![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ask me no more for fear I should reply
So I will do the book meme.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Probably The Japanese Twins on account of it was on my mother's shelves before mine, back in the 20's of the last century.
2. What is your current read, your last read, and the book you'll read next?
Current and forever in progress: the first volume of Onmyouji, the last volume of Heart of the Dragon King, How to Read a Chinese Poem, Tales Old and New (not Konjaku Monogatari: a collection of Ming stories.) Last: The Winter Queen by Boris Badguy. (No, seriously, that's what Akunin means in Japanese.) Next: well actually, The Winter Queen screwed with my head sufficiently that I went and got another mystery of his, though not the same detective.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Swordspoint. Had its moments, but mine were different from everyone else's in definitely not being SmartAlec and Richard.
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
(Looks despairingly at the shelves.) All of them. The last volume of Red Chambers. Yume no Kodomo. All those Ozawa Kurikos and early Motohashi Keikos. Does 'started and couldn't make any headway' count? Locke Lamora and A Cruel God Reigns.
5. Which book are you saving for "retirement?"
All of them.
6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
Read it *first*? Then why read the book?
7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Interesting aside, as are dedications.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Someone rich and loved, if I could think of one.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Lots of them, is generally why I don't reread the English ones at least. Though for pleasant associations, Kaori Yuki's Kafka is a kissaten in Komagome in '94, Konron no Tama is Princeton in '03, Kou Josei is a hot afternoon here in '98, and Hatsu Akiko's Master of the Haunted Inn is![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
paleaswater's apartment in 2002 after the heat finally broke.
10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Stole my copy of Waley's Genji from my papyrology professor's second wife. Well, borrowed with no intention of returning, let's say.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
Given away or bought for? Bought The Compleat Molesworth for my highschool best buddy because they were made for each other.
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Robinson's translation of Wang Wei.
13. Any "required reading" you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Nope. Things I liked in high school (Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, R&J, even Cue for Treason) I liked afterwards. Things I loathed (The Old Man and the Sea, Heart of Darkness) I loathe still.
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
A pressed flower.
15. Used or brand new?
Used for choice. I like stuff that's belonged to other people.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Never read any, so can't say.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
No... I'd probably say yes to certain Masterpiece Theatre presentations except in that case I think I never read the books in the first place. The Forsythe Saga? The Golden Bowl? Not a chance.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
(shrug) Most of them.
19. Have you ever read a book that's made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
Nope. Not even The Cloister and the Hearth that I definitely remember Eugene Gant loved in Look Homeward, Angel, because the descriptions of food were so plentiful.
20. Who is the person whose book advice you'll always take?
paleaswater. Even if she *did* like Swordspoint. But she didn't recommend it to me, and the stuff she does recommend is always worth reading.
1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?
Probably The Japanese Twins on account of it was on my mother's shelves before mine, back in the 20's of the last century.
2. What is your current read, your last read, and the book you'll read next?
Current and forever in progress: the first volume of Onmyouji, the last volume of Heart of the Dragon King, How to Read a Chinese Poem, Tales Old and New (not Konjaku Monogatari: a collection of Ming stories.) Last: The Winter Queen by Boris Badguy. (No, seriously, that's what Akunin means in Japanese.) Next: well actually, The Winter Queen screwed with my head sufficiently that I went and got another mystery of his, though not the same detective.
3. What book did everyone like and you hated?
Swordspoint. Had its moments, but mine were different from everyone else's in definitely not being SmartAlec and Richard.
4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you'll read, but you probably won't?
(Looks despairingly at the shelves.) All of them. The last volume of Red Chambers. Yume no Kodomo. All those Ozawa Kurikos and early Motohashi Keikos. Does 'started and couldn't make any headway' count? Locke Lamora and A Cruel God Reigns.
5. Which book are you saving for "retirement?"
All of them.
6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?
Read it *first*? Then why read the book?
7. Acknowledgments: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?
Interesting aside, as are dedications.
8. Which book character would you switch places with?
Someone rich and loved, if I could think of one.
9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?
Lots of them, is generally why I don't reread the English ones at least. Though for pleasant associations, Kaori Yuki's Kafka is a kissaten in Komagome in '94, Konron no Tama is Princeton in '03, Kou Josei is a hot afternoon here in '98, and Hatsu Akiko's Master of the Haunted Inn is
paleaswater's apartment in 2002 after the heat finally broke.10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.
Stole my copy of Waley's Genji from my papyrology professor's second wife. Well, borrowed with no intention of returning, let's say.
11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?
Given away or bought for? Bought The Compleat Molesworth for my highschool best buddy because they were made for each other.
12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Robinson's translation of Wang Wei.
13. Any "required reading" you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?
Nope. Things I liked in high school (Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, R&J, even Cue for Treason) I liked afterwards. Things I loathed (The Old Man and the Sea, Heart of Darkness) I loathe still.
14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?
A pressed flower.
15. Used or brand new?
Used for choice. I like stuff that's belonged to other people.
16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?
Never read any, so can't say.
17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?
No... I'd probably say yes to certain Masterpiece Theatre presentations except in that case I think I never read the books in the first place. The Forsythe Saga? The Golden Bowl? Not a chance.
18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?
(shrug) Most of them.
19. Have you ever read a book that's made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?
Nope. Not even The Cloister and the Hearth that I definitely remember Eugene Gant loved in Look Homeward, Angel, because the descriptions of food were so plentiful.
20. Who is the person whose book advice you'll always take?
paleaswater. Even if she *did* like Swordspoint. But she didn't recommend it to me, and the stuff she does recommend is always worth reading.
no subject
The old man went to the sea.
He caught a big fish.
The other fish ate the big fish.
The old man was sad.
The end.
*headdesk*
And then I read a biography of Hemingway to torment myself (it was literally the only book in the whole house I hadn't read and I was bored out of my skull), and ended up disliking him even more when I was done.