Showing posts with label The Count of Monte Cristo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Count of Monte Cristo. Show all posts

Monday, June 18, 2012

Random quiz post

For once I'm not doing a quiz to trick y'all into thinking I regularly post. This one interested me.
Behold! A fully completed quiz.
If there are American typos that I've not picked up on, I apologise profusely.



1. Favorite childhood book?
Agent Angel, by Annie Dalton, and Harry Potter, by JK Rowling. Both of these series followed me well into my teens.
2. What are you reading right now?
From Notting Hill With Love… Actually, by Ali McNamara.
3. What books do you have on request at the library?
I don’t have any at the moment, due to awfully high overdue fees. I liked re-reading my books.
4. Bad book habit?
Starting one, flicking to the middle, and flicking to the end to decide whether or not I’ll read the whole thing. It was a smart move with Fitzwilliam Darcy: Rock Star, though I can’t imagine what possessed me to read it to begin with.
5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Again, none, due to the aforementioned overdues.
6. Do you have an e-reader?
I’ve downloaded the iBooks, Kindle and Bluefire apps on my phone – it makes for easy reading on the train trips to uni.
7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
Several if I’m going to draw them out; if it’s a good enough book, I usually have it finished in a few hours so there’s no chance to have multiples.
8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Not really, except I’ve tried branching out a bit more. There’s a lot more that I’ve found through trawling review sites. My blog isn’t 100% devoted to books, obviously, so there you have it.
9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Lynn Regaud, or Unsticky, by Sara Manning. Can’t figure out why I read them. They were vapid reads, and Fitzwilliam Darcy: Rock Star just ruined Pride and Prejudice. Ruined it. Unsticky seems to be the book version of Pretty Woman, and Pretty Woman didn’t appeal to me either.
10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
Not very often, though a notable exception was The Godfather – and that was awesome. Awesome in all the ways.
12. What is your reading comfort zone?
YA, adult fic, classics, historical fic and chick-lit.
13. Can you read on the bus?
Oddly enough, I can’t read books, but I can read on my phone just fine. Trains are easier to read on.
14. Favorite place to read?
My bed, or my parents’ lovely corner couch. The hammock used to be great for reading in too, before the dog claimed it as her own and broke it.
15. What is your policy on book lending?
I share, occasionally. If I like you I share.
16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Not intentionally, ever.
17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
*gasp* Get thee out of here. Get out. No. You do not do that to books.
18. Not even with text books?
Okay, yes. I do this to my textbooks (well, more highlight). I also do it to my Bible.
19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English. I’m working on Spanish, I can understand bits but not enough to make my reading experience smooth.
20. What makes you love a book?
The characters have to draw me in. For instance, I just read The Jane Austen Marriage Manual (Kim Izzo) and The Wedding Season (Su Dharmapala). Both very generic chick lit formulas – I needed something very simple for post-op, and I was sick of slogging my way through big texts courtesy of uni. JAMM had nothing to offer in the way of characters – why anyone would go for Kate is beyond me, and every character was two-dimensional and boring. The Wedding Season, however, was brilliant – because of the characters. Heck, even the four-year-old was realistic.
21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
Friends, covers, and my old school librarian, Gloria.
22. Favorite genre?
YA, primarily. Chick lit is just not as good as it used to be, whereas YA just goes from strength to strength.
23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Fantasy. When I find the right fantasy, I get into it to near Potter levels, but I don’t know enough authors to keep my reading up.
24. Favorite biography?
David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Okay, it’s memoir, but it’s amazing and brilliant and why can’t I be David Sedaris unghhhhhh
25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
I don’t think so. Self-help books are hilarity.
26. Favorite cookbook?
Marie Claire Kitchen, and anything Donna Hay. Donna Hay is a complete genius and I want to become the monster that lives in her kitchen devouring all her baked goods. Sort of like Cookie Monster, except baked goods are an always food.
27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. It made me realise that my gosh, my life is good.
28. Favorite reading snack?
Tomato soup. Odd, I know. Also enjoy two-minute noodles.
29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Could not understand the appeal of Eragon, nor the Sookie Stackhouse series. Both of them were boring as anything and, in the case of SS, was filled with way too much sex for me to consider it normal. Why does vampirism equal higher-than-average sexytimes, as opposed to the far more rational fleeing?
30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Very rarely read critical reviews.
31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
If the book is horrifyingly bad, I am vocal. Actually, no matter what, I’m vocal. Thankfully I’ve not read a lot of books that  I openly despise.
32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose?
Spanish, because I want to read Neruda in Spanish. And The Shadow of the Wind (which I actually own in Spanish but is taking forever to get through). And Marquez. Spanish-language authors really are magnificent, and that’s reading a translation. Imagine how they must be in Spanish, which is an infinitely more beautiful language than English I do believe.
33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? 
Anna Karenina, because it was huge. Worth every page.
34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
The Count of Monte Cristo, because I’ve heard so many things about it that are magnificent and I don’t want to be disappointed.
35. Favorite Poet?
Neruda. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that before, ever, because – I can’t keep up the sarcasm.
36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
As many as they allow (so for the Richmond-Tweed libraries, that’s 20).
37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
Never. They all are read, repeatedly.
38. Favorite fictional character? 
I’ve covered this here.
39. Favorite fictional villain?
Voldemort. Oooh. I also like Wickham.
40. Books you’re most likely to bring on vacation?
Whatever’s on my phone, and whatever I can afford while I’m away.
41. The longest you’ve gone without reading.
Never more than a week or two.
42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Beastly. I liked the movie and the book was just blerghhhhh.
43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
My thoughts, and occasionally story ideas.
44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
Atonement, The Notebook, Pride and Prejudice 2005 (I await the rocks and spears)… and Beastly, because it was awesome and way better than the book.
45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Goblet of Fire and A Walk to Remember. GoF was way too rushed (so much awesome they missed). And, A Walk to Remember? Come on, whoever directed that. The book was amazing to begin with. Why did you have to make it so… painful?
46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
Probably a hundred or so. Would have been on a box set or just going all out and buying happiness.
47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Quite a bit. Voice is important for me.
48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Boredom. If the characters are just irritating, or the plot is ridiculous, or the writing is just atrocious, I’m ready to put them away.
49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
I group by category (fiction/non), then by genre, then by author within genre.
50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
Keep. They be my books.
51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Right now, just The Great Gatsby. The film’s coming out soon and I want to enjoy it as a film, before falling happily into the book.
52. Name a book that made you angry.
Atonement, Ian McEwan. But it was a perfect and brilliant anger, and I love that it made me angry.
53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Technically, not a book, but The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Also Nineteen Eighty-Four by the brilliant Orwell – dystopian fiction was not my thing at the time.
54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
Asking for Trouble, by Elizabeth Young. I read it because it was meant to be the inspiration for The Wedding Date (Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney I think?), which I adore and have adored for years. It just wasn’t as punchy.
55. Favourite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Chick-lit all the way. Apparently, being a media and communications student/vaguely literature student/writing student, I’m meant to be all high-brow and whatnot. Genre fic is brilliant though, and shouldn’t be discounted.



