Generally I don’t do memes on this blog, but I was tagged, and it’s got a book readin’ theme, so I figure what the hell.
Q: Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
A: Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, although I don’t think I’d call my cringing entirely irrational. I’ve read several of her other books, and I despise her fiction; it’s sloppy and more than a little dull. She could win every prize available to an author of fiction and I would still cringe at the idea of reading another of her books.
Q: If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
A: Interesting question, and one I had to think about quite a bit. I chose an event first: drinks at a pub where there’s good food and it’s quiet enough to talk. First, Russ Littlebury, from Michael Helm’s In the Place of Last Things. Second, Maria Cornish, née Theotoky, from Robertson Davies’ Cornish Trilogy. Third, Joseph Knecht, from Hermann Hesse’s The Glass Bead Game. I’ll leave you to figure out why.
Q: (Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realize it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
A: Part of me wants to say The Great Gatsby, but it’s not boring so much as simply dreadful. Instead I’ll go with Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (and yeah, I’ve read all 900+ pages of it).
Q: Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
A: I have, from time to time, hinted at having read Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, when in fact I’ve only read commentary on it.
Q: As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realize when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
A: Nope. This has never actually happened to me. I have forgotten the contents of books that I have read, but never whether or not I have read them.
Q: You’ve been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead of personalize the VIP.)
A: I’d have to know the VIP in question, as all readers are different. I would recommend D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers to Mike Harris, so that he could see and understand the consequences of the society he worked to create, what exactly can happen to an individual when his society doesn’t value education and also works to deny him any other emotional or intellectual release.
Q: A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
A: A part of me wants to say Spanish or Italian, because then I could read Borges or Eco in their original, but I’d have to go with French, ultimately because of things in my life that have little to do with literature.
Q: A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
A: I don’t re-read books very often, but I’d choose Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching, which I re-read probably more than once a year (though not all in a row).
Q: I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?
A: I’ve learned three things: that a number of folks who love books don’t seem to enjoy reading them, that there are entire communities of writers and readers who are completely oblivious to one another, and that a surprisingly large number of avid readers have the same hands-off attitude towards “old” (read: classic) books that a lot of moviegoers have about “old” movies.
Q: That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather-bound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.
A: The shelves are sturdy and plain, and all the books are pristine trade-paperbacks (including books which have never been published as such), with the exception of a small glass case filled with a few signed first editions.
So I’m supposed to tag folks now, but I don’t know if I’m really into that part of it, and I don’t know exactly who reads this, or who I would tag. So if you’re down for doing this, go to it, and if you aren’t, then don’t.
