{"id":14172,"date":"2009-03-14T00:22:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-14T06:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=14172"},"modified":"2014-06-13T17:07:08","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T23:07:08","slug":"book-meme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/14\/book-meme.html","title":{"rendered":"Book Meme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via Brian<\/a>.  <\/p>\n

\n

Post your own list and tag the one who tagged you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you\u2019ll read next?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Just finished Small Favor,<\/em> the latest paperback Dresden File novel by Jim Butcher. I’m currently split in reading The Curse of the Blue Tatoo<\/em> and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower<\/em>. As to what is next … I have no idea.<\/p>\n

3. What book did everyone like and you hated?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I don’t know about “everyone,” but I really didn’t care for Bujold’s Vorkosigan<\/em> novels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you\u2019ll read, but you probably won\u2019t?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Several. Sadly, most of them gifts.<\/p>\n

5. Which book are you saving for \u201cretirement?\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Those are the ones I plan to write once I win<\/strike> my in-laws the lottery and can retire next year to the life of a dilettante author.<\/p>\n

6. Last page: read it first or wait til the end?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

8. Which book character would you switch places with?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

None that comes to mind — especially if it would mean giving up the life I have with my family. <\/p>\n

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I associate Lord of the Rings <\/em>(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).<\/p>\n

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I was a huge fan of Andre Norton growing up, especially of the book The Zero Stone<\/em>. 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).<\/p>\n

11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person? <\/strong> <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Probably that original Fellowship of the Ring<\/em>.<\/p>\n

13. Any \u201crequired reading\u201d you hated in high school that wasn\u2019t so bad ten years later?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

14. What is the strangest item you\u2019ve ever found in a book?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

The most common strange item is a airline ticket stub from years before which I’d used as a bookmark on a trip.<\/p>\n

15. Used or brand new?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

I enjoy browsing in book shops, new or used.<\/p>\n

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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 <\/em>is required reading for writers.<\/p>\n

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Generally not, though there are movies that I enjoy as parallel pieces as much as their source books (The Princess Bride<\/em> comes to mind).<\/p>\n

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Nightfall<\/em>. At least as produced.<\/p>\n

19. Who is the person whose book advice you\u2019ll always take?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

20. What\u2019s the worst book you\u2019ve ever read:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Doomstar<\/em>, 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).<\/p>\n

21. What\u2019s the best opening line in a book you\u2019ve ever read:<\/strong> <\/p>\n

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<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Book Meme”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,382,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-books","category-lord-of-the-rings","category-personal-qa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43837,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/25\/lord-of-the-rings-chinese-editions.html","url_meta":{"origin":14172,"position":0},"title":"Lord of the Rings, Chinese editions","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 25-Jul-14 9:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow. These are, in fact, gorgeous covers. They're beautiful in their own right and in being very evocative of the story in each edition.Never thought of Saruman as lounging about as he gazed into the Palantir, but it's an awesome image.Reshared post from +Alex GrossmanGorgeous covers, thanks for sharing +Tor.com\u00a0\ufeff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1530,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/12\/16\/commercial_joy.html","url_meta":{"origin":14172,"position":1},"title":"Commercial joy","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 16-Dec-01 7:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"New commercial for Lord of the Rings. My God. It looks almost as good as sex....","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27628,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/28\/music-hark-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":14172,"position":2},"title":"Music, hark!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 28-Apr-12 1:18pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So Kay is continuing on with her flute-playing. One of her friends got this, and she begged for it, and I decided it was a worthwhile investment.It's a collection of sheet music for flute for the LotR movies, with an eye toward that player as the lead whenever possible (there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1325,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/01\/24\/you_know_your_w.html","url_meta":{"origin":14172,"position":3},"title":"You know your work is successful when …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 24-Jan-02 8:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"... people start absconding with it to promote their own value systems. Thus, JRR Tolkien and the folks behind the Lord of the Rings movie can take some cold comfort...","rel":"","context":"In "Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit"","block_context":{"text":"Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/lord-of-the-rings"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4758,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/11\/trimester_trilo.html","url_meta":{"origin":14172,"position":4},"title":"Trimester, Trilogy, what the hey …","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 11-Jan-04 9:18pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Probably the oddest interpretation of The Lord of the Rings I've happened across. 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Very cool...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42773,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172\/revisions\/42773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}