Borrowed from The Taoist Biker:
1. What is your favorite passage/line from a book?
There are so many wonderful turns of phrase, descriptive paragraphs, and ingenious feats of writerly strength out there that it’s impossible for me to have a favorite. One that comes to mind, though, is the very first passage of a book that made me cry, and still makes me cry every time I read it:
“So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fairly early, and the birds came back in time to say goodbye to Beth, who, like a tired but trustful child, clung to the hands that had led her all her life, as Father and Mother guided her tenderly through the Valley of the Shadow, and gave her up to God.” – From “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
2. What do you consider the best film adaptation from a book? What do you think is the worst film adaptation?
As far as the best is concerned, I’d probably say the Lord of the Rings and subsequent movies. I thought they did a pretty good job and stayed faithful to the books as much as they could. They left a lot out, but DAMN was that series intricate.
From what I’ve heard, the adaptation of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper into movie form was a total unmitigated disaster. Since I already know it won’t live up to my VERY exacting standards (as any adaptation of that particular book would have to be incredible to be successful to me), I refuse to see the movie.
3. What is the first book you remember reading?
The first memory of reading a book that I have is laying on my bed in the bedroom I had at my mother’s house. I was probably six at the time, and I was pouring over the entire Laura Ingalls Wilder series. I started reading very early as a child and was into chapter books by the time I reached the first grade. My favorite of that series was “Farmer Boy” – I always identified more with books about little boys than little girls, it seems (Hardy Boys won over Nancy Drew, for example, and Little Men over Little Women).
4. Did you have a favorite kids’ book as a child?
These are the favorites that stand out in my memory – The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper, Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss (which I read before I saw the Disney movie, by the way!), The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (also read before seeing the movie!), all of the Anne of Green Gables books by LM Montgomery, Little Women and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott, the Five Little Peppers books by Margaret Sidney, the Emily trilogy by L.M. Montgomery, Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl, The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards, Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, The Haunted Cove by Elizabeth Baldwin Hazelton, Misty of Chicoteague by Marguerite Henry, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, the Wrinkle in Time series by Madalyn L’Engle, Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan, Earthseed by Pamela Sargent, the Mary Poppins trilogy by P.L. Travers (also read before seeing the Disney movie), and Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Stuart Little by E.B. White. And these are just off the top of my head.
5. What book did you hate reading for a school assignment?
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I just plainly didn’t like the books. They were boring to me, which is probably horrifying to any classic-philes out there.
6. What is the most recent book you read (or are currently reading)?
I just finished re-reading Old Man’s Warby John Scalzi. It’s one of the few 10/10 ratings I’ve ever given on a book.
7. What book would you most like to see turned into a movie?
Any or all of the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. Also her book The Lady. Or Old Man’s War, while we’re at it. That’d be cool. Any of Laurell K. Hamilton’s “Anita” books would be fun, too. Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy would make an interesting movie, or series of movies (the only books by him I like, by the way… the others were just… too much and I couldn’t get through them).
8. What book did you cheat and read the “Cliff Notes” version?
None, actually. I’ve never even cracked open a Cliff Notes.
9. What book would you never read again, no matter how much someone was going to pay you?
Well. I’m sure if I were getting paid an obscene amount of money I’d read any book out there. The answers I gave for #5 do come to mind, though. I mean, if a book is THAT BAD, I just stop reading it. I don’t have a problem not finishing a book if it doesn’t hold my interest.
10. Are you more of a library or book store person?
At the moment I’m more of a book store person, but I used to be a heavy library user.
11. Have you tried audio books? Do you like them?
The only audio book I’ve ever listened to was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy written and read by Douglas Adams. I get British humor a lot more when I hear it in its native tongue. It was fun, but I’d rather read than listen to a book. I’m a very fast reader.
12. Has any movie ever inspired you to then read the book on which it was based?
No, but I have gone back and re-read a previously read book after seeing the movie version. The Lord of the Rings, all of the Harry Potter books, and The Chronicles of Narnia come to mind.
13. Describe a passage from a book that made you cry.
When the dogs died in Where the Red Fern Grow. I won’t re-read that book to this day because I was traumatized.
14. What is your favorite book series?
All of the series mentioned in # 4, as a child. As an adult I’d say the aforementioned “Memory, Sorrow and Thorn” trilogy by Tad Williams, the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, the Harry Potter series (read as an adult, though they are children’s books) by JK Rowling, the Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, and the Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey.
15. Describe your favorite place to read.
At my grandmother’s house, there was a patch of grass on the side of a hill right underneath a poplar tree that was softer and greener than the rest. I would lay there all the time, alternating between reading and staring up at the branches of the tree. I would fall asleep there, a lot of times. I wish I was there right now.
What the Cool Kids are saying: