Book survey!

Favorite childhood book: A Fly Went By by Dr. Seuss (really young child), and Skinnybones by Barbara Park (older child) (freaking hilarious book, read it).

What are you reading right now? Leibniz: An Intellectual Biography by Maria Antognazza.

What books do you have on request at the library? I owe them like $200 still from last semester, so….nothing.

Bad book habit? I think I hold the Moscow record for most number of overdue books. And the record for the longest amount of time the books were overdue.

What do you currently have checked out at the library? Uh…I have The Remains of the Day still checked out as well as Philosophers at War, but I think I’ve had both of those checked out for so long that the UI library has deemed them “lost” and I think I own them now.

Do you have an e-reader? Nopers.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? I really like to just focus on one book at a time. The way I read and the way I retain things, I tend to mash story lines/plots/characters together into one habitat in my brain. Not such a good thing when reading more than one book at a time.

Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Yes, I suppose, technically, since I started blogging just as college started and just as I had a lot less time to read for fun.

What is your reading comfort zone? I’ll take decent, well-written sci-fi (like Verne and Wells), but I will NOT touch romance or fantasy. Everything else is game.

Can you read on the bus? I couldn’t for the longest time, then I started taking hour-long bus commutes in Vancouver and the nausea disappeared. Reading commenced!

Favorite place to read? Probably on the bus, actually. Makes me feel like I’m doing something productive.

What is your policy on book lending? Nobody ever borrows books from me, so I don’t really know.

Do you ever write in the margins of your books? With non-fiction, yes.

Not even with text books? Oh gods yes.

What is your favorite language to read in? I can’t read in anything but English, ‘cause I’m stupid.

What makes you love a book? I’m much more of a character person than a plot person. If a book has no characters I can sympathize with/empathize with/love/hate, I won’t like it. I’ve also found myself automatically liking a book that can make my nether regions tingle with its use of prose. Lolita was a major, major example of this.

What will inspire you to recommend a book? See above.

Favorite genre? Classics?

Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: I remember before I’d read any Steinbeck I’d always heard people say “ZOMG STEINBECK MAKES SUCH SEXY WORDINGZ LOLZ” and then I tried to get through Grapes of Wrath and I wanted to shoot myself in the face. I cannot handle his style.

If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? Freaking Latin or French, bro.

Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? I think War and Peace was intimidating just because of its sheer size. Plus I was like 13 when I read it. More recently was probably either Dr. Zhivago, just because Pasternak’s writing style is like “I’LL EAT YO FACE!”

Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? Joyce’s Ulysses. I’ve…heard things about that book.

Favorite fictional character? Phileas Fogg. Captain Queeg. Jay Gatsby. Ivan from The Brothers Karamazov. Ozymandias from Watchmen.

Favorite fictional villain? Does Captain Queeg count as a villain?

Name a book that you could/would not finish: Anything Steinbeck. Blaughdfhsgh.

What distracts you easily when you’re reading? My own thoughts.

How often do you skim a book before reading it? I read the first few paragraphs. If they’re engaging, I check it out! I try not to read the blurb ‘cause I don’t want to know what it’s about past the first page.

What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Either disliking it immensely or getting super busy.

Do you like to keep your books organized? They are ordered from smallest in height to tallest in height. ‘Cause that’s the aesthetic I like.

Name a book that made you angry: Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale. The ending made want to stab people because it was so perfect up until like the last five pages and then it just tanked for me.

A book you didn’t expect to like but did? Clark’s The Ox-Bow Incident. I started reading it (without knowing anything about it) and was like, “oh. A Western.” But then it got amazing. Brilliant book, yo.

A book that you expected to like but didn’t? The Sun Also Rises. I love Hemingway, but this book just wasn’t doing it for me.

Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? Smutty fan fiction, man. The further from canon, the better.