Reading Q&A for fun and profit!

[Keroin]

OK, not for profit, unless you profit by having fun.

Canada's National Reading Campaign launches today! The goal is to help make Canada a country of readers. As you can imagine, I wholeheartedly support this endeavor. As part of the campaign, I've dedicated this week on the Warpworld blog to asking authors about their reading habits. (One author per day, you can read their answers here: http://www.warpworld.ca/comm/)

But I thought I'd bring the Q&A here and see what our Litizens are reading and why.

ETA: Answers will only be shared here - nowhere else!

So tell me what you're reading and why and whether you dog-ear your pages or not!


1.What are you reading right now?

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

 

[midwestyankee]

Okay, I'll bite.

1.What are you reading right now?
My computer screen. I have a number of business-y books going, but the one that I most intend to get back to when I feel like shutting out the day-to-day with a book is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?
Everything, from cereal boxes to encyclopedias (yes, I did the entire Funk & Wagnall's when I was in fourth and fifth grades). I regularly checked out a dozen books a week from the public library. I particularly enjoyed reading about scientists and sports stars. In junior high school I took up the challenge to read everything that Kenneth Roberts (Northwest Passage) read. Hmmm, I just noticed that this was a "why" question and not a "what" question. I read because it gave me a much, much wider life.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?
Yes, The Brinksmanship of Sir Galahad Threepwood, by P. G. Wodehouse. I stumbled on this book when I was in fifth or sixth grade and I fell in love with Wodehouse. From this book, and all the others by Wodehouse that I read, I was inspired to read more literary fiction. At about the same time one of my uncles began his career as a high school English teacher and he started recommending books for me. Joseph Conrad was a challenge, but then so was Dickens, if only for the length. I seemed to have been stuck on British writers for a long time, until college when I shifted my interest to Americans. I'm quite sure that it was my love of reading that eventually won me over from science to literature in my studies. Without Wodehouse I probably would have been a biologist.

Of course, another book that changed my life was Human Sexual Response, by Masters and Johnson (eighth grade), but that's a whole 'nother story.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?
I don't like pets. And I use bookmarks.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?
Bertie Wooster comes to mind first. Another who appeared in a series of books that I read in my earlier years was James Bond (though I have no interest in the movies).

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?
Cereal boxes aren't as interesting as they used to be.

 

[Ahlam]

3. Are there any books that changed your life?
Yes, The Brinksmanship of Sir Galahad Threepwood, by P. G. Wodehouse. I stumbled on this book when I was in fifth or sixth grade and I fell in love with Wodehouse. From this book, and all the others by Wodehouse that I read, I was inspired to read more literary fiction....Bertie Wooster comes to mind first.

I recently discovered P.G. Wodehouse and I am so very smitten!

 

[seela]

1.What are you reading right now?

Lisa Bjurwald: Europas skam - Rasister på frammarsch (approximately The Shame of Europe - The rise of Racists),
Jussi Halla-aho: The Old Church Slavic Manual (the dude's actually a flaming racist, not that is shows in the book because that's just linguistics, but it's somewhat ironic that I'm reading his stuff at the same time as Bjurwald's),
Sofi Oksanen: Kun kyyhkyset katosivat (I don't think it's been translated into English yet, but Purge is available in English It was pretty good, too.)

I always read a couple of books at the same time. At the very least one fiction and one non.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

I've always wanted to know stuff. A lot of stuff. Books are a handy way to get information on a large variety of things, and in the pre-internet times pretty much the only way.

I also loved the feeling of being completely captured by the story and forgetting everything else around me. It's still that way. Books are a time machine and a teleport in a compact package.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

I'm not sure any books have changed my life, but there are quite a few that have left a lasting impression.

Jostein Gaarder: Sophie's World. It's a book that first got me interested in philosophy when I was around 13 and found it on my cousin's bookshelf on a boring family visit. My cousin hated the book and had never finished it, I was hooked pretty much from the beginning.
Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End. I loved the book so much! I found the end to be very disturbing somehow when I first read it, and things dissolving into nothingness was kind of a phobia of mine for a long time because of it.
Daniel Quinn: Ishmael. I still remember the "B meat" thing very vividly today. The book raised a lot of questions in me.

Just to mention a couple.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

Definitely not. If I lend my book to someone and get it back dog-eared, that person will feel my wrath and shall never touch another book of mine. I don't use bookmarks either. I just check the page number.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

I don't think I have any. As a kid I loved detective stories, so Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Jupe, Pete and Bob aka Three Investigators, were somewhat idolized. I also loved the Babysitters' Club books, but the girls in them are hardly heroes/villains. Oh, and Doctor Boox, now that's a hero!

