50 bookish questions tag

Greetings! We're back with another book tag, because I still haven't finished reading Wuthering Heights and I definitely haven't edited the Madame Bovary video yet! (I should get on that.) Anyway, hope you like this! Leave a note in the comments about other bookish ideas!

1. What was the last book you read?

The last book I finished was Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert. The last book I opened was Searching for Sappho by Paul Freeman.

2. Was it a good one?

Both are pretty good, yes. Video is coming soon for Madame Bovary.

3. What made it good?

I like the existence of someone trying to find out more about Sappho, and Madame Bovary was good for the relationships and stupid decisions.

4. Would you recommend it to other people?

I'd definitely recommend Madame Bovary to anyone who likes relationship-driven books with flowery language, and if you know you hate that, this isn't the book for you. If you're interested in classical poets and/ or women's history, you'd probably be interested in Searching for Sappho. (Sappho, in case you don't know, is one of the oldest recorded poets that is presumed female and possibly presumed lesbian (both in the "I was born on Lesbos" sense and the "I'm probably a girl and I write love poetry about girls" sense).

5. How often do you read?

Not as much as I should. I really need to get on that.

6. Do you like to read?

Duh.

7. What was the last bad book you read?

I don't really remember... I remember detesting reading Murphy by Samuel Beckett when I read it for class my senior year of college, but I wound up writing my senior thesis on it and hating it even more, so that's my own fault.

8. What made you dislike it?

It was really confusing. I mean, that's part of the point, but the fact that it was so open-ended and I could BS my way through my thesis write a paper based a lot on interpretation was frustrating.

9. Do you want to be a writer?

Yes.

10. Has any book ever influenced you greatly?

Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the All Souls trilogy.

11. Do you read fanfiction?

Sometimes.

12. Do you write fanfiction?

I used to, but not so much anymore.

13. What's your favorite book?

Out of the 46 books so far, Jane Eyre. In general, A Discovery of Witches. In childhood, Harry Potter.

14. What's your least favorite book?

Wuthering Heights. I've had SUCH a hard time getting through this. (By that I mean that this is my 46 Books read for the month; I started on the 1st of the month and I'm still on chapter 2.) I had to read it in high school and I hated it then, so getting through it is a real struggle, because EVERYTHING IS SO WORDY AND PROBLEMATIC. But a close second is Murphy.

15. Do you prefer physical books or reading on a device (like a kindle)?

As I don't own an e-reader, I use physical books.

16. When did you learn to read?

really early. Like 5?

17. What is your favorite book that you had to read in school?

High School: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
College: Jane Eyre. (How many times can I mention Jane Eyre, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter in this post?)

18. What is your favorite book series?

Of All Time, Harry Potter, probably.

19. Who is your favorite author?

I'm not sure. I've agreed with most books I've read, so I don't super seek out authors. One of my consistent favorites is Neil Gaiman, so I guess I'll go with him.

20. What is your favorite genre?

Now it's between fantasy and historical nonfiction.

21. Who is your favorite character in a book series?

Gosh... I don't know. Um... Cinder was pretty cool, from the Lunar Chronicles.

22. Has a book ever transported you somewhere else?

If it doesn't, I don't like it.

23. Which book do you wish had a sequel?

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

24. Which book do you wish DIDN'T have a sequel?

I don't know. I read a moderate amount of series, and I think the ones I've read usually tie everything together in a satisfying enough way.
That being said, the Twilight series could have done without Breaking Dawn. If it had to keep that fourth book, they REALLY SHOULD HAVE HAD THE CLIMAX FIGHT AT THE END THAT WAS DEFINITELY BEING BUILT UP TO. DAMMIT, STEPHENIE, YOU LET ME DOWN. (That was the first time I remember being angry at a book. I was over the Twilight series by the time the last movie came out, and apparently they did have the major fight but changed it to "omg it's just a prediction from Alice if the bad guys don't work with them" or something, but still. There are ways to include fights without condoning violence.)

25. How long does it take you to read a book?

It depends on the book. Woman in White took me a month; Madame Bovary took me a week. The first time I read Wuthering Heights I did most of it in a day but that was AWFUL.

26. Do you like it when books become movies?

Sometimes. Harry Potter was good, and that's the one I'm most familiar with.

27. What book was ruined by its movie adaption?

I don't know... Again, I don't watch many adaptions, outside of Harry Potter. In that series, I think Half Blood Prince was the least faithful.
Outside of that, the movie adaptions of the Percy Jackson books were awful.

28. What movie has done a book justice?

Referencing Harry Potter again, I think Philosopher's Stone was the most faithful in capturing the vibe and the enchantment (haha) of the introduction to the world of Hogwarts.

29. Do you read newspapers?

Sometimes, if they're lying around.

30. Do you read magazines?

Sometimes, in a similar way to newspapers.

31. Do you prefer newspapers or magazines?

I prefer whichever one is lying closest, but probably magazines. I'll sometimes buy specialty magazines - like particular editions of knitting or yoga magazines or one or two of those special editions of National Geographic.

32. Do you read while in bed?

Sometimes, yes.

33. Do you read while on the toilet?

I read articles on my phone sometimes.

34. Do you read while in the car?

Not anymore. I drive myself most places now I have my own car, so if I read while driving then I'd probably kill someone.

35. Do you read while in the bath?

I don't take baths, so no.

36. Are you a fast reader?

not really. Depends on the book. See above about the various timelines for various books.

37. Are you a slow reader?

Sometimes. It depends on the book.

38. Where is your favorite place to read?

Wherever I have a book.

39. Is it hard for you to concentrate while you read?

Again, depends on the book. Wuthering Heights, lately, has been awful, but I could easily get into something like Madame Bovary or Woman in White while I was reading it.

40. Do you need a room to be silent while you read?

Not necessarily, but I don't like for things to be vying for my attention.

41. Who gave you your love for reading?

A lot of people, but mostly my parents. And the existence of books.

42. What book is next on your list to read?

Well, I still need to get through Wuthering Heights for 46 books.

43. When did you start to read chapter books?

I don't honestly remember. I have some vague memory of hearing my dad read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe when I was really little, but I don't remember exactly what age that was.

44. Who is your favorite children's book author?

J.K. Rowling or Brian Jacques (he did the Redwall series, in case you forgot). Also, CS Lewis.

45. Which author would you most like to interview?

If he were still alive, J.R.R. Tolkien, so I could pick his brain about his worldbuilding. Of people who were still alive, Patrick Rothfuss or David McCullough. Rothfuss does the Kingkiller Chronicles and his writing is SO PRETTY. (I really hope the reason he's taken like 5 years to release the finale is because he plans on making everyone sob.) David McCullough is a really great nonfiction writer (he did 1776 and a biography of John Adams, among other early American History books). He has this amazing combination of storytelling and research, so I'd love to learn how he does it.

46. Which author do you think you'd be friends with?

I really don't know. I hope I'd be friends with Deborah Harkness and I'd like to play DnD with Patrick Rothfuss. I also would have liked to meet Ursula K Le Guin.

47. What books have you reread the most?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, probably, but I used to listen to Redwall on tape once or twice a year through most of middle and high school.

48. What books do you consider "classics?"

Well, in the very literal sense, anything that was written in Ancient Greece or Rome. In a literary sense, anything that has a lot of staying power and a general effect on the reading population, to the point of a possible paradigm shift.

49. Which books do you think should be taught in every school?

Each community and the culture within those communities is very different, so my cop-out answer is to assign books that challenge and create necessary conversations from within those communities.

50. Which books should be banned from all schools?

None of them. I feel like banning is a cop-out for not having a necessary conversation about the material within the book.