Tag: reading

Reading Meme

I got tagged by @elenothar who is made of awesome. Hey mate! Long time no speaky!

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

The Little Prince, by

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It’s been with me for over 30 years.

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?

*nervous laughter* 

Um, I honestly can’t remember what I read last. My brain is currently Swiss cheese… probably one of Dr Karl

Kruszelnicki’s fab books, I pop them like candy. 

But I do know that I am waiting for Mr Dets to finish A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. I got it for his birthday, but I also really wanna read it :)))

3. Which book does everyone like and you hated?

ummmmmmmmm… idk. I have found Asimov’s prose very dusty to get through in the past (and this is coming from a Tolkien fan). I like his world (universe?)-building though. 

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

Muuuuuuurrrr, tons of them most likely, but remember what I said about brain = Swiss cheese? Nothing is springing to mind!

5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”

None of them ever ever ever, what the heck is the point of that? 

6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?

I always wait til the end – I don’t think I’ve ever spoiled the ending for myself tbh.

7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?

I like them. 

8. Which book character would you switch places with? 

Arrrrrrrrrrrgh decisions! 

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?

My ancient copy of LOTR. My uncle gave it to me, and Tolkien’s universe was a love we shared.

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.

HAHAHAHAHAHA we have a book here that Mr Dets stole from his primary school library… it now belongs to the Dwarfling, and the school name and stamp is clearly visible on the inner leaf!

11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?

I give a LOT of books as presents, but I buy them specially… I’ve never really given away any of my own darlings! Which explains why we just remade/reorganised the ENTIRE FRONT HALF OF THE HOUSE so we could fit in yet.more.bookshelves lmao

12. Which book has been with you to the most places? 

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Because irony 😀

13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?

I didn’t mind the ‘reading’ part of the required books, that was good! It was pulling them to pieces afterwards that I resented 🙂

On the other hand, I enjoyed Out of Africa as a kid, and it grated a LOT with me as an adult. Social evolution, I guess.

14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?

My grandmother’s school report from 1936. She was 11. 

15. Used or brand new?

Both is good.

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?

I’ve only read The Stand, so I don’t really feel qualified to answer. But why can’t a book be both, honestly? Media can be self-indulgent escapism AND genius simultaneously!

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?

*pokes Swiss cheese brain* come on, you dumb thing, work...

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?

War of the Worlds. They’ve never, EVER, EVER done it right.

19. Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?

*glares at everything written by Anthony Bourdain*

20. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?

My ferociously smart MIL, who has fab taste in books. 

I tag @poplitealqueen, @notanightlight, @peggaboo, @kailthia, @lesbiankiliel, @fishfingersandscarves, @ginervcweasley, @poesiariptide and whoever else wants to do the thing!

Hey! I was just wondering, you wonderful, beautiful, and downright inspiring person, what are your favorite books (including fanfic)? I really adore your writing, and in order to become a great writer and hopefully become like you someday, I’ve got to read like a madwoman!! Thank you!! *hugs* (P.S. If you don’t have the time, what about favorite writing tips?)

omg okay, this is actually – both of these are really hard to answer, for me! 

Here’s all my fic recs for LOTR (Gigolas and Bagginshield). 

It’s easier for me to name authors, rather than books. Because I tend to fall in love with the way a person writes, as well as the story they tell, and the two become conflated in my weird head somehow 🙂

Notable fanfic authors whose works I ADORE include @elenothar, @scarletjedi, @poplitealqueen, @emilianadarling, @culumacilinte, @yubiwamonogatari, @salviag, @themarchrabbit, @bgtea, @alkjira, @avelera, @lindzz, @notanightlight, @diemarysues, @urbanspaceman, @bigmamag – and honestly this is only the tinest and most partial list, bc there are so SO many wonderful authors and works out there.

On AO3, I adore icarus-chained, enigmaticblue (THIS AUTHOR IS MY FAVE SCIENCE BROS/DR PEPPERONY AUTHOR), thehoyden, keelywolfe, astolat, winterhill, rageprufrock, waldorph, versaphile, and ohhelpme so many more.

Published authors include Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Ursula Le Guin, Diana Wynne Jones, Guy Gavriel Kay, John Birmingham (read Leviathan if you want to see how history and people shape a place, and vice versa), Jasper Fforde, Robin Hobb, China Mieville, TE White, CS Lewis (OF COURSE), Ben Elton, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Christopher Koch (Highways to a War was a formative read for me), GRRM, Vikram Seth, Alexandre Dumas, Joseph Heller, Spike Milligan, Agatha Christie, HG Wells, Gregory David Roberts…

… I have a LOT of books. A LOT of books. My house doesn’t need insulation: every room is covered in bookshelves, basically! I’ve chosen mostly fantasty/sci fi authors here, assuming that that is what you are into, Nonnie. 

Poets I love: Edna St Vincent Millay, Emily Dickinson, Seamus Heaney.

eep Nonnie, I am occasionally asked for advice, but tbh I don’t feel like I am up to the challenge. I try to rise to the occasion, but I feel that advice is an odd sort of beast: sometimes a tip from a reputed writerly-type source will work for you, and sometimes it doesn’t. I suspect it is because we are all different people, with different minds and ways of succeeding. So idk, maybe try them all out: read all the advice out there, there are so many blogs, so many forums. I read the advice sometimes too, and sometimes it is the opposite of helpful for me – but sometimes it is great. 

So, there we go, a list of awesome authors for you! But this is a tiny, tiny drop in the ocean of all the work out there. I began hiding in the school library during lunchtimes when I was 8 years old, and I think I left a part of me there – or found it, pressed amongst all those pages.