Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Survey from hayleyghoover

Here's a survey from HayleyGHoover's blog. My answers probably aren't as fantastic as they could be because I am very, very hungry right now and just really want some lunch. This is not helped by my boyfriend sitting down next to me with a sandwich. Grr.

1. What author do you own the most books by?
Sarah Dessen (9 books), Kevin Brooks (7 books) & Deb Caletti (6 books)

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen & Dracula by Bram Stoker (and, for some reason, Twilight)

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really, since when do surveys have proper grammar anyways?

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Dexter from This Lullaby, Adam from Before I Die, & Sebastian from The Nature of Jade (Yes, all these characters are teenagers and I'm 23... I should probably start reading books with male characters my own age now)

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)?
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen gets read about once a year, as does The Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti. The Catcher in the Rye and Love Story have both been read 3 times (I think)

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
When I was ten? Probably the Rosy Cole books by Sheila Greenwald

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
The Time Traveler's Wife. Everyone said I would love it and so on, and I read it and the guy, Henry, just had no appealing qualities as a person. So he can time travel, ok, that doesn't make him nice or funny or smart. He was a slutty drunk until he met Clare. And the only things Clare liked about him, were attributes he developed because of her. Henry reminded me of Edward.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Graceling by Kristin Cashore, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and I'm currently reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, which is already going to make the "best books" list

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Paper Towns, I think it would reach the most people

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I mostly dislike movies that have come from books, but I would love to see what boy would play Dexter in This Lullaby

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Dracula already was, and the movie was not so hot, so if we could make it so that never happened, that would be good... Keanu

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I can't say I've ever had a weird dream involving any of those things, not that I don't have weird dreams, just not about those topics.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I'm gonna go with the Twilight series, and then close my eyes and pray I don't get struck with lightning for admitting to reading them all.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It's very well written, just very difficult to read because it alternates chapters of the story and chapters of learning about various philosophers, and I have difficulties going back and forth between things like that. I do recommend it though, because Sophie's story is very nice.
Lolita was very hard to read to, not because of the writing or the topic, but because for some reason it took me about a year to read it on and off, and I still don't know why.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've seen A Midsummer Night's Dream many times, and while the play itself is not obscure, the performance the Theater Co at my college did of it, definitely was.

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
I do enjoy the Russians, but maybe it's because I haven't read much French?

17. Roth or Updike?
I've only read bits of both, so... tie?

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Definitely a David Sedaris fan, but I haven't read any Dave Eggers, yet.

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
I do love Shakespeare, but after my college British Lit class, I do find Chaucer quite amusing

20. Austen or Eliot?
Austen for sure

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I own tons and tons of books I will never get through, and then I buy more tons of books. There will always be gaps.

22. What is your favorite novel?
The Great Gatsby has been a favorite since freshman year of high school, Dracula is definitely at the top as well, and 1984 also makes the cut.

23. Play?
The Glass Menagerie, for no other reason than the memories I have from reading it in class always make me smile.

24. Poem?
TS Eliot "The Wasteland" and many by EE Cummings

25. Essay?
Not a genre I have a favorite in

26. Work of nonfiction?
I love reading autobiographies and memoirs, I'd have to say Smashed by Koren Zailckas, or even the book my dad wrote on John Ruskin for his doctorate because it is so very "my dad"

27. Who is your favorite writer?
I'm going to have to be a 13 year old girl for this and say Sarah Dessen.

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Since I don't have the mass following that HayleyGHoover does, I think I can say Stephenie Meyer and still escape with my life.

29. What is your desert island book?
Hmm.. something long that will distract me.. Let's go with Atlas Shrugged.

30. And... what are you reading right now?
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by MT Anderson, The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle, and some stories in Geektastic

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yay for Stephenie Meyer's overratedness.

I mean, not yay that she's overrated.

Yay that there are others who know it. ;)