1. Favorite childhood book?
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

2. What are you reading right now?
A couple of books… The one getting the most focus right now is The Ten Commandments of Losing Weight by Arlene Normand (I know what you’re thinking, but it’s a decent read.)

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Nothing at the moment

4. Bad book habit?
Hanging onto books I don’t like. Why keep them? I’m trying to ‘polish’ down my collection to only books I adore.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Four books: The one I mentioned I’m reading now, The Beck Diet for Life (hoping to pick up a few good tips), The Art of Raw Living Food by Doreen Virtue and Body Intelligence by Dr. Edward Abramson. (Can you tell I have a theme?)

6. Do you have an e-reader?
No. I wouldn’t mind one, but someone would have to buy it for me.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I would normally answer one at a time, but experience teaches me that I usually have more than one on the go.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I’m a bit more organized with reading and actually take the time to do it rather than letting the time find me (which it rarely does).

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Hm. Probably Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel. You can read the review for my nitpicks.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
If I can go by the past year rather than ‘in 2010′ I’ll go with The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy By Andrew Keen. I found it just plain fascinating.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Regularly. It comes with the territory when you review for people.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
When I was younger – epic fantasy and historical romance. Now… anything with the romance element.

13. Can you read on the bus?
Yes, but I prefer not to. Public transport is my time for cooking up my own stories.

14. Favorite place to read?
In my recliner.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I don’t have a policy, but I’ll only do it with people I really trust – in general and trust to take care of my books.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
No. Do it enough and the corner will come off.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No. I tried once as an experiment, but I prefer taking notes on a note card that doubles as a bookmark.

18.  Not even with text books?
Nope.

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. I’m not proficient enough in any other language to read books in those languages.

20. What makes you love a book?
Characters and romance, mostly. A place can really take me, too, but that has only happened on a couple occasions (Red Dust by Fleur McDonald…)

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
I love plenty of books, but I don’t often do a lot of recommending. When I do, it’s because a book make me think and/or changed my views on something. For example, the Ender series by Orson Scott Card.

22. Favorite genre?
These days, I really don’t know. I read so much of this and that.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Steampunk and urban fantasy. I’ve heard a heap about both but read little to nothing in those genres.

Favorite biography?
Another tough one. Stephen King’s On Writing pops into mind, though that was only part biography.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Certainly. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Margaret Fulton’s Encyclopedia of Cookery.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Inspirational… I haven’t finished it, but The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance really got me thinking not far into the book.

28. Favorite reading snack?
Strawberries.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I don’t really have one. I tend to avoid over-hyped books.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
A lot, but only because there are now so many critics out there. You’ll always end up agreeing with someone if everyone is giving an opinion.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
It’s a necessity of life. You can’t like every book you read. So long as you can fairly and even-handedly express why you don’t like a book, you’ll be fine. Or, you should be, in an ideal world where authors realized that bad reviews are an opportunity to make their future work better rather than taking a bad review of their book as a personal insult.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
Assuming that if I can read it, I can speak it as well, Japanese. I love anime and graphic novels, but I’m at a complete loss with the symbols. On the other hand, Egyptian would be brilliant.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Probably The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson simply because it is one of the few hyped books I’ve read (because it came so highly recommended from a friend) and because the book is bloody massive.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
I can’t think of anything I’m too nervous to read at the moment.

35. Favorite Poet?
My husband.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Usually two to four.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Never unread. On a few occasions, unfinished.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Polgara the Sorceress from a book by the same name by David and Leigh Eddings.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
No my favourite so much as the one that always sticks in my head when villians are mentioned: Starlaughter Sunsoar from Sara Douglass’ The Wayfarer Redemption. Nutty as they come and literally tears people apart.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Usually none, as hotel rooms are my muse, but if any… Something light and fluffy or non-fiction (being in a good, relaxed mood makes learning much easier).

