I Read Books: September 5, 2014

1. Favorite children's book:
Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Little House" series. These were the books that made me love reading. I wanted that boxed set so badly that, when I finally received it as a gift (I think I was seven or eight years old), I think I read every single book in order starting almost immediately. I've read it through probably close to a dozen times, even more than once as an adult (it's like comfort food, only in book form). I still have that boxed set.

2. The last book you read: 
I just finished "The Lady of the Rivers" by Philippa Gregory. As the third book in a series I've liked, I expected to enjoy it. I was caught by surprise just how much I loved this one.

3. Books on your "to read" list: 
You're kidding, right? I will need several additional lifetimes to actually read all the books on my list, because it stands today at 1,466, and it's not like they've stopped writing books. How about the next three on my "on deck" shelf: Trick or Treat Murder by Leslie Meier, No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark, and Beyond this Moment by Tamera Alexander.

4. Top 5 authors:  
In no particular order and subject to change...Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ayn Rand, M.L. Stedman, Philippa Gregory, and Lisa See.

5. Favorite genres:
Mysteries and historical fiction.

6. A book that has made you extremely mad: 
Extremely mad? I'm not sure there are any books that have made me mad, either in general or in their entirety, but there have been portions of books where the events have made me feel, among other emotions, somewhere on the spectrum of mad. The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, and The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff, to name a few. I'm far more likely to have gotten annoyed by a book, either a character or the author, than to get angry.

7. A book that you've cried over: 
The two that spring to mind most quickly are Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly and The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.

8. A book that made you laugh out loud: 
Couplehood by Paul Reiser. I have read this one multiple times and I still laugh til I weep. Don't even ask me to read portions of it out loud, because I can't.

9. Fiction or nonfiction?
Yes. I really try to mix up my reading. I do enjoy fiction in many genres, but I also like to learn, so a well-written piece of non-fiction also suits me just fine.

10. First book you read by your favorite author: 
I had a hard time figuring out my "top five," and now I need to narrow down to my single favorite author?? As if. How about my first favorite author: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

11. Best book-to-movie adaptation: 
I had to really give it some thought, but I almost never see book-to-movie adaptations! Here's the catch for me: I can see a movie before I read the book (or I may opt to never read it), but I cannot ever do it the other way around, because if I loved the book, I'm afraid the movie will ruin it for me, and if I hated the book, why spend the money to see the movie? So, I've read a fair number of books that have been made into movies, but never saw the movie. The three exceptions I can think of (and in each case, I saw the movie before reading the book) are Far and Away by Sonja Massie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. I enjoyed all the movies, but in each case, I am glad I saw them before reading the books. (With the exception of A Christmas Carol, which I have seen both before and after reading it.)

12. Do you read comics?
Comic strips, yes. I've never read a comic book or a graphic novel, though.

13. Hardcovers or paperbacks?
No preference. As long as it's a book made of paper, and not some kind of e-reader, I'm in.

14. Do you buy books as soon as they come out or wait a while? 
I almost never buy books anymore. I borrow from the library, or on rare occasion, from a friend. The only books I buy now are ones I read on loan and love so much, I know I will want to read them again.

15. Do you buy books spontaneously without any prior knowledge of what happens in it? 
Definitely not (based on my last answer).

16. Have you ever bought a book based on the cover alone? 
No. I need a synopsis. Haven't you heard? You never judge a book by its cover! Now, I've picked up a book, based on cover alone, but it's to read the synopsis and see if I'm interested.

17. Where do you usually buy your books? 
On the rare occasion that I do, either from Amazon or my local branch of Books-a-Million.

18. Book that had a strong impact on you:
Many books have impacted me--my view on a particular event, the way I think about life, my perspective. But the "Little House" books are what first inspired my love for reading, so that's a pretty strong impact to have, I'd say. Without that, would there be any others?

19. Historical or science fiction?
Historical, all the way. Science fiction is one the few genres that doesn't reel me in, as a rule.

20. Dystopian or Utopian?
Neither, really, I guess. I find the first troubling and depressing, and the second, unidentifiable.

21. Worst book-to-move adaptation?
I'm sure there are many. Hence, my rule about never seeing a movie for which I've already read the book. My expectations are way too high, and likely, unreachable.

22. Book that should have a movie adaptation?
For the most part, I think books and movies, both wonderful sources of entertainment, should exist in mutual exclusivity. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule. I'd guess that a mystery or an action thriller most easily cross planes.

23. The first book you've fallen in love with: 
How many times can I be asked a question for which the "Little House" series is the answer?

24. Humor or angst?
Humor. Definitely humor. Most novels have some angst, I'd say, and it plays an important role, but on a whole, I'm drawn more to soul-cleansing laughter.

25. How many books do you own?
After unloading a whole bunch when we moved (and I subsequently implemented my personal book rule), I would say no more than a hundred, including a fair number of reference type books.

26. Do you go the library?
At least twice a month, most months. I love my library! It's part of a county-wide co-operative, where, if a book I want isn't available at my local branch or if my branch doesn't shelve a particular book, but it is available from another library in the co-op, I put in my request online and the book is sent to my local branch for me to check out.

27. How many books do you read a year? 
I'll bet it was over a hundred when I was younger. And for a long time, I read very little. I realized how much I'd missed it a couple of years ago, though, and vowed to myself that I'd find the time again. In 2013, I read 38 books, after setting a goal of 25. This year, I set a goal for 40, and so far, I'm up to 27. That's up from 6 in 2011, and 16 in 2012.

28. Favorite "required reading" book? 
I struggle with required reading. I never had much of a rebellious side, but something about being forced to read something immediately turns me off. I've actually set a goal for myself to re-read some of those books from high school, to see if maybe they were better than I made them out to be, simply because I didn't choose to read them of my own accord. The only two I ever remember reading and loving (and I may have possibly read them on my own *before* they were assigned) were The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

29. Favorite quote? 
Oh, man. So many. *So* many! Here are two favorites:

“That smile was dangerous, she thought — a quicksand smile if there ever was one. Easy to wander in; perhaps more difficult to wander back out.”
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

“'But how? How can you just get over these things, darling?…You've had so much strife but you're always happy. How do you do it?'
‘I choose to…I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened…or I can forgive and forget.’
‘But it’s not that easy.’
He smiled that Frank smile. ‘Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things…No’ - his voice became sober- ‘we always have a choice. All of us.’”
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

30. A book you absolutely hate: 
There are two books I had to abandon without finishing: Wicked by Gregory Maguire, and Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella. And there were three from school that I hated so much, I couldn't even compel myself to attempt reading them as an adult, with an open mind, and of my own free will: The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men by George Steinbeck, and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. I'd rather stick a rusty needle in my eye than to ever open up any of those books again. And to assist you with some persective, let me just tell you how much I like *anything* in, near, or around my eye.