Via Brian.
Post your own list and tag the one who tagged you.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
While I have books lurking in various places that have been around for longer, the ones in my main bookshelves that are the the oldest are my Lord of the Rings paperbacks, received when I was in 6th Grade or so (from my grandparents, I believe). It’s the psychedelic Barbara Remington Ballentine covers.
2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?
Just finished Small Favor, the latest paperback Dresden File novel by Jim Butcher. I’m currently split in reading The Curse of the Blue Tatoo and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower. As to what is next … I have no idea.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
I don’t know about “everyone,” but I really didn’t care for Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels.
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Several. Sadly, most of them gifts.
5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”
Those are the ones I plan to write once I win my in-laws the lottery and can retire next year to the life of a dilettante author.
6. Last page: read it first or wait til the end?
I get really, really upset when I see people flipping to the end of the book. Irrationally so. Do it around me at your own peril. Heck, even with books I know I’ll never read, I hate to be “spoiled.”
7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
I always find them at least passingly interesting. I’d love to be dedicated to, someday. It’s about as close to literary immortality as I’m likely to come. 🙂
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
None that comes to mind — especially if it would mean giving up the life I have with my family.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
I associate Lord of the Rings (see #1) with both Boy Scout camp-outs (I packed that first volume into my backpack a dozen times, and never did manage to fight my way through the whole Hobbiton birthday party bits) and high school (when all my friends had read it and were so enthusiastic that I bulled my way through and became just as fanatical about it).
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
I was a huge fan of Andre Norton growing up, especially of the book The Zero Stone. I remember when I realized that I could actually, through the miracle of the Internet, purchase a copy with the same cover art that I remembered from the copy at my childhood library (which I checked out a dozen times). So I did. Nostalgic glee (and still a great read).
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
When I gift books, they are usually ones I’ve found interesting myself. Or, in the case of many books I give my wife, ones that I want to read, too.
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Probably that original Fellowship of the Ring.
13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Not really. Most of the literature I was forced to read in high school I don’t care for still, and the ones I cared for then I can still tolerate today.
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
The most common strange item is a airline ticket stub from years before which I’d used as a bookmark on a trip.
15. Used or brand new?
New tends to be easier. If it’s a book that’s been around for a while, though, I’ll go used if the base price + shipping matches what I can buy it for from Amazon (and if I don’t need it delivered in 2 days).
I enjoy browsing in book shops, new or used.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
I’ve never gotten much into his novel-length books, but I enjoy and/or appreciate his short stories (though not to “Genius!” level), and his book On Writing is required reading for writers.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
Generally not, though there are movies that I enjoy as parallel pieces as much as their source books (The Princess Bride comes to mind).
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
Nightfall. At least as produced.
19. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
Hrm. Nobody springs to mind, though Doyce is the person who’s made the most recommendations that have panned out to date. That’s not a matter of has having Much More Profound Literary Cred than anyone else who recommends books, but more a matter of having similar tastes.
20. What’s the worst book you’ve ever read:
Doomstar, by Richard Meyers. It was the book that convinced me, within a dozen pages, that I could be published some day (if dreck like that was publishable).
21. What’s the best opening line in a book you’ve ever read:
None comes to mind, so I’ll swipe that of Brian (who passed this meme on to me): “The building was on fire, and it wasn’t my fault.” — Harry Dresden, in Jim Butcher’s Blood Rites.