Friday, June 11, 2010

Reading the caption, anyone else hear the voice of The Brain of Pinky and ...


Busy on the phones at work today. Glad to be home. There is always the option to get some work done there over the weekend but at this point, I won't be doing it. This weekend I need to do some catching up of chores and other projects here, Tug would be left alone because Steve has a tournament this weekend, and I think I still need to rest/recover my internal systems from the flu earlier this week.


I need to go to Walmart tomorrow unfortunately but I think that will be the only real outside stuff to do.


Tonight I have Say Yes to the Dress to watch. Otherwise I'll be plugging along in the Susanna Gregory histmyst.


*********** reading meme ************

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

Basically, anything labelled "contemporary fiction" or "whatever prize winner" or "book club recommended". Worthy books, I'm sure, but seem to be all angst and no story and no point.


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?

Ahhh, Latin. I think there are some fascinating texts over hundreds of years that would be interesting to read. Along with that, I would also like to be granted access to the collection at the Vatican. Oooh, what they must have that no one knows about. Second choice, perhaps I'll suggest Norwegian or Swedish so that I could then translate the good mysteries from there. That would be a fun job.


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)?

I would say the world of romance novels. I dabble in romance but there are amazing romance blogs out there by very smart, witty people. Even if you didn't read romance novels (which is dumb because there are some good authors out there), the blogs are funny and insightful.


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?

Persuasion by Jane Austen I think. So many life lessons and a great second-chance love story.


(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?

Perhaps anything by James Fenimore Cooper, ex: LAST OF THE MOHICANS. I believe I've tried and failed on more than one occasion.


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?

Oh, probably some classics or some popular contemporary book that when someone brings it up conversation you say, yeah, yeah, I'm familiar with it. Okay maybe here's one: in junior year of high school we were supposed to read CATCHER IN THE RYE and I hated it, rejected it with all of my being, I don't know if I ever actually read more than the first few pages but I faked my way through any assignments/tests.


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 think I've read MISTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane but it's not in my little black book of reading so if I did it was before I started keeping track and by now I'm familiar enough with the storyline it doesn't matter.


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?

I'm going to stick to women on this one: Elizabeth Bennett from PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Lisbeth Salander from Steig Larsson's Millenium Trilogy, and Sister Fidelma from Peter Tremayne's series. Coffee, grazing through snackage or dinner would fine, just a place for long stimulating conversation on any topic under the sun. All these women are opinionated and intelligent. Love it.


Same question as above, what three authors?

Agatha Christie, Isaac Asimov and JK Rowling. Ditto the setting. They are smart world builders in their own ways.


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 of personalise the VIP)

That's difficult not knowing the gender or anything about the person's life preferences like fiction versus nonfiction or genre versus classic or contemporary. Or if the job description was for a more entertainment scope or more educational one. In general, I would probably recommend a racy thriller, a real page turner. If THE DA VINCI CODE weren't so well known and mocked, that'd be a good one. Maybe something early by Grisham?


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.

Oh I love that fairy! Picture a traditional English library with warm wood tones and comfy dark brown leather chairs, dark wood wide plank flooring with large area rugs, a big marble fire place with fire going, and floor to high ceiling bookcases that require you to use a ladder hooked to the wall to access. The book collection would have all the books in the series of historical mystery authors and police procedurals. Current magazines and daily newspaper. A computer is handy to look up references and ordering.


************************************* end ****************************


Phew some of those were difficult. I had to think about those hard ones and come back after dinner to answer.


Good night ....


Much love,

PK the Bookeemonster

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