Stole this from a friend – I can never resist a good book meme!
What books are your comfort reading–the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
Books are a bit Turret’s like for me—if I read something kind of awful, my own life seems better by comparison, I guess? So when I’m really stressed, I like to read books about hard times, like Joanne Greenberg’s I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, or The Joy Luck Club. That said… I might always lean towards no-brain fun, too.
What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Mmm… let’s see. When I was very small it as Who’s a Pest? a book by Crosby Bonsall about a little boy who everyone insists is a pest—even though he says he’s not. It’s a strange, funny little book, that involves everything from mean sisters to talking animals, and an all-consuming pit. It’s hard to explain, you’d have to read it. When I was a little older, though, I was a big fan of Mercer Mayer books, and the Alexander books by Judith Viorst (especially Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday).
What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
Undoubtedly Just as Long as We’re Together by Judy Blume. That book almost single-handedly got me through the break-up with my first (and second, really) best friend. Stephanie Hirsch was the first fictional character who I really saw as a reflection of my life—or what my life could be. She was what Rory Gilmore would be in a few years down the line. This is also the book that got me serious—at age eleven—about writing young adult books.
What is the most unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf–the books you’ve bought but just never get around to reading?
The ones I buy but haven’t read? Are probably mainly in the non-fiction genre. There are certain periods of history that I love—love, love, love, like the American Revolution and the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, and so I have a few books that I own that cover those periods, but I haven’t read any of them. Also under that list would be anthologies. I have a few either from classes (writing on music, etc) and gifts from friends, but I just don’t jump into them very often.
What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
There are a few of them. I tend to get very comfortable either in classics or in young adult or children’s fantasy… so almost anything outside of that is (embarrassingly) kind of a gray area for me. The ones that I’d really love to say I read are mystery novels—I feel like I’m missing out on a great genre, and the ones I’ve read I’ve enjoyed, but I just don’t go looking for them. I’d also like to say that I appreciated a good Grisham—because really, everybody is supposed to like Grisham, but all I’ve read was The Pelican Brief, and that was enforced (high school book report). I’d like to say I’d read Michener, too. My mother loves his novels, and I love the look and the idea of them… but I’ve never so much as opened one.
What’s the oddest book you’ve ever read?
Does The Host count? Because I have likened parts of that novel to a Miyazaki film on crack. Outside of the illustrious Miss Meyer, however… I would have to say… actually, no. I really think The Host might be the oddest book I’ve read.
What book were you never able to get through,despite the recommendations of people you respect?
I can’t think of one off the top of my head. Possibly Wicked? Maybe Eragon as well.
What’s the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
I don’t do this very often. The only one I can even remember is Jane Eyre. Which I started for the first time when I was twelve—I hated the childhood section of that book, and so I kept putting it down. It remains to this day the only book I’ve ever literally thrown across the room (more than once, I believe) in frustration—and my ugly little orange paperback bears the marks as proof. It took me months to get through Lowood. Once I got to Thornfield, though, I was hooked, hooked, hooked, and it is almost definitely my favorite book of all time.
What’s your favorite short story–or do you even have one?
I’m not very good at reading short stories, I’ll admit. There was one in a literature book of mine in high school, though, called “Chasing Summer,” that I really loved, all about a couple who, after a thermo-nuclear war, chase the patches of light that make their way through the nuclear winter sky. I also really love “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Ray Bradbury… actually, I love his “A Sound of Thunder,” also. Reason why I’ve always wanted to read more Bradbury (that should go with Grisham and Michener, above).
The desert island. Three books (and collected works don’t count. If you want the Lord of the Rings it’ll cost you all three slots). Go:
1. Jane Eyre… it’s a debate between this and Persuasion, but as yet Jane Eyre continues to have the smallest of edges.
2. Great Expectations—maybe. Not because it’s one of my favorites (it’s kind of not) but just because I think analyzing it would last me years. 😛
3. Fingerprints: Payback by Melinda Metz. At least I think I’d pick this one. One of the last three, at least. It’d kill me not to have the full series, though. Mindless fun—well, mostly mindless. And one of my biggest fiction OTPs. Yes, I know you’ve never heard of it.
tie me in a knot and throw me over your shoulder 