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Well, I *don't* bite... often.... but I'll give it a shot.

1.What are you reading right now?
I'm just wrapping up The Journeyer by Gary Jennings (1984), an historical novel supposedly from the POV of Marco Polo in his late 60s, a "more thorough" telling of his adventures than his previously-published tales.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?
Books took me to other worlds much more attractive and interesting than the "real world" I had to live in.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?
Wow... most of them, I think. I can still remember the plot lines of some books I read in grammar school, more than half a century ago. Heinlein had a great early influence on my taste in sci-fi; The Kid Who Batted 1.000 by Bob Allison for some reason remains in my mind after soooo many years. Interesting thing, I googled this to find the author's name, and found that someone named Troon McAllister has written a book by the same name with a remarkably similar plot synopsis. I'm not sure of the pub dates for either, but... !

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?
Non. Ever. For any reason. There are bookmarks for that sort of thing, and little tiny post-it stickies, and dustcovers. No. It's wrong, and doing it would get you banned from ever borrowing any further books from my library.

Am I a little vehement on this?

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?
Lazarus Long for multiple-book status. Probably Valentine Michael Smith for single-book. Yeah, those are both Heinlein characters. I *said* he was influential in my sci-fi life. Hari Seldon's not too far behind, though.

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?
I firmly believe that any child who has a love of reading inculcated in him/her at an early age has a *huge* advantage over children who were never given that gift. To be able to read and absorb books is to be able to read and absorb - and use - knowledge in almost every other field.

 

[Keroin]

Great answers guys, keep 'em coming! It's like I'm spying on your bookshelves.

Also, wow, I feel so guilty about my dog-earring habit now. I would never dog-ear a loaned book, but my own? Woof, woof, woof.

 

[Ahlam]

I love sexy book talk.

1.What are you reading right now?
"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern.
"The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty Year Conflict with Iran" by David Crist
I usually try to alternate fiction and non-fiction to stay sharp. I read an average of five books per week. Thank you, insomnia.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?
As a kid I loved reading because it was a mental escape. I found reality somewhat taxing and I was quite spacey. I guess I still feel the same.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?
What comes to mind?
The imagery in Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"...
The beautiful language in Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"...
Annie Proulx's careful poise in "Heartsongs"...
Robert Louis Stevenson's sense of adventure...
Tolkien's thorough excursion into the realm of fantasy...
I could go on and on, so I'll just stop.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?
Honestly I am a dirty rotten "dog ear-er." No doubt a punishable offense.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?
I always enjoy a good villain. No one specific comes to mind unfortunately. I blame coffee deficit.

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?
Reading is one of my greatest loves. I am insatiable. I enjoy the mental journey, and I like to imagine that it is some kind of latent telepathy. Illiteracy is one of the worst kinds of poverty.

 

[Netzach]

1.What are you reading right now?

On and off, the Four Hour Work Week in amounts I can actually tolerate (tiny) I'm a chronic re-reader, and I'm also reading Russel Banks' Affliction again. The biz books are the only "crap" reading I do - if I want mindless escape, I watch something.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

I didn't love it or hate it. I had books that grabbed me, but I was not an omnivore. I don't like serialization, the Lord of the Rings is as much as I ever could handle with that. I also don't like long reads, generally, though I've been re-skimming Anna Karenina and thinking that's due for a second go around.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

Reads provide sense and meaning. I don't want a chaplain in the hospital, but I would not mind an English prof to read me the Red Cross Knight sections of Spencer or something! But for ACTUAL life change, I'd say that bondage manuals probably did more.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

Dog ear. Note taker at times. Borrower who forgets, lender who never reminds.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

Villain - The Judge in Blood Meridian. No contest. He kept Harold Bloom awake!
Hero - always considerably more uninteresting, but I'm a great fan of Oedipa Maas in lot '49. Pynchon writes women matter-of-factly and has been taken to task for just writing them like men and not "getting" them. She's one of the few heroines I've ever empathized with.

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

A decent film is just as good for you! (Few are)

 

[CutieMouse]

1.What are you reading right now?

Ummm...

The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food & Love
Secrets of a Fashion Therapist
The World Without Us
The Feast Nearby

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

It was a safe escape; no one at home bothered me as long as I was reading. The library was quiet and cool.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

Pollyanna (HUGE shock to anyone who knows me, eh? )

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

Dog ear-er. Although I read hardbacks with dust jackets as often as possible, and use the jacket-flap to mark my place.

Random factoid - did you know the Library of Congress is the most prolific destroyer of books in the nation? Every volume goes through a "fold test"; they "dog ear the page and if it breaks, the physical book is slated for destruction. Which means there are entire decades of books destined for destruction, because of the high acid content of the wood pulp used to make the paper.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

Not sure...

