From:
cmcmck1. Favourite childhood book
Monica Edwards - Wish for a Pony. I still collect the Monica Edwards' Romney Marsh stories
2. What are you reading right now?
George R.R. Martin - A Clash of Kings (2nd in the Song of Ice & Fire)
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
Terrible admission for an ex librarian but I don't use my local library except for family research
4. Bad book habit?
Of course - and proud of it.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing
6. Do you have an e-reader?
A Kindle and I love it for fiction but prefer non fiction in hard copy.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
One at a time
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Oddly enough they have because I now write up every book I read and blog it. Even if I didn't have a blog I would still do the writeup for my own use. I wish I'd done it years ago. So many books have faded from memory, especially the ones read when I worked in a library and had access to as many books as I could eat!
9. Least favourite book you read this year (so far?)
Hmm, probably: Robert V S Redick: The Red Wolf Conspiracy – Chathrand Voyages #1. It had all the ingredients that I usually like but it was a bit long-winded and I just didn't click with the characters enough to read the second and third volumes of the trilogy.
10. Favourite book you've read this year?
Ooh, I've discovered some new (to me authors this year, so: Kevin Hearne: Hounded – Iron Druid #1 and Benedict Jacka: Fated – Alex Verus #1 were both fun reads, and there was a new Mercy Thompson - Patricia Briggs: Frost Burned – Mercy Thompson #7 and Patricia Briggs is always close to the top of my list of authors to buy on sight. And then I read. Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold which took me an age to chew through but it was
really good! Freda Warrington is also new to me this year. I read her Elfland just before Eastercon where she was one of the Guests of Honour.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
I deliberately try and stretch to new fiction authors, but thy are usually within the SF/F genre or maybe historical. Non-fiction I tend to read mostly for writing research, and that can lead to some pretty strange places. I confess I doin't always read from cover to cover.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Science fiction, fantasy and all the sub-genres associated with them, but not out-and-out horror or overly 'hard' SF. Historical fiction. Children's and YA books (I'm an ex children's librarian). Non-fiction can be absolutely anything, though I'm not a great lover of straightforward biography.
13. Can you read on the bus?
I can read on anything that's moving, but I haven't been on a bus for the best part of 35 years.
14. Favourite place to read?
Living room, office, bed. Anywhere.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
I prefer not to unless it's a book I'm really not bothered about getting back. I don't like to borrow either because I feel guilty when I take too long to read something.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
No!
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No. I'll sticky-note things while I'm researching.
18. Not even with text books?
I don't read text books. I guess I used to write margin notes when I was at school.
19. What is your favourite language to read in?
I'm rubbish at languages. I can only read in English.
20. What makes you love a book?
Plot, characters, style... but there's often an indefiniable something that resonates in the books that become my real favourites.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
How much I enjoy it, balanced by what I think the recommendee likes.
22. Favourite genre?
Fantasy
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
If I don't read it already then I probably don't wish I did - otherwise I would.
24. Favourite biography?
None
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Yes
26. Favourite cookbook?
Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Our village cookbook. I go back to it time and time again. Sometimes for the recipes I contributed in the first place. Otherwise I really rate Delia Smith for basics.
27. Most inspirational book you've read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Inspired? Not so much.
28. Favourite reading snack?
Sadly, I'm on a diet.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Very wary of hype.
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I don't read critics (mostly)
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If I'm reviewing I say why a book does or doesn't appeal or satisfy me. I don't often give real slammers. Not since Twilight, anyway.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Lithuanian.
33. Most intimidating book you've ever read?
Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. It took me 2 months to get through it. Intimidated by the sheer size and density, as opposed to content.
34. Most intimidating book you're too nervous to begin?
None, but there are some big reads I will save until I have sufficient clear space to do them justice.
35. Favourite poet?
I'm not much into poetry. Wilfred Owen & Dr Seuss.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
You keep asking about libraries.
37. How often have you returned a book to the library unread?
In the past - probaby a few times.
38. Favourite fictional character?
Cazaril (Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion) though Modesty Blaise comes close as does Miles Vorkosigan.
39. Favourite fictional villain?
Glokta (Or is he the hero. You can never tell with Joe Abercrombie's characters. They can turn on a sixpence)
40. Books I'm most likely to take on holiday?
I've got over 500 books on my Kindle, I don't have to choose before I go. It's like having the library in Hermione's handbag. Magic!
41. The longest I've gone without reading.
When I'm on a writing binge I find it hard/counterproductive to read.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Lord Foul's Bane
43. What distracts you easily when you're reading?
Not much.
44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel?
Lord of the Rings - yes, I know what you're going to say.
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Eagle (from Eagle of the Ninth)
46. The most money I've ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Something over $300 Canadian the first time I went to Bakka in Toronto and found all these SF/F books I couldn't (then) get in the UK. (Pre Amazon, of course). It cost me another $50 to send a load of them home by sea and a further $100 in overweight baggage charges at the airport.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
I often skim non-fiction, but not fiction
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
If I suddenly realised that life was too short.
49. Do you like to keep your books organised?
Are you kidding? I was a librarian. Fiction is alphabetical. Non fiction is in subject order - approximately Dewey, friom memory.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you've read them?
Keep (mostly) though I've run out of space and have culled a few (but it was traumatic).
51. Are there any books you've been avoiding?
Fifty Shades of Grey. All the rest of the Twilight books after the first one. Anything by John Norman.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Twilight.
53. A book you didn't expect to like but did?
I don't read books I don't expect to like.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn't?
Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Too long-winded. The footnotes drove me nuts.
55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold, especially anything with Miles Vorkosigan in it, or Curse of Chalion.
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