OK, I REALLY want other people to do this survey on their blog page. Heather, Laurie, Sevy, Michelle and Scott I'm looking at you! Don't let me be the only one that does this one!!
1. What book are you reading now?I just finished
Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and I'm just starting two by Tom Perrotta,
Little Children (which was such a fantastic movie and I can't wait to read the book) and
The Abstinence Teacher. I'm also reading
The Monster of Florence for my bookclub but I'm really not liking it :(
2. What are your favorite books? (You can put specific books or genres or both.)I'm not picky....ok I am, but I like just about all genres, except romance and sci-fi. My bookshelves are pretty random. Not a lot of rhyme or reason to them.
3. How did you learn to read?My mom read to me every single night as early as I can remember. By the time I hit kindergarten I read fairly well. Thanks mom!!
4. What foreign languages do you read?Unfortunately I can only read bits and pieces from some languages, but I hope to change that one day.
5. What 's the funniest book you ever read?Wow, there are so many. The ones that laughed out loud the hardest at were
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (I was on a break at my old job and I was reading the scene where they're rushing to the airport and crash through the fence and I was laughing out loud like a lunatic! Everybody was staring at me!) Definitely anything by David Sedaris and parts of
A Prayer for Owen Meany6. What books have changed the way you look at the world?Not to be cliche, but
Catcher in the Rye was such an eye-opener for me. If we ever have a boy we'll probably name him Holden. Also,
Female Chauvinist Pigs is a real wake-up call to the plague of our "girls-gone-wild-paris-hilton-society."
7. What books have you changed your mind about?It took me until recently to warm up to Cormac McCarthy, but now I can't get enough of him.
8. What are some of the scariest books you've ever read?I have a bunch of scary story collections (I absolutely love scaring myself through reading) and surprisingly enough the scariest stories are the ones written in the early 1900s. The descriptions are just so creepy. Also, the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a terrifying look at post-partum depression.
9. About how many books do you think you have you read in your life?Way too many to count.
10. About how many books do you own? Same answer as above. The benefit/curse of working at a bookstore.
11. How many books per month do you usually borrow from the library? It used to be a lot, but now I just buy them. Bad habit.
12. Do you read in bed?Yep. Can't go to sleep unless I do.
13. Do you ever read while walking or driving?Driving?? No. I can read if someone else is driving. And if I read while I walk I WILL trip.
14. Where is the strangest place you've read a book?I'm not sure. I'm sure when I was a kid I found some interesting places to get away and read. I always thought the kid in
Neverending Story was so cool for sneaking away in school to read. Too bad that movie gives me serious heebie jeebies now. How did I ever enjoy it as a kid??
15. Do you listen to audio books? When I can. I listened to
A Clockwork Orange on audio when I drove to Utah and that was cool because the language in it is so unique and hearing it outloud was interesting.
16. Has anyone ever read aloud to you or you to them? Tell us more.My wonderful mom. I can't remember a single time in my childhood that she didn't read to me. She was the best at it. She had the perfect tempo and didn't mind if I asked questions.
17. What book was the most difficult to read?If it's too difficult, I'll usually just give up. I've started and stopped a thousand books in this lifetime.
18. Do you read every word of a book, or skip parts that don't hold your interest?Both. If I'm really into it I'll read every single word, but if I just want to get the basic idea I can skim quickly through it.
19. What books do you keep intending to read but put off?*sigh* The classics of course. Tolstoy, Bronte (both of them), Dostoevsky, etc. It's not that I don't want to read them, I just end up reading modern American fiction first.
20. Do you buy new or used books, paperbacks or hardbacks, leather or collector's items?If I had the money I'd buy leather and collector's books, but I usually buy paperbacks and occasionally hardcovers. Someone I knew bought me a used copy of
Still Life with Woodpecker and I thought that was so cool. Too bad the guy ended up being a tool.
21. How do you feel about writing in books, dog earing, etc.I dog ear paperbacks, but if it's a hardcover I use the book jacket to mark my place. Writing in books can be scary because later I'll look at it and think, "Oh, I must have thought I was really smart to underline that sentence and write a quote from Kant in the margin." So embarrassing.
22. What is the worst book you remember reading?The Host by Stephenie Meyer is atrocious. I honestly tried my hardest and got 30 pages in. Horrible book.
23. Do you lend your books?Usually only to family members. They always treat the books with respect. I have a hard time loaning them out to anybody else. Probably because I've spent a small fortune on all of them.
24. What were your favorite books when you were a child?Wow, too many to name! I loved
The Boxcar Children and
The Great Brain series. Beverly Cleary books were also my favorite. They still are as a matter of fact.
25. What books would you especially recommend to young people?It depends on their interests.
Harry Potter books are honestly amazing and any child that hasn't read them should start. So magical and fun. I didn't want to like them, but I finally gave in after the second book had come out and I've been hooked ever since.
26. Do you ever read the ending first?Only if it's a book that I don't really want to read and I just want to see how it ends. Otherwise it takes a large amount of restraint not to peek.
27. Have you ever read a book more than once? If so, mention them and
why you read them more than once.Too many to name. I re-read short story collections like
The Best American Short Stories series because it's easy to forget short stories so re-reading them is like reading them for the first time.
28. What frequently recommended books have you been unable to finish?A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I don't know what it is, but I can't finish that thing.
29. List some of your favorite authors.Wow, here's just a few: Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, David Sedaris, Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, JD Salinger, Joyce Carol Oates, James Ellroy, Poe, Dennis Lehane, Cormac Mccarthy, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Denis Johnson, Tim O'Brien, Ian McEwan. Just a few LOL!
30. You're stranded on a desert island and you can only have one book. What is it?Probably a heavy classic so I can FINALLY get through it and pat myself on the back.
