Booking Through Thursday (19)

Booking Through Thursday asks:

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

2. What are you reading right now?
Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None. Our library sucks. Unless I want to read Harry Potter or Christian fiction, the pickings are kind of slim.

4. Bad book habit?
Using the dust jacket as a bookmark.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing. (See #3.)

6. Do you have an e-reader?
No. I'm conflicted about the whole e-reader thing.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I used to have a bunch of books on the go at once. These days, I'm reading them one at a time.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Not a lot. Although, I will try to finish books so I can review them (even if they're utter crap).

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far)?
Basajaun by Rosemary Van Deuren

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Most of the time.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Anything that's well written (and these days, that seems to mean very few books).

13. Can you read on the bus?
Probably not now (due to motion sickness). But I have done so in the past.

14. Favorite place to read?
In bed.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I don't do it.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Never.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Sacrilege!

18. Not even with text books?
No. I think I'd probably use Post-It Notes or something, if I really felt the need to make a note.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. Although, reading in French can be a nice challenge.

20. What makes you love a book?
Good writing and characters I can relate to.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
See #20.

22. Favorite genre?
Contemporary fantasy.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did)?
High fantasy.

24. Favorite biography?
Child Star by Shirley Temple Black (technically an autobiography, but it's still my favourite)

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yes. It didn't help.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The pictures make me want to bake!

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Memories of the Afterlife by Michael Newton, Ph.D. (okay, so I read it last December... so it was within the past year)

28. Favorite reading snack?
Nothing. I don't like food around my books.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Um... probably every case in which I picked up an over-hyped book, only to find out that it was garbage. That happens way too often.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Critics? As in bloggers and Amazon.com reviewers? Probably less than half the time.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
An author can't improve if everybody lies to them and tells them they're awesome. So I won't hesitate to point out flaws when I see them.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Swedish? (I don't know that I would really want to bother. Most books seem to have English editions, anyway. At least, most of the books I'd want to read do...)

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I had a feeling it was going to be bad, and the sheer size of the thing didn't help.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
Anything by Charles Dickens.

35. Favorite Poet?
Dr. Seuss. (Seriously, though, I don't really read a lot of poetry.)

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Zero.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I've returned plenty that I never finished, but I usually at least start them.

38. Favorite fictional character?
I can't pick just one! See here.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
I can't pick just one! See here.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
I don't think I'd take books on vacation. I can read at home.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Without reading anything? A few hours (when I'm asleep). Without reading an actual book? Probably a few months.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Any sort of noise. So I wear earplugs when I read.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
There are too many! See here.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Howl's Moving Castle, hands down. I still feel like crying when I think of how awesome it could have been in the hands of someone like Tim Burton.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Hmmm... About $100? Probably less.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Less often than I should.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Surprise Christian evangelism or graphic sex. (I mean, I should know what I'm reading going into it, but I have been surprised in the past.)

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I like to... but I don't always.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I keep the ones I love. The ones I hate go to the used book store.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th books of Alyson Noël's Immortals series. The first two were enough to put me off the author for life. Also, anything by Shannon Hale because her response to the failure of Breaking Dawn was insulting and arrogant.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson. No book that bad should ever have gotten through the gatekeepers at a traditional publishing house.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. This was a huge surprise. It's one of my favourite stories now, and I'm grateful to that weird English professor for assigning it (even though the other two books she assigned that semester I would have preferred to burn).

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
I don't feel guilty about what I read to begin with.