This questionnaire on reading tastes was created by lkmadigan, whose blog, Drenched in Words, I've begun following. My responses made me realize that in spite of my degree in English, my recently-completed MFA and my love of books, my literary gene pool is pretty shallow. Try your hand at it and share your responses. (These are the first 10 questions. The others will follow at a later date.)
1) What author do you own the most books by?It’s probably a 3-way tie—Jody Picoult, Lemony Snicket and Doreen Cronin—a testament to my eclectic taste in books!
2) What book do you own the most copies of? Again a tie—Three Cups of Tea and Wind in the Willows. Don’t ask me why.
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Yep.
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?Again illustrating my lack of literary sophistication, it’s probably Lucas Davenport from John Sandford’s “Prey” mysteries or Alex Cross from James Patterson’s books. Intelligent, brave, resourceful men are sexy.
5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children)?I don’t often read books over, but it’s probably The Little Prince.
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?Some Walter Farley Black Stallion book, or maybe Amigo the Circus Horse.
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?Not being able to finish a book and it actually being “bad” are two different things. That said, I couldn’t finish Drowning Ruth or Dancing for Cuba.
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year? The most enjoyable has been Ken Follett’s epic, World Without End.
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? The Giver by Lois Lowry.
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?No clue. Now, I might have an opinion about the Newbery. . .
OK, I'll play, too.
ReplyDelete1) Diana Wynne Jones, Patricia McKillip, Ursula Le Guin
2)"The Book of Dead Birds," "The Ice Queen"
3)not so much
4)ooooooo, Aragorn
5)I don't usually read over, either, even though I'll hang on to books 30 years! But I read twice "The Lord of the Rings," "Howl's Moving Castle," "Interview with a Vampire," which also highlight my sophisticated taste. :) I also have listened on audio tape to two books multiple times: Alice Hoffman's "The Probable Future," which I love for its mother-daughter relationships and "Stardust," in part because I love listening to Neil Gaiman read. Have you ever heard him read his "Wolves in the Walls?"
6)I'm with you on the Walter Farley books
7)"Shadowmancer" did not enchant me enough to finish
8)Susan Straight's "A Million Nightingales" was haunting and beautiful. I also loved the third of Melissa Marr's faerie series -- "Fragile Eternity."
9)eeek
10) totally clueless
Great survey! I'll post my answers, too.
ReplyDelete1. Tony Hillerman, Patricia Cornwell, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov.
2. The ones I've published! Of other writers, Harry Potter.
3. Yes, it certainly did! I wondered who the writer of the survey was.
4. Jim Chee (as played by Adam Beach in the movie versions).
5. I don't generally read books more than once, although I never get rid of them. Can't really recall offhand. Perhaps the Tony Hillerman ones, since they contain so much Navajo cultural information that I needed when writing "The Lost Treasure of the Golden Sun."
6. All the animal stories, like Wild Stallion, Black Stallion, Call of the Wild, etc. Also, my big brother's science ficiton books, which I used to sneak from his room starting at the age of eight.
7. Can't recall the title offhand, but it was a fantasy that did nothing for me. I gave it to a friend.
8. There are two: "Steinbeck's Ghost" by Lewis Buzbee and "The Missing: Book 1 - Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix.
9. Either of the books in 8 above.
10. I don't have a clue here, either.