Book meme
Like you care.
1) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
“The Little Prince”. It’s my mom’s copy originally, but it’s been on my shelf as long as I can remember.
2) What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Current: Haruki Marukami’s “Blind Willow, Sleeping Girl”
Last: “On Writing” by Stephen King.
Next: probably, sadly, an Agile Software Development book.
3) What book did everyone like and you hated?
Um, nothing springs to mind, but I’ve never felt the real appeal of the Harry Potter series.
4) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I keep meaning to finish “Gödel, Escher, Bach”.
5) Which book are you saving for “retirement?
Why would you want to “save anything for retirement”? Stupid notion.
6) Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
Wait till the end. This quiz is stupid. Who even does that?
7) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
The author felt it was important. He put it in there. Ignore it if you wish. Considering them a “waste of ink” is an insult to the author and his work. Would you consider movie credits a waste of time?
8) Which book character would you switch places with?
Off the top of my head… Peter Claire from “Music and Silence”. I wouldn’t mind being a violinist in the 17th century.
9) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
“The Pelican Brief”, or anything by John Grisham, always reminds me of when my dad would go racing his enduro bike out in the bush and we’d wait with the rest of the families with the bakkies (trucks) back at the start. There wasn’t much else to do but read whatever he’d left his the bakkie, and it was almost always John Grisham.
10) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
“The History of Love” was given to me, re-covered by hand with photocopies of flowers, by a good friend.
11) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
I had Neil Gaiman sign a book for my ex-girlfriend. He drew in it.
12) Which book has been with you to the most places?
My copy of “American Gods”. It went travelling with me to Russia, New Zealand and South Africa.
13) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Nope. Loved reading anything and everything in high school.
14) What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
Another book.
15) Used or brand new?
I take ‘em as they come.
16) Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Love his short stories (“All you love will be carried away” is a favourite) and love Roland and how the Dark Tower series started, but can’t say I’m a big fan of his horror stuff and the last few Dark Tower books made me want to cry.
17) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy probably comes close.
18) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
I haven’t seen it, but I’m gonna go ahead and say “The Road”.
19) Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
What a ridiculous question.
20) Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
My ex-girlfriend, Sarah.
