Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Return of Booking Through Thursday

I’ve seen this series of questions floating around the ‘net the last few days, and thought it looked like a good one for us!

What was the last book you bought?

(answer here)

Name a book you have read MORE than once

(answer here)


Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

(answer here)

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

(answer here)

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

(answer here)

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

(answer here)

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

(answer here)


Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

(answer here)

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

(answer here)

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

(answer here)


So here goes:

What was the last book you bought?

I had to think really hard on this one. It's been quite a while, but I think it was probably Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster. Good read, too.

Name a book you have read MORE than once

Name a book I haven't read more than once, is more like it! I am a serial re-reader. But one book I like to go back to every year is Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo. The story is set between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve, so that's when I usually read it. Then again, there are some books, like L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle that are so familiar to me that I barely even need the book anymore to re-read it.

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?

I actually left this one for last, because it's so hard. I've been sitting here thinking about it for a few minutes, and I still don't know the answer. There are a lot of books that have opened my eyes to various issues (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, What's My Name, Fool? by Dave Zirin) and some that have even had a direct impact on my behavior (after learning in Schoolgirls by Peggy Orenstein that teachers subconsciously called on boys more often than girls, I've made a conscious effort to alternate when I'm leading a tour of schoolchildren). But as for a book that fundamentally changed my whole point of view, I can't think of one. Then again, those moments are so subtle in life that they're easy to miss.

How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews

I've chosen books by all of the above and more: the author, the subject matter, the cool title (remember "The Porno Girl?"), recommendations from friends and family, references to it in a magazine article, seeing the movie it was based on, hearing about it from a famous author, and the ever-popular "because my book club said so." I don't have one set way of choosing what I want to read.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

I like fiction better. I find it more powerful, and if it's based on something real, I find it teaches me more. Barbara Kingsolver explained the power of fiction in an essay using the story of a plane crash. If you read about a plane crash in the news, where all the passengers were lost, you think "that's too bad. Thank God none of my friends or family were on that plane" and you generally go about your day. But if you were to read a short story about that same plane crash, and follow the morning of one of the passengers, as she packed her suitcase, kissed her husband and daughter goodbye at the terminal, and boarded the plane that was taking her to a job interview in a distant city, you'd really feel the loss, and really understand what a tragedy the plane crash was. Good nonfiction can do that too (I think of Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire) but a lot of times, it's fairly bloodless.

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

I think they're both equally important. They need each other in order to make any book worth reading.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

It is still, and always, Eilonwy from Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series. She is a princess and enchantress, brave, funny and clever. She's a worthy companion for the protagonist, Taran, and also provides some comic relief. I hate the choice she makes at the end of the series, and I hate what Disney did to her character in the movie version of The Black Cauldron, but the character as Lloyd Alexander wrote her is still wonderful.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

The smartass answer would be that I don't keep books there, because it's a very small space and my cat likes to climb on it. So it's almost always bare except for my lamp and alarm clock. If they mean, "what are you currently reading," it's The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Strauss, but I don't keep it there, although it is sometimes there overnight.

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

Readers will be shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that it's The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird, that I finished last week.

Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

I never used to, but after the death of a professor convinced me that life was too short to plow through stuff that sucks, you bet I have. I think the most recent one was that abominable piece of "Christian" fiction, Doesn't She Look Natural that I actually threw across the room after the nasty passage about homosexuality. A while back, I did have to give up on David Copperfield halfway through because I'd already renewed it twice. I'm still sorry about that.