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Probably a year, if we’re not counting the newspaper. I think I was a little burned out after uni, moving to Australia, starting up a new life, etc.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Memoirs about child abuse or books that involve detailed child abuse. I usually manage to avoid them all, but sometimes it pops up here and there. I can’t name a specific book right at the moment, though.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Everything else on my to-do list.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Howl’s Moving Castle, which is strange because they changed so much of it.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
I know there are plenty to choose from, but nothing comes to mind at the moment.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
$100. I bought my husband the collector’s edition of Footrot Flatts.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Never. My habit is synopsis, first few pages.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
A topic I couldn’t handle reading or just plain didn’t want to read, a story going nowhere, something totally unfitting of the book and/or completely stupid happening…

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I would like to…

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I’ll keep them if I like them and can’t bear to part with them. Otherwise, they go on Bookcrossing.com or on my giveaway shelf.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Anything overly hyped. Still avoiding all the Twilight books.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
I don’t want to name it because of the reason behind my anger, but there was a book published by the head of a small publishing company that was so badly formatted that is pissed me off to no end. Different fonts, paragraphs running together… And this wasn’t some goof trying to self-publish – it was from a company. Ack. It made me so angry to see such utter disregard for book form and for the readers.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
The Millennium Trilogy by Steig Larsson.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
I expected to like Queen Victoria: Demon Slayer more than I did.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Any book that I learn from.

Which do you prefer? Short stories? Or full-length novels?

I am a novel reader most of the time, though I have been known to read a short story or two. I think it falls more along the lines of ‘I read what I write’.

I think both types of stories have their own art and neither is the better. They are simply two expressions of one art form. I have always admired the ability of short story writers to present a complete story in such confined spaces. However, I like to hold onto my characters and worlds a bit longer, which makes me a novel writer and reader.

How about you?

God* comes to you and tells you that, from this day forward, you may only read ONE type of book–one genre–period, but you get to choose what it is. Classics, Science-Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Cookbooks, History, Business … you can choose, but you only get ONE.

What genre do you pick, and why?

*Whether you believe in God or not, pretend for the purposes of this discussion that he is real.

While I do love cooking and am tempted to pick cookbooks for the rest of my days…

If I had to pick one genre to read for the rest of my days, it would be science fiction. I had to give it a long think and almost went with fantasy, but science fiction won out. Why?

1. On the list of books I want to read, science fiction dominates.
2. I am still relatively new to science fiction.
3. Science fiction feeds my imagination in a way that no other genre does.

The funny thing is that, as much as I would pick it for my single-genre reading pleasure for the rest of my life, I would never write science fiction.

Strange, eh?

It’s Earth Day … what are you reading? Are your reading habits changing for the sake of the environment? What are you doing for the sake of the planet today?

I don’t really do anything for Earth Day. I consider myself to be a good person when it comes to using resources and whatnot. I recycle waste, I recycle water (just not as well as I’d like because I can’t afford a toilet that’ll take grey water, etc), I hate having lights on in rooms I’m not in, I have an energy-efficient television, I check the seals on the fridge to make sure it’s not leaking cool…

I think if we could all do the little things, then we’ll be good to go.

As far as what I’m reading… Well, not much at the moment. I still have unpacking left to do…

Anyone else?

Do you take breaks while reading a book? Or read it straight through? (And, by breaks, I don’t mean sleeping, eating and going to work; I mean putting it aside for a time while you read something else.)

Hm… I never intend to take breaks with books; sometimes it just happens.

I’m not someone who needs to stick with one book all the way until the end before I start reading something else. I almost always have more than one book on the go at any one time – currently I have about four, if I recall correctly. Perhaps it could be that my attention span has disintegrated (I wasn’t always this way) or perhaps I just have too much on the go.

But, as I said, I never intentionally do it. A new review book comes in and I get through that if it’s short. Or, I’m studying more than one subject (say, creative writing and travel), so I have both books on the go at the same time.

I’m not sure when or why I started doing it, but it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it takes away from the reading because I still have ‘can’t put it down until I finish it’ moments with books.

How about you?