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

Thank god I raised readers.

 

[IrisAlthea]

1.What are you reading right now?

Just finished:
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
The last good kiss by James Crumley
Just started on:
Tony and Susan by Austin Wright

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

In The Magician's Nephew there is a "Wood between the worlds" with lots of pools that all lead to different worlds. To me books were like those pools.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

Many.
Learning is life-changing.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

Not really, no.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

I can't choose.

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

I love reading.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Sooo... when I answered earlier, I was in a bit of a hurry, and left out a lot of my "twue" answer to the following question.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?
Non-sci-fi: Travis McGee (John D. MacDonald, 21 books); from another perspective, Meyer Meyer (same series!); the Sacketts (just about all of 'em) (Louis L'Amour, 17 books, two short stories); Odd Thomas (Dean Koontz, 8 {?} books with another coming soon).

Aw, crap... from Pern - Robinton, Menolly, Piemur, F'lar, Lessa, Lytol, Jaxom. From other Anne McCaffrey books: Killashandra, most of FT&T, Helva, Daffyd op Owen, more.

From Lee Child: Jack Reacher.
From Patricia Cornwell: Kay Scarpetta (more the early KS books than the last few, sadly).
Kathy Reichs: Temperance Brennan.

Too damn many others to think of, remember, or type in here. Sorry.

 

[BiBunny]

1.What are you reading right now?

Um, The Bell Jar for the nine hundred millionth time (print), The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes for the fiftieth time (Kindle), and John Dies at the End for the tenth or so time (Kindle). I finished The Ponder Heart last night (print) for maybe the third time. I like to read multiple things at once, and since I'm too broke to buy new books, I re-read a LOT.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

Well, I was an only child, and my mother didn't like for me to make much noise. When I was in elementary school, I was so far ahead of the other kids that the teachers didn't care that I just sat in class and read novels all day because I wasn't bothering anyone in my boredom.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

I don't think any particular book gave me an epiphany, but I do think that all of them have affected me in some way.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

I used to be guilty of dog-earing, but I'm trying to do better about that now.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. I will take about half a dozen of those Byronic heroes, please and thank you. (Nobody is surprised by this, are they?)

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

I think that if more people did it and did it seriously, we wouldn't have so many people in the world who have such serious problems with critical thinking.

 

[Keroin]

I think that if more people did it and did it seriously, we wouldn't have so many people in the world who have such serious problems with critical thinking.

Like!

 

[kiwi_submissive]

1.What are you reading right now?

The Oath by Michael Jecks
War of the Flowers - Tad Williams

And a selection of trashy historical romance novels

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

To escape from reality and life.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

Hairy McLarey was the first book I remember reading on my own and I still have the copy of the book.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

Non dog ear-er

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

Randall Flagg from the Stand

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

I am the only person I know that will take a couple of books to a party and sit in the corner reading them because they are more interesting than trying to have conversations with drunken idiots.

 

[Bluespark]

1.What are you reading right now? The Revengers Tragedy by Thomas Middleton

2. As a kid, why did you love reading? I just always have but I think it's the way you get inside other peoples heads in a book in a way that you can't in real life.

3. Are there any books that changed your life? Several.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er? Yes.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain? Richard III

6. Anything else you want to say about reading? Reading can be dangerous that is why it is not really encouraged by society. Dangerous in that it gets people thinking about other people and not just themselves. Dangerous in that people who are reading are not shopping. Dangerous in that people who read have better bullshit detectors.

 

[seela]

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

I am the only person I know that will take a couple of books to a party and sit in the corner reading them because they are more interesting than trying to have conversations with drunken idiots.

No. That's also one reason to why I'm always in the middle of more than one book at a time: one of them has to be small enough to fit into a small-ish purse.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I am the only person I know that will take a couple of books to a party and sit in the corner reading them because they are more interesting than trying to have conversations with drunken idiots.

No. That's also one reason to why I'm always in the middle of more than one book at a time: one of them has to be small enough to fit into a small-ish purse.

I've been known to bring a book and read

• between turns while bowling in league
• between bites while eating dinner out (yeah, shameful, I know)
• while playing Texas Hold 'Em tournaments
• in the doctor's office (waiting room, exam room, anywhere I have at least one hand free)
• in movie theaters while waiting for the previews to come up

Well, damn near everywhere and any time, including when I worked at Flamingo, FL (the marina, hotel, restaurant and campgrounds at the end of the 36-mile road into Everglades National Park), propping a book on my steering wheel and reading as I drove out from Flamingo into town on evenings I went in for a drink or two and some socialization with someone other than the people I worked with six days a week. (That was 1969, and traffic was *much* lighter through the park than I understand it is today. I did almost hit a 15-foot gator who was soaking up the last of the day's heat from the asphalt road one evening, but managed to spot him in time to stop. )

 

[CutieMouse]

[*]between bites while eating dinner out (yeah, shameful, I know)

Books at the dinner table drive.me.nuts.

