Leather Daddy and the Femme by Carol Queen. This came as a recommendation (thanks Arwen!) a few months ago when I was placing a book order. I didn't even skim the summary section when I ordered it, so I was almost completely unprepared for it. Wow. I've still got the last 50 or so pages to read. It was so intense that I had to put it down, and I haven't managed to pick it back up again.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?  It's not published yet, but I'll keep y'all informed.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? I'm guessing the appropriate answer is not "me"?

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? I have no idea, but I swear I've read something recently that I thought would make a great movie.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? Bittersweet  by Nevada Barr

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. The only dreams I have, really, involving fictional characters are the ones where I'm getting nagged by them for not being productive enough.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult? Describe "lowbrow". I think I might be offended.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read? That I finished?

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?  The only Shakespeare plays I've seen were at Shakespeare in the Park, and I'm pretty sure they weren't very obscure.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? I prefer reading in English, thanks.

18) Roth or Updike? I'll pick Updike, as long as I don't have to watch Brazil again.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? No idea.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? You have approximately 7.3 minutes before I fall asleep.

21) Austen or Eliot? Austen

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Frankly, I don't feel the "need" to read specific things or authors because they're "popular" or whatever. As far as I'm concerned, the most embarrassing gaps are the spans of time when I don't have it in me to read (for whatever reason).

23) What is your favorite novel? Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

24) Play? That one Jess & Laura are in.

25) Poem? "We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

26) Essay?

27) Short story?

28) Work of nonfiction?

29) Who is your favorite writer? Neil Gaiman

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Christopher Paolini - Hey, I'd be published by now, too, if my dad owned a publishing firm!

31) What is your desert island book? I'd be writing, sorry

32) And… what are you reading right now? Nothing but blogs (weird, huh?)