Which do you prefer? Lurid, fruity prose, awash in imagery and sensuous textures and colors? Or straight-forward, clean, simple prose?

To be honest, I don’t have a preference. I suppose if I did, I’d lean more towards clean and simple prose. People who are wordy just to sound smart or extraordinarily descriptive are annoying.

Hm. I guess the short and sweet answer is what does it this week.

How do you feel about illustrations in your books? Graphs? Photos? Sketches?

Most of the books I read these days are traditional adult books – aka books with no illustrations. But I like illustrations – especially when I don’t expect them in the books I’m reading.

I’m just as reliant on my imagination as the next person, so I don’t feel a lack when I’m reading something with no pictures, but I do consider it a sort of extension into the author’s brain when there are illustrations. It’s almost like valuing someone else’s opinions on an art piece you like while also having your own opinion; I don’t let the pictures change what’s in my head if I prefer not to.

In honor of National Grammar Day … it IS “March Fourth” after all … do you have any grammar books? Punctuation? Writing guidelines? Style books?

More importantly, have you read them?

How do you feel about grammar in general? Important? Vital? Unnecessary? Fussy?

If you know me (know I’m a writer), then you won’t be surprised to hear that I have the Strunk and White Elements of Style. I have heaps of other books on writing, etc, but Elements of Style is my only one that focuses specifically on the technical side of writing.

I haven’t read Elements of Style through like a regular book, no. I have used it more like a reference book, picking and choosing when I need.

And this is where I get into a rant…

Especially in this day and age, I feel that grammar (spelling, etc) is very important! I am absolutely disgusted by some of the articles and books that are out today and touted as actual good writing.

Bull! That’s what I say.

I’m not perfect by any means, but it’s not like there is some shortage of editors out there. Heck, these days they can customize down to whether they edit your grammar and punctuation, overall story critique, so on and so forth. I’m a freelance editor with few credits; hire me if you are on a budget!

I have seen words misspelled on restaurant menus, heard radio announcers say things so wrong that they have sent me into fits of giggles, articles that have no point I can decipher in their confusing run-on sentences and self-published books that had so many errors (not to mention plot holes) that my husband had to stop me from sending it back to the author full of red marks.

I don’t know if it is because we just take so little pride in our work these days or if the ‘instant gratification’ society we live in that is causing all this, but I find it amusing – more often annoying.

Suggested by Janet:

I’ve seen this quotation in several places lately. It’s from Sven Birkerts’ ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’:

“To read, when one does so of one’s own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit an elsewhere and set off toward it. And like any traveling, reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left. To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.”

To what extent does this describe you?

Well, that’s certainly an impressive quote to start a conversation off with, isn’t it?

I’m almost sad to say this, but this quote fits me quite well if we can combine reading stories and writing them…

Back when I was in the States, I didn’t have a very happy existence. Oh, there were plenty of good times, but the darker demons were still there. I told stories before I knew how to write and wrote many more once I did learn to write. When I wasn’t writing, my nose was stuck in a book.

If you didn’t see me with a book or a notebook, you could know that I had gotten yet another lecture about how my family viewed me as strange/antisocial for always having a book or a notebook with me.

When I moved to Australia, I adopted a new life. A wonderful life. I still had to get past the demons and whatnot, but I finally felt safe, in control of my life and loved unconditionally. I felt love like I’d never felt before, and I felt happy.

Reading books and writing them dropped off considerably.

Whether moving and my reading/writing dropping off are actually related, I don’t know. I just know that it happened to me.

The northern hemisphere, at least, is socked in by winter right now… So, on a cold, wintry day, when you want nothing more than to curl up with a good book on the couch … what kind of reading do you want to do?

Well, even though it is summer, today is rather winter-ish. The sky is completely filled with grey clouds and there is finally a chill to the air instead of the seemingly endless humidity of yesterday.

These are the kind of days in winter when I want to curl up with something that involves a bit of romance. It doesn’t have to be romance specifically, but I do want at least a touch in there because it makes me feel nice and warm…