I remember being a newlywed (decades ago), gorgeous dinner laid out for my husband, ready to talk about our respective days... And he pulled out a book to read while be ate. I told him I had nightmares of our future - serving a huge family dinner and finally sitting down to join them... only to realize I was dining with covers of books, the voices behind them asking for seconds, more milk please, what's for dessert...

Rules when the kids are home-

No books at the table
No electronic thingies at the table
No zombie talk at the table

 

[intothewoods]

My answers are so embarrassing.

1.What are you reading right now? I've been trying to read Ross Douhat's Bad Religion for a long time now, but in my free time right now I usually write or go see theater.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?

I don't know. Insatiable curiosity about life? I read a fair amount but I did other things too.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?

Um, hmm. Sad to say, but Naomi Wolf's Beauty Myth at age 18, although I can't stand her now. It just made me excited to start college. What else? Oh, well, I love David Rakoff. And Wendy Wasserstein's plays -- I wanted to be like those characters.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?

I was a dog ear-er but now I'm all e-book.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?

Severus Snape.

 

[kiwi_submissive]

No. That's also one reason to why I'm always in the middle of more than one book at a time: one of them has to be small enough to fit into a small-ish purse.

Exactly and these new large books they have now are incredibly annoying as my bag is not big enough for most of them.

Could be an excuse to buy a bigger bag.

I've been known to bring a book and read

• between turns while bowling in league
• between bites while eating dinner out (yeah, shameful, I know)
• while playing Texas Hold 'Em tournaments
• in the doctor's office (waiting room, exam room, anywhere I have at least one hand free)
• in movie theaters while waiting for the previews to come up

Well, damn near everywhere and any time, including when I worked at Flamingo, FL (the marina, hotel, restaurant and campgrounds at the end of the 36-mile road into Everglades National Park), propping a book on my steering wheel and reading as I drove out from Flamingo into town on evenings I went in for a drink or two and some socialization with someone other than the people I worked with six days a week. (That was 1969, and traffic was *much* lighter through the park than I understand it is today. I did almost hit a 15-foot gator who was soaking up the last of the day's heat from the asphalt road one evening, but managed to spot him in time to stop. )

We really are flogging cousins.

I always get strange looks when I am trying to read while walking up one of the hills to work. Maybe that's why I keep walking into things.

I am so glad we don't have gators here, they would do alot of damage to your car if you hit one.

 

[IrisAlthea]

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?

Oh, I forgot:
If you want your kids to read - read to them like everyone tells you, but make sure they see you reading for your own pleasure.

 

[Red Sonja]

1.What are you reading right now? Fiction: Working my way through the next selection of the BDSM Reading Club--Volume 1 of the Kat Star Chronicles, re-reading Tunnel in the Sky by Heinleinand in non-fiction land: Change or Die by Alan Deutschman, and also the Blood Glucose Bible by Jenny Ruhl.

2. As a kid, why did you love reading?
Books were my safe harbor. I would go to the library on a Friday take out 5 or 6 books, and need to be back the following Monday. I remember learning to read and never looking back.

My father was an avid reader, and encouraged that. It is one of the few memories I'm glad to have of him.

3. Are there any books that changed your life?
Oh yes. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Pollyanna, Freckles, as a young kid... and then later, the Delta of Venus by Anais Nin, Sex and the Single Girl.

4. Dog ear-er or non dog-ear-er?
I do not dog ear books. I used to, but a certain person I live with has persuaded me that this was a very bad habit. We joke that we eventually *had* to get married because we could no longer remember who owned which books.

5. Your favourite fictional hero and/or villain?
Hero: Gil Hamilton-- Larry Niven.
Villain: I agree with Kiwi Submissive-- Randall Flagg from The Stand, but I've also got to add that I think he's the evil guy in Eyes of the Dragon by the same author.

6. Anything else you want to say about reading?
I read a lot. I bring books everywhere. I take them to the doctor, hair salon, etc. I am never without a book, or at least my Kindle. Kindles don't have the same flair that a paper and ink book does, but they are portable.

Both of my children (now adults) are readers. I blame myself. I used to have "quiet reading and rest" time when they wanted to not "nap" anymore and I still needed to have them nap. We've shared many a good book, and many a cheap, not so great one too-- I think Twilight back when the girl first got braces at 13. Still... bad as Edward and Bella are, it took her mind off the pain for those first few days, so I owe Stephanie Meyer that much at least.