New York Times Book Tag

Hey everyone! I found the New York Times book tag from jessiethereader on youtube, and found the questions from nerdytalksbookblog (found here). So here are my responses!

1. What book is on your bookshelf right now?

There are a few: Women in Ancient Rome by Paul Chrisal, Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin, John Adams by David McCullough, and the Bible.

2. What was the last truly great book you read?

I.... don't really know. I mean, Jane Eyre was a book I like and that 3/5 Internet Lists say that everyone should read, but what constitutes a really great book? Something you can write your senior capstone on? Something that entertains you a lot? I don't know.

Well, in that case, Jane Eyre would probably work for that. But my college required two senior capstone courses, so technically I could also say Murphy by Samuel Beckett, but I HATED that book.

3. If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? And what would you want to know?

Any authors of any books in the bible, so I could 112% clarify WHAT THEY MEAN BY THE SPECIFIC LAWS. Because hot damn do we need it.

4. What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves?

I don't know. What do y'all expect of me? I guess people might be surprised about the language books - a few old Ancient Greek textbooks (as in, In GREEK) (they're for The Odyssey, Plato's Symposium, Greek New Testament, and Xenophon's Anabasis), as well as a Middle English edition of the Canterbury Tales and a book on Sindarin (one of the Elvish languages Tolkien constructed for Lord of the Rings). Also, a few craft industry books.

5. How do you organize your personal library.

Fiction v nonfiction, then alphabetically by author. If I have more than one book on a certain topic (Shakespeare, ghosts, languages, crafting, whatever), I'll group those together.

6. What book have you always meant to read and haven’t gotten around yet? Anything you feel embarrassed never to have read?

For the first part, I don't have a lot of unfulfilled intentions - if I want to do a thing, generally I do the thing or give up (and generally forget about it) without bothering. So I guess the real answer to that question is "all the books on my shelf that I haven't read yet, but that I fully intend to get back to." For the second part, I'm kind of ashamed to have never finished Beka Cooper by Tamora Pierce and I still haven't finished any of Lord of the Rings. Yes, I DO have books on Tolkien's linguistics. Yes, I HAVE done a lot of nerdy Lord of the Rings projects for grades in high school. And yes, I really am ashamed about that.

7. Disappointing, overrated, just not good: what book did you feel you are supposed to like but didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?

I have only a part of an answer for this - Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. I want to say that it's just because I was busy during the semester I tried to read it (because seriously, being an English major in several reading-heavy courses will make you want to read nothing but your homework). I really wanted to read it and love it, but I haven't gotten past the first quarter. One of my good friends is IN LOVE with this series, and I really want to read it and love it because of that friend, but... I don't know. I already slogged through Woman in White, and I'm not hoping to slog through something that's not entirely engaging right away.

But, side note, I hated reading Wuthering Heights. I had to read it in high school, and I don't remember much about the plot, except that it was AWFUL.

8. What kind of stories are you drawn to? Any you stay clear of?

I know I just went on a tangent about Outlander, but I do really like romances - or at least books that have romantic elements. Also, things with some kind of action. Basically, anything that's engaging, and that differs whenever I'm in a different mood.

There's no one thing that makes me turn away, except for something like gratuitous LGBTQIA++++ shaming or rampant sexism, but that doesn't come up too much anymore. I guess when it does, it turns me off anymore.

9. If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

I don't know. Any book about tact. And maybe something that wasn't written by someone rich and white. So the Bible, maybe??? Including the bits from Deuteronomy onwards that say things like "LOOK AFTER THE ORPHANS AND THE WIDOWS AND PEOPLE IN NEED." Also the bits in the New Testament about "WELCOME PEOPLE." You know. Things that he needs to work on.

10. What do you plan to read next?

Wuthering Heights or Lolita. Or Emma. I don't know. It's February. Some kind of romance.