NS January 25th, 2008

I’ve been tagged by Becky to do this book meme, which I find quite interesting. However, I have to state, for the record, that I am not a book blogger. I don’t read a book every week. I have not read all of the classics or the works that top most book people’s ‘must read’ lists. I am not a book snob in the sense that I will read a bestseller, but only in spite of that accolade, not because of it. That’s my disclaimer and so here we go.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

The Harry Potter series. Something about Potter mania scares me. It’s a book about a boy wizard and his pals at school, from what I gather. What’s all the fuss about? It makes me wonder if some of the people who think this is the best children’s series in a long time didn’t read many interesting books as kids themselves, or use their imagination much. To each their own, but I’m not buying it.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Estella from Great Expectations, Beth March from Little Women and Sofia from The Color Purple, for a book club discussion of Jane Eyre. I would love to see the different perspectives of the cruel, cold-hearted, rich and lonely Estella; the sickly sweet, selfless and innocent Beth; and the independent, strong, larger-than-life Sofia. I suspect that Estella would root for Mr Rochester, Beth would identify with Jane and Sofia would stand up for the wife in the attic, Mrs Rochester.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

If you take the characters from Empire Falls and put them in the setting for Beowulf, that would be a sure ticket into a deep and dark hole of a grave.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?

I think that I once intimated that I’d read some Tolstoy when, indeed, I had not. I was dealing with a serious book snob and just wanted him to shut up and stop ‘educating’ me.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?

I thought I had read The BFG by Roald Dahl but realised I hadn’t when TNH began talking about the characters one day. I can’t think of any others I’ve done this with.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP)

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, to remind the VIP of how fortunate he or she is to have a bleedin’ Book Advisor when there are people out there dying from the cold and hunger. Part of the beauty of books is discovering them and enjoying them for what they are, not as a status symbol or intellectual notch on the bedpost.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Chinese. With that many people, China must be producing some great talents.

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa. It never ceases to amaze me, make me cry and ache right alongside the characters.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

The thing I’ve discovered about the book blogging community that there are a lot more voracious readers out there than I thought existed. It gives me hope.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

I wrote a post not long ago about my perfect escapist fantasy and in it I describe my dream library. I’ll paraphrase…

My escapist dream is to go to a log cabin in the woods, high in the mountains, by myself in autumn or early winter. This cabin would contain a few modern amenities and be warm and inviting, but fairly simple. The dark wooden floorboards groaning with age would feel safe and secure yet fragile beneath my bare feet. Handmade quilts and crocheted blankets would drape every soft furnishing and the living areas contain the most comfortable sofas and chairs in the world. Lamps and oil-lit lanterns would be the main sources of light, no overhead flourescent bulbs in sight.

…All around me would be books. Biographies, novels, non-fiction of all sorts…books would cover three of the four walls and I would need one of those sliding ladders to reach the upper shelves. Books with yellowing pages in spines separating from the binding and brand new editions of recent years’ bestsellers…every book I’ve ever wanted to read would appear like a welcome old friend, as if by magic. As soon as a book entered my head, its appearance in the library was immediate. As my appetite for books grew, the shelves and ladder would reach higher and higher until the uppermost stack equaled the mist covered boughs of the mountaintop pines.

I am to tag four people for this meme and so I choose Courtney, Chloe, Sarah and Aimee.

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