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[graculus]

Book meme, gakked from kindkit:


10 Favourites

1. Favourite Book?

I'm not sure I can say 'this is my favourite book' about anything but the ones that immediately come to mind are things I have read multiple times such as The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin, Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones, The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

2. Favourite Author?

Again I'm not sure I have a favourite author, but it would be one of a short list made up of folks like James Lee Burke, Diana Wynne Jones, Rex Stout, Ursula LeGuin, Barbara Kingsolver and Dorothy L Sayers.

3. Favourite Genre?

It's a close-run thing between crime and fantasy, though I'm quite picky when it comes to either.

4. Favourite series of books?

I would have to go for Rex Stout's extremely lengthy series of Nero Wolfe novels and short stories.

5. Favourite Illustrator?

No contest. It would have to be Quentin Blake, who's probably best known for illustrating the Roald Dahl books but also did some wonderful pen and ink covers for a set of Evelyn Waugh paperbacks that Penguin put out in the 1960's.

6. Favourite book from when you were little?

Undoubtedly The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, though I feel differently about it somewhat now I'm older since the weasels are all villains... still, I love the blustery posturing of Toad and that balances it all out.

7. Favourite Hero?

Archie Goodwin.

8. Favourite Villain?

Arnold Zeck.

9. Favourite couple?

Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. No? Okay, then it's probably Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, since I'm not really a couples kind of person and they're the first ones I could think of.

10. Favourite Character?

Throgmorton, from Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones.


5 Lasts

1. Last book you bought?

Unnatural History by Jonathan Green (it's an alternate history crime novel).

2. Last book you were given?

If bookswapping counts, then it would be Dawn (Xenogenesis 1) by Octavia E Butler.

3. Last book you pre-ordered?

The House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones. She's pretty much the only author whose new books I pre-order in hardback, let alone at all...

4. Last book you loved?

Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel

5. Last book you hated?

I'm not sure about hated but I got bored partway through Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gould and almost lost the will to live.


3 dos

1.Do you read part of your current book every day?

Pretty much.

2. Do you stick to one genre of books or do you jump around?

I tend to make a conscious decision to alternate between genres, so if I've just read a crime story then chances are I won't pick up another one straight away but will try something else.

3. Do you review all the books you read on LJ?

Nope, that 'honour' goes to my book blog over on Vox, for the simple fact it's easy to embed cover pics there.

And finally... If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take one book with you, which book would you choose?

Of those books I currently own, The Once and Future King by TH White, even though the latter parts of it kill me every time...