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Reading Questions and Answers | |
December 30th, 2018 | |
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These questions come from christyotwisty [0]. I'll do my best to | |
answer them as other's have [1]. | |
What is the first book you remember loving? | |
This is a little embarrassing now, since I've grown to discover | |
what a horrific little man the author is, but the first book and | |
series I grew to love was Vale of the Vole [2], book 10 in the | |
Xanth series by Piers Anthony. My dad brought it home one day | |
and I gave it a shot. It hooked me quick and sent me back to the | |
beginning of the series. I read a bunch of them before | |
graduating on to better fantasy books. It put a life-long love | |
of the genre into my blood. | |
What book/series would you like to see adapted to film? | |
The Wheel of Time has long been my answer to this. It's epic on | |
a scale that many series strive for and can't quite achieve. | |
It's part of the central canon of fantasy literature, love it or | |
hate it, and it's never been given a fair shot at the screen. | |
I would love to see it done well, but fear it as well. | |
Adaptations no longer belong to the author. They need to | |
maximize their medium and be the best they can be in that form. | |
This is why Dune is so hard to put on screen. The book is | |
philosophy and philosophy makes for terrible films. It causes | |
directors to over-use voice-over for internal thoughts. The | |
Wheel of Time would make for excellent on-screen action without | |
getting too lost in translation. Even so, will a film match the | |
story I love or will I be disgusted by the inevitable changes | |
that need to be made? | |
Who are your favourite protagonists? | |
I get deep satisfaction from characters that take a beating but | |
keep up the snark only to eventually do something epic. Harry | |
Dresden pops to mind as an example, as does Nona Grey from the | |
Book of the Ancestor series. Even Helen Harper's guilty pleasure | |
urban fantasy series "The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic" has such | |
a heroine in Ivy Wilde. Joe Bishop of the Expeditionary Force | |
takes his knocks and then starts inter-stellar civil wars. Nancy | |
A. Collins' Sonja Blue does it too. | |
While they may not share the snark, characters who endure | |
endless hardship with positivity, ingenuity, and resolve also | |
dig into my heart for all time. The hero of Hatchet and Julie of | |
the Wolves did that to me in middle school. And it's why my | |
favorite character from any book is still Jane Eyre. I mean... | |
the quotes! | |
"Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? | |
and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my | |
lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you | |
think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am | |
soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much | |
soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted | |
me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as | |
hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I | |
am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, | |
conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit | |
that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed | |
through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we | |
are!" | |
"I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, | |
the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself." | |
Damn, son! | |
Who are your favourite antagonists? | |
The Baron Harkonnen in all his forms and genetic memory takes | |
it. He is brilliant and disgusting. Hannibal Lecter is delicious | |
too. Going old-school, Lady MacBeth was the first villain to | |
make me throw a book across a room (honorable mention to Iago). | |
Oh, and freakin' Mars itself in the Martian. It threw everything | |
it could at our hero, but took a swift sciencey kick to the | |
face. | |
What, so far, is the best book you've read this year? | |
The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency #1) by John Scalzi. | |
It's a lovely new sci-fi series that just release book #2. If | |
you're into Scalzi's stuff it doesn't disappoint. There's some | |
epic stuff, some really nice mysteries, and colorful characters | |
gallore. I hope it goes on and on. | |
Can you list three to five of your favourite authors? | |
Genre greats like Brandon Sanderson, Frank Herbert, Robert | |
Jordan, George R.R. Martin, Mary Stewart, and John Scalzi. | |
Classic literature is dominated by my girl Charlotte Bronte. | |
Poets like Mary Oliver, Christina Rosetti, and Elizabeth Barrett | |
Browning. | |
Why are they your favourite? | |
They create worlds where I can lose myself. They create | |
characters who I internalize and who become a part of me. And | |
they speak truth to my soul. | |
What are your least favourite genres to read? | |
Romance is a no-go to me. Same with whatever fluffy nonsense you | |
call Elin Hilderbrand's stuff. Horror is also not often on the | |
list. I don't find it scary, so it's mostly just gross or | |
depressing. | |
What was the last book you recommended to a friend? | |
Sebastien De Castell's "Traitor's Blade", book one of the | |
Greatcoats Series. When did I recommend it? Why, right now of | |
course. You should pick it up! | |
What is your favourite film adaptation of a book? | |
The Firm. It stands out as a fantastic example of the film being | |
better than the book. It doesn't happen often! | |
What books have you read the most times? | |
Dune, far and away. After that, Jane Eyre. | |
What fictional world or novel's setting would you like to live in? | |
That's such a tricky question. So many of the fantasy worlds | |
I read are amazing places, but horribly dangerous. Or they would | |
be awesome to live in if I had one of the magic powers. The same | |
goes for sci-fi series. If I weren't running out of air on | |
a runaway space station, it might be cool! | |
I've read a bunch of Star Trek novels, though, so I'm gonna take | |
the easy way out and say I'd like to live in the Federation. | |
Give me a future of peace where humanity struggles to improve | |
itself. (Side note, The Economics of Star Trek is also an | |
amazing book. Read that too.) | |
What are your favourite classic books? | |
Oh, I should have looked ahead at this list. Jane Eyre for | |
fiction, but I love a lot of others too. The classical reads of | |
stoicism, like Epictetus and Aurelius's stuff is special to me. | |
So is Summa Theologica, though I admit skimming large portions. | |
There's Martin Chuzzlewit and the Iliad, or Introduction to the | |
Devout Life. So many great reads. | |
What is the most recent book you didn't expect to like, yet did? | |
The Trumpet of Terror! It's a Choose Your Own Adventure book and | |
I picked it to read on my show because the cover looked awful, | |
but it turned out to be really well written. | |
If you could meet one author, living or dead, whom would it be? | |
Hmm, probably Frank Herbert. It's not a particular desire of | |
mine in general, but I'd like to know from his own mouth where | |
he wanted the series to go before his son butchered it. | |
What authors do you think more people should read? | |
Don't be afraid of classics. Most of them have stuck around for | |
a reason. :) | |
[0] Christina's Reading Questions | |
[1] Sloum's Answers | |
[2] Vale of the Vole |