Another meme. You like it. You know you do.

[kaasirpent]

The Utlimate Literary Questionnaire

1. Which book(s) are you currently reading?

A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram
The Reality Dysfunction, Part 2: Expansion by Peter F. Hamilton
The Iliad by Homer (book on tape)

2. What book did you read last?

Ugh. The Legend Makers by Catherine Lanigan (book on tape). It's a freakin' Harlequin, which I didn't know before starting it. Are ALL Harlequins so awful?

Summary:

Heroine: Hello.
Him: Hi, babe.
Her: (He's such a jackass! I loathe him!) Jerk.
Him: (What an uptight bitch.) Bitch.
Her: (I MUST HAVE HIM!) TAKE ME!
Him: Thought you'd never ask, toots!
*the end*

3. What book are you planning on reading next?

The next book in the series of which The Reality Dysfunction is the first part, also maybe the next book in another series I'm in the middle of, and maybe another "classic" on tape. And I have two Sheri Tepper novels I haven't started yet. And about 150 other unread books occupying three shelves of my precious bookshelf space. Can you say 'addict,' boys and girls? Gooood. I knew you could.

4. Do you own most of the books you read, or do you borrow them from the library?

Own. I borrow books on tape from my mother, who HAS more books on tape than some libraries.

5. Who was your favorite author when you were a child?

Zilpha Keatley Snyder (author of the fantastic juvenile sci-fi/fantasy series The Greensky Trilogy, consisting of the three books Below the Root, And All Between, and Until the Celebration. Just marvelous, really. Read them. Today.)

6. What were some of your favorite books as a child?

The Greensky Trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (trilogy)
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (series)
Pretty much anything by Ray Bradbury or Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke (Baaaaa!)
The Trouble With Jenny's Ear by Oliver Butterworth
The Children of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston (series)
Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew (series)
Anything 'weird' or 'occult' or just plain 'mysterious' or 'eerie.' :) (I was a weird kid. Shut up, Geoff.)

7. What literary character of the appropriate gender would you like to take out on a date and why? (how's that for PC wording? :)

[Edit] I misread this the first time. Whoops.

I'm sort of at a loss. As I say elsewhere, most literary characters are very two-dimensional (if that), so it's impossible for me to choose.

8. Which author would you most like to have a 'one-on-one' with?

[Just to avoid any embarrassing conclusion-jumping, one-on-one to me means an in-depth conversation. If it was INTENDED to mean something else, then they should have freakin' said that. I'm using 'in-depth conversation' as my meaning. So there.]

[Edit] Misread #7, so I had to modify this one, too.

Lyda Morehouse. Her ideas are way 'out there,' and she seems like an interesting person.

Joanne Bertin. Same reason.

Neal Stephenson. Oddly enough, same reason.

I'd also add Dee, because I have had one-on-ones with her, and she's really cool. :) (If you haven't read her novel The Lost Waters, then you're a poo-poo-brain. You heard me. Yeah, I meant you.

9. Which fictional character would most like to have a 'one-on-one' with?

Fictional characters are generally so two-dimensional (if that), that I'm not sure I can think of one that would be interesting enough to talk to for more than a few minutes. I have conversations with the ones in my head quite a bit, though.

[Just as a note: it's only schizophrenia if the voices try to get you to do things you don't want to do. Otherwise, it's just 'writing a novel.']

10. Which literary character would you least like to be stranded on a desert island with?

Duh. Dracula? Please....

11. Which literary character would you most like to be stranded with?

Aldus Dumbledore. We'd be there maybe 8 billionths of a second.

Or Robinson Crusoe. He did it once, he could do it again. At least I'd have the benefit of his 28 years of experience. :)

12. In which literary/fictional location would you most like to live?

Narnia. (Call me silly, but...I read the books and I get the same feeling I do when I eat 'comfort foods.' Besides, who wouldn't like to talk to animals and trees?)

13. Which is the best TV/film adaptation of a book you have seen? Why?

Firestarter by Stephen King. It's one of the few of his books that made the transition well, and didn't lose huge chunks o' story in the process. Well, that's not true. It did. But the movie was still good even without them.

The only other one I can think of is The Lord of the Rings. I mean...come on!

14. Which is the worst TV/film adaptation of a book you have seen? Why?

Since I didn't actually see Battlefield Earth and I didn't read Naked Lunch, I'm forced to pick a distant third: the made-for-TV version of Stephen King's It, which is one of my most favoritest books of all time. Needless to say, the TV version was...not.

15. What film adaptation do you like more than the book?

Since the first two Aliens books were actually novelizations of the movies....

I don't think I've ever seen a movie and walked out of the theater thinking, "Wow. That was better than the book." Ever.

16. What book do you enjoy more than the film adaptation?

Um...let's see...

ALL. OF. THEM. When I read a book, my 'internal director' is a lot better at making the movie than some hack in Hollywood who's paid several million bucks. Also, in a movie, it's clearly me watching something. When I read, it's me living it. Whole different experience. ;)

17. What are your top five favorite books?

Argh! Hard question. In no certain order other than how I thought of them:

1984 by George Orwell
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
The Demu Trilogy by F. M. Busby

(I know it's six. I couldn't cull because of a tie. Get over it.)

18. Who is your favorite author?

Jeez. Um.... *agony*

I can't. I simply canNOT pick just one. Deal. Move along, move along....

19. What is the most memorable line delivered in a film?

TV: As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.

Play: You leave little notes on my pillow. I've told you a thousand times, I cannot stand little notes on my pillow. "We are all out of corn flakes -- F.U." It took me three hours to figure out that "F.U." was Felix Unger.

(Look, I know that isn't film, but I couldn't let it pass.)

Movie: <insert any line from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" here>

20. What is your least favorite book and why?

Of the books I've actually finished, I'd have to say The Stranger by Albert Camus. I don't remember a single, solitary thing about the novel. If I had enjoyed it, you'd think I'd remember something. But I don't. So I didn't.

Of the books I've actually finished and remember, I'd have to say that The Legend Makers is up there near the top. Up there with the one Danielle Steele book (on tape) that I managed to make it through.

Of the books I've started and couldn't bring myself to finish, I'd have to say Fire Time by Poul Anderson. I just cannot get into it.

21. If your life was a book, who would you choose to write it?

I'd say Sheri Tepper, except she hasn't had a convincing male character in...well, ever. I think Ken Follett would do a good job. He could maybe even make programming interesting to the general populace if he can make building a cathedral in 12th-century England interesting. :)

Oooh! Or Michael Crichton! He could do something fascinating with a character who sits on his butt typing all damned day (with dinosaurs!). :)

Oooh! Or Ursula K. Leguin! Or Melanie Rawn! Or Tad Williams! Or Terry Goodkind! Or...Or...Or.....!!!! :)

Comments

hehehe..Thanks for teh plug for Lost Waters... :)

[ddreslough.livejournal.com]

I'm also totally psyched that you posted the linke to Scharfenbergers Chocolate!! That's what I was searching for when I found that site that shipped the Lindts (which ain't bad in a pinch).

I was reading their list... because they use soy, it's CHOLESTEROL FREE!! *faints*

I need a replacement for my hourly handfuls of chocolate chips, and carob just ain't gunna do it. Stupid ldl hdls triglicerides cholesterol...ARG.
You know what I been snacking on tonight? Mini Wheats. Ugh. It's a far cry from a handful of chocolate chips, that's for sure.

Well, I should be asleep. Just wanted to drop a line. (The Felix Unger line had me laughing. I never saw the play.) :)