Unnecessary Introductions (aka BEDA # 2)

The Basics: I love to read and I love to write. Those are probably the two most important things to know. I like a lot of other things too, but I tend to change my mind a lot and nothing else is really as consistent as these two things.

Hopefully there will be some interesting things happening in my life this month, but if not, I might end up resorting to some really cliche ways of getting words on paper (or blog). If you'd like to check out my book review blog, here is the link: Someone Like Samantha

This is a book/reading survey that I took almost 2 years ago. A lot of the answers have actually changed, but if I keep any, I'll put them in quotations.

1. What author do you own the most books by?

I don't know if I should be proud of this... but, Caroline B. Cooney. I own about 16 of her books. When I was in middle school she was just about the only author to be found in the YA section of Barnes & Noble and I ate that stuff up. As well as Lurlene McDaniel... Sigh.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
1984 by George Orwell... The first 3 Harry Potters... Selected Poems by TS Eliot

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No, I was more bothered by the number of Caroline B Cooney books in my possession.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Prince Brigan from Fire by Kristin Cashore, and Prince Ash from the Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. The Tin Woodman from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum.

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, Nature of Jade by Deb Caletti, The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Rosy Cole books by Sheila Greenwald, Samantha on Stage by Susan Farrar

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?

Answer from 2 years ago:
"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."

Today's answer:

Bleed by Laurie Faria Stolarz or Choker by Elizabeth Woods. Bleed was a bunch of somewhat intertwining stories. Each characters story was really short and didn't have any type of ending, they just went into the next person. I expected there to be some sort of looping back and giving each character more than one chapter, but no. And the book as a whole didn't have any type of ending either. The characters weren't my cup of tea either. As for Choker, I really wanted Zoe to be a real, live, absolutely crazy girl. It would have been so awesome if such a person really existed. But no, Zoe wasn't real, and I knew it the whole time but just kept hoping that I was wrong.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
XVI by Julia Karr, Delirium by Lauren Oliver, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I don't usually like the movie versions of books, and I am very nervous about the Hunger Games movie... but I think I would like to see a really well done movie of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore. I love how those books appear in my mind and I would hate for a movie to take that away.

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Just the other day I dreamed I was actually Katniss Everdeen and was having a conversation with Johanna Mason.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I hope this question isn't implying that YA books are considered "lowbrow" for adults. Anyways, I would have to say the Twilight books.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
I'm not going off of reading level, but it has been difficult to get through the Lord of the Rings because of all of the description. I love reading it, but sometimes it makes me very tired.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I think just A Midsummer Night's Dream, which I have seen many times.

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The Russians.

17. Roth or Updike?
"I've only read bits of both, so... tie?" Sadly, I have done nothing to change this answer.

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I love, love David Sedaris.

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer, actually.

20. Austen or Eliot?
Austen.

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I haven't read a lot from the 1950s-70s

22. What is your favorite novel?
Dracula by Bram Stoker will probably always be towards the top of the list

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

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

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

26. Work of nonfiction?
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi or Stitches by David Small. Autobiographical comics are my new thing.

27. Who is your favorite writer?
My previous answer was Sarah Dessen, and while I still lover her, I think Maureen Johnson is creeping up on her because of how much she makes me laugh in her novels.

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Probably Stephenie Meyer

29. What is your desert island book?
I think I would choose the Lord of the Rings, the big copy that has all 3 in one.

30. And... what are you reading right now?
The Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa.