Book Quiz from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pleasant_valley
Feb. 8th, 2011 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladybug_archive1) Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
That's a good question. I don't know what was my first book. But I probably still have it.
2) What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Current: Altered State by Gregg Luke. It's a psychological thriller involving mad scientists and mind control.
Last: The Missing Chums by Franklin W. Dixon. #4 of the original Hardy Boys books. For some reason, I didn't like it when I read it years ago. When I read it now after finally adding it to my collection, I loved it. It's very intense and exciting.
Next: Final Act by C. Paul Andersen. A mystery/thriller involving a huge, mysterious house.
3) What book did everyone like and you hated?
I wouldn't say I outright hated Twilight, but I was cringing at the terrible, goopy, mushy nonsense. Honestly, I think I could write a better romance. And romance is not a category I like to write.
4) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I don't know. Any book I'm telling myself I'll read I fully intend to get to.
5) Which book are you saving for “retirement"?
Why would I want to save any book for retirement? Why wait to read in forty years what I can read today?
6) Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
It depends on the book, honestly. Sometimes I can't bear it and I just have to know if the characters are going to be okay. Other times I won't even read it at all if I peek and see there's a discouraging ending. And sometimes I have the willpower to just read straight through.
7) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Those who helped/inspired the author should be acknowledged. Usually I read the acknowledgments, unless they're outrageously long.
8) Which book character would you switch places with?
Why would I want a fictional character's life? Then I'd get their problems, too. And face it, book characters' problems are usually far worse than your own.
9) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Yes, I have quite a few like that. Books that were gifts or that were received at a special time often remind me of the particular time they came into my hands. Sometimes I feel quite nostalgic reading them.
10) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Exactly what ways are you thinking of, other than buying or receiving as gifts? I haven't stolen any books, if that's what you're wondering. But I do have a few of my deceased maternal grandma's books. I found them in a box and thought they looked interesting, so I brought them into my room to be part of my collection. Another one, a book of cat stories, I used to read and reread at Grandma's house. Also, I received the first Baby-Sitters' Club book through the mail as part of a surprise Scholastic promotion. I read it and fell in love with the series.
11) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
No. Except when I was really little and I used to "gift" my books to Mom. Otherwise, if there's a title I want to share with someone, I buy them their own copy.
12) Which book has been with you to the most places?
I don't tend to take books out of the house much, but I did read a good deal of the Star Wars book Heir to the Empire while waiting in the car. Also, I took The Lord of the Rings several places with me and finished it at a wedding. That was a very stupid idea. It took me some time to stop crying over the ending.
Though I suppose technically, the books that have gone the most places with me are religious volumes. I always have my old Book of Mormon in my large black purse, albeit I rarely get into that pocket because I discovered spider webs inside it and I still haven't cleaned them away. I tend to read my other copy.
13) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
I don't think I've reread any of my required reading. I thought The Old Man and the Sea was rather depressing, but realistic and with some shimmer of hope.
15) Used or brand new?
New. I love the smell of new books. And with used books, to quote the Weird Al song Germs, "You don't know where it's been!" That being said, I have learned that there were at least two Patty Duke Show books released in the sixties, mysteries at that! And I must have them.
16) Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I haven't read any of his books, but judging from what I know of them I'd say literary genius. I've wanted to read some of them, actually. If I didn't scare easily, I probably would.
17) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Yes, almost every one. I'm that strange person who usually prefers to see stories brought to life on the big screen. Save for a couple of objections, I like LOTR better in the movies. I think most of the changes were excellent.
18) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Pollyanna. I *hated* the changes Disney made when they did the movie. Also, it seems like White Fang has never been done right. As it stands, I prefer both of those as books.
19) Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
Yes. Offhand I don't remember what, however.
20) Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
I don't know if I'd "always" take one person's advice. Everyone's taste runs different.
... What happened to question #14?
That's a good question. I don't know what was my first book. But I probably still have it.
2) What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Current: Altered State by Gregg Luke. It's a psychological thriller involving mad scientists and mind control.
Last: The Missing Chums by Franklin W. Dixon. #4 of the original Hardy Boys books. For some reason, I didn't like it when I read it years ago. When I read it now after finally adding it to my collection, I loved it. It's very intense and exciting.
Next: Final Act by C. Paul Andersen. A mystery/thriller involving a huge, mysterious house.
3) What book did everyone like and you hated?
I wouldn't say I outright hated Twilight, but I was cringing at the terrible, goopy, mushy nonsense. Honestly, I think I could write a better romance. And romance is not a category I like to write.
4) Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
I don't know. Any book I'm telling myself I'll read I fully intend to get to.
5) Which book are you saving for “retirement"?
Why would I want to save any book for retirement? Why wait to read in forty years what I can read today?
6) Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
It depends on the book, honestly. Sometimes I can't bear it and I just have to know if the characters are going to be okay. Other times I won't even read it at all if I peek and see there's a discouraging ending. And sometimes I have the willpower to just read straight through.
7) Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Those who helped/inspired the author should be acknowledged. Usually I read the acknowledgments, unless they're outrageously long.
8) Which book character would you switch places with?
Why would I want a fictional character's life? Then I'd get their problems, too. And face it, book characters' problems are usually far worse than your own.
9) Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Yes, I have quite a few like that. Books that were gifts or that were received at a special time often remind me of the particular time they came into my hands. Sometimes I feel quite nostalgic reading them.
10) Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Exactly what ways are you thinking of, other than buying or receiving as gifts? I haven't stolen any books, if that's what you're wondering. But I do have a few of my deceased maternal grandma's books. I found them in a box and thought they looked interesting, so I brought them into my room to be part of my collection. Another one, a book of cat stories, I used to read and reread at Grandma's house. Also, I received the first Baby-Sitters' Club book through the mail as part of a surprise Scholastic promotion. I read it and fell in love with the series.
11) Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
No. Except when I was really little and I used to "gift" my books to Mom. Otherwise, if there's a title I want to share with someone, I buy them their own copy.
12) Which book has been with you to the most places?
I don't tend to take books out of the house much, but I did read a good deal of the Star Wars book Heir to the Empire while waiting in the car. Also, I took The Lord of the Rings several places with me and finished it at a wedding. That was a very stupid idea. It took me some time to stop crying over the ending.
Though I suppose technically, the books that have gone the most places with me are religious volumes. I always have my old Book of Mormon in my large black purse, albeit I rarely get into that pocket because I discovered spider webs inside it and I still haven't cleaned them away. I tend to read my other copy.
13) Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
I don't think I've reread any of my required reading. I thought The Old Man and the Sea was rather depressing, but realistic and with some shimmer of hope.
15) Used or brand new?
New. I love the smell of new books. And with used books, to quote the Weird Al song Germs, "You don't know where it's been!" That being said, I have learned that there were at least two Patty Duke Show books released in the sixties, mysteries at that! And I must have them.
16) Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I haven't read any of his books, but judging from what I know of them I'd say literary genius. I've wanted to read some of them, actually. If I didn't scare easily, I probably would.
17) Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Yes, almost every one. I'm that strange person who usually prefers to see stories brought to life on the big screen. Save for a couple of objections, I like LOTR better in the movies. I think most of the changes were excellent.
18) Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Pollyanna. I *hated* the changes Disney made when they did the movie. Also, it seems like White Fang has never been done right. As it stands, I prefer both of those as books.
19) Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
Yes. Offhand I don't remember what, however.
20) Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
I don't know if I'd "always" take one person's advice. Everyone's taste runs different.
... What happened to question #14?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 08:26 am (UTC)And I totally agree with you about the LOTR movies. I read each book once, right before I saw the corresponding movie. and once I was finished I had no desire to ever read any of them again. But the movies were awesome.
*looks around with shifty eyes, then yoinks the quiz*
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 02:03 pm (UTC)I do think Tolkien was a genius, and without him of course there wouldn't be the movies, but some things I did find a bit tedious in the books. A lot of the opening chapters didn't seem terribly necessary. I never have been able to really see the point of Tom Bombadil. And the Scouring of the Shire felt very anticlimatic.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 12:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 01:31 pm (UTC)I never read it or saw the movies but I definitely have no plan to. From everything I heard about it it is not my type of book.
I never read Pollyana so maybe that is why I like the movie. I love Hayley Mills though (but I guess Parent Trap is my favorite of her movies). I also love the LOTR movies but still definitely prefer the books overall.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 02:09 pm (UTC)It's definitely not my type of book series. I was a bit intrigued by the mystery in the first few chapters, and the intense situation that came up late in the book, but all the mushy trash made me want to bang my head on the wall. And I heard it only gets worse in the other books.
I love Hayley Mills too. I think I've seen and love all of her other Disney films. That Darn Cat! is my favorite. I really like The Moon-Spinners and Summer Magic, too.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 02:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 05:32 pm (UTC)I'll have to check out Tiger Bay, too. I always like it when family members make movies together.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 06:08 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCjmbYnPUFo
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 05:19 pm (UTC)The f-lister I nabbed it from didn't have it either. Hmmm...
I've never read Pollyanna but I did like the old Disney movie, I never realized it was different to the book.
I loved the LOTR movies but couldn't make it through the first few pages of the first book.
I feel like im the only person in existance that doesn't love those books.
Twilight is just awful. It's like the worse sort of fanfiction imaginable and the characters are all completely self obsessed and irksome.
The Final Act sounds really interesting actually.
I'll have to look out for it.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-08 05:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, the movie Pollyanna is vastly different than the book. I've gone on several rants about it. But I can understand that for someone only familiar with the movie, it would be awesome. That's how I am about many films vs. books.
I enjoyed the first few pages; I thought they were highly amusing. It was several chapters further in when I started to wonder exactly what point it had in the overarching picture. I wonder if the point was simply to expand on the Hobbits' characters and familiarize the readers with them more before the main action picked up. I could understand that.
LOL! I love that description of Twilight. Bad fanfiction, yes, that's so suiting. I kind of liked Jacob, but I heard his character goes really downhill too.
Good luck with that! You'd probably have the most success checking online.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 04:02 pm (UTC)Jacob becomes as petulant, dominating and creepy as everyone else in the series tbh. Plus I can't quite get over him being in love with Edward and Bella's baby...yes, you read that right. Apparantely its a werewolf thing. *rolls eyes*
I'm now determined to read the book "Pollyanna" now - Im kinda intrigued to find out what the differences are.
Apparantely number 14 was - have you ever found something intersting inside a book? Quick answer ~ no. Less quick answer ~ I wish. :P
no subject
Date: 2011-02-10 04:09 pm (UTC)Yeah, I know about him and imprinting Renesmee. It's nice that something was set up so he could have a happy ending too, I guess, provided that she'll actually go with him when she's old enough. Nevertheless, the twist does make me raise an eyebrow.
I hope you enjoy it!
LOL. Hmm. I found some money in a book once. It was in a library book, so I took the money back to the library for them to try to trace the owner through the book.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 03:48 am (UTC)And that mind control book sounds very intriguing...
LOL, well, I still haven't read Twilight, but at this point, I don't really care. XD; My cousin described it as an okay book--the kind that you'd read on an overseas flight after you've exhausted everything else. XD; That was when she read it, anyway. XD
LOL, I'd go crazy at the idea of keeping a book until retirement...
Ah, LOTR was my default travel book for a long time--until last year, actually. But oops at the ill-timed reading of the end...
Pfft. You make me look bad, carrying religious books around--my family asks me why I don't read the Gita, though it's my resolution this year to do so. XD; (But spiderwebs in the purse? Eeeep....)
LOL, I'm much more liberal about buying used books. Electronics, no, but I'll bend for books.
Those Patty Duke novels sound awesome. X3 I know there were Get Smart novels (I've read one that I borrowed from someone, and it was pretty good), but I wish that Hogan's Heroes had some novels...
And now I must waste time with this meme. Tomorrow. XD;
no subject
Date: 2011-02-09 05:31 am (UTC)The mind control book is very intense. And it's got a review from an actual doctor who says it's medically plausible. When people do their research to make an accurate book is a wonderful thing. Although it is disturbing to think that what's described in the book actually is plausible.
An okay book is ... still too kind, I think. LOL. Ugh, all the mushy garbage is just nonsensical.
I carry them around; I don't necessarily read them out of the house. But I used to, before the spider web problem. I've been so disgusted and horrified by it that I never have gotten the strength to deal with it. Several times I've tried, and then I've seen the webs on the book and hanging from something inside the pocket and given up.
I'll only bend for books if I want it really, really bad. Same for electronics. I just don't feel it's worth it otherwise.
That would have been nice, if there had been Hogan's Heroes novels, and if they were decently written. I have the Gomer Pyle novel and I thought it was ... fairly bad. The only characters from the show were Gomer and Sgt. Carter, and they didn't even get the sergeant's full name right; they drastically changed it. The situations in the novel were just odd, if I remember right, but all I can remember now is Gomer telling Carter about a girl back home who had her appendix out and kept it in a jar.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 03:41 am (UTC)(Incidently, have you read the Hardy Boys "manga"? They're actually imitation manga, but I do like them. There was one that was really intense where they were on a runaway electric train... or did I mention this already?)
Ooh, the idea that it's plausible... wow. o.o
Ah. **nods** Now I'm even less motivated to read it... XD;
Oh dear. XD;
Eh, my line of thought is that you're more likely to have a defective secondhand electronic than a secondhand book. XD; As for the germ thing, well... a few drops of hand sanitizer on a napkin takes care of that (been there, done that, actually--that time a mouse used one of my books as a springboard... >.<)
Oh, yes, they have to be decently written. Bleh at the bad Gomer Pyle book. -.- (Appendix in a jar? Wot? In *Mayberry*? Okaaaaaay...)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-11 05:02 am (UTC)Yeah, I'm very concerned about getting a secondhand CD that skips around/is scratched/etc. And I've used antibacterial wipes on any secondhand CDs I have. But when you wipe down a book, all you can really do is get the cover and the edges of the pages. You can't wipe each individual page all over; it'd get ruined.
Ugh. Horrible mouse!
That was very weird.