Saturday, July 30, 2011

30 Days of Books, Day 23.

[A book you've wanted to read for a while but still haven't.]

Two for you today, because it's Indecisive Sunday here.

Firstly...
The sensual, rebellious Anna renounces a respectable yet stifling
marriage for an affair that offers passion even as it
ensnares her for destruction. Her story contrasts with that of Levin,
a young, self- doubting agnostic who takes a different path to fulfillment. 
Why I want to read it: The storyline looks to be fantastic. Of course, I've had any spoilers well and truly spoilt after reading both the Wikipedia entry and the Sparknotes entry, but kaphwoar this looks to be great reading. The majority of reviews on Goodreads declare it perfection, Dostoevsky described it as "flawless as a work of art", and it has been criticised countless times, referenced in myriad novels, and adapted into film, TV, opera, radio, ballet, theatre and a not-so-well-received stage musical. 

Even the Quirks got a hold of it.
I'll admit it: there is something in me that wants to read it for the sake of reading a Tolstoy. When I'm invited to a literary party (you know, the sort that Gary Shteyngart trains his writing students for), it will be bliss to go, "Oh? Tolstoy? Yes, I've read Tolstoy. Who hasn't?" 
But that's only a small part. The majority of me responded to this:


and said, "I NEED TO READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW."

Why I haven't read it yet: Alongside my "Of course I've read Tolstoy; are you still reading Twilight?" snobbery that I jokingly long for, there's the fear.
What fear? you ask. 
If you buy the Penguin Classics version, it's 864 pages. I've felt how thin these pages are, too. They're borderline tissue-paper. Probably just a tiny bit thicker than the pages in my Bible. Of course, it's not as daunting as War and Peace in this same version (1440 pages, thin as rice paper). Still, very daunting.

Other things that I've realised in writing this post: Joe Wright is making a movie out of this. The cast is reportedly as follows:

Keira Knightley (Anna), Jude Law (her husband, Karenin), Matthew MacFadyen (Oblonsky), Kelly Macdonald (his wife, Dolly), Olivia Williams (Countess Vronskaya, Vronsky’s mother), Saoirse Ronan (Kitty, Dolly’s sister), Aaron Johnson (Anna’s lover, Vronsky), Andrea Riseborough (Princess Betsy) and Domhnall Gleeson (Levin).


Of course Keira is the leading lady (Joe Wright, be creative! Find someone new!). Extremely excited for yet another Matthew MacFadyen drool-fest (though, once again... be creative, Joe). Apparently Kitty and Levin marry one another... I tell you, I'm going to be getting so confused throughout this entire movie. "NO! LIZZIE, STOP KISSING WATSON. GO BACK TO MR DARCY. Incidentally, why is Mr Darcy with the Grey Lady? AND BRIONY YOU ARE NOT FLEUR STOP ATTEMPTING TO SEDUCE BILL."
If that's the correct pairings, anyway.
However, I'm most excited about Tom Stoppard writing the script. Squee x a million.

Next up...
Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmond Dantes is
arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island
fortress of the Chateau d'If. Having endured years of
incarceration, he stages a daring and dramatic escape and
sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of
Monte Cristo, and to catch up with his enemies.
Why I want to read it: This book seems to be the great adventure novel I've been searching high and low for. I don't know much about it to see how accurate that is. Once again, Goodreads made it look very promising, as did a quick Wikipedia scan (I didn't read too much for fear of spoilers. I refuse to have this one spoiled). It looks like it's going to be filled with brilliantly written characters, which is my absolute favourite thing when reading.
Character relations in the novel (click to enlarge. You'll need to).
The saying "it's a small world after all" clearly came from
a fan of this book.
My friend Joshua has been extremely inspired by this book, and has urged me countless times to read it. Much to his dismay, I still haven't actively hunted for it and haven't bought it when it's been right in front of my face. (I can still remember the day when I bought a Sophie Kinsella novel instead of this one. He nearly cried.) So that's another reason: I sort of promised him I would before I died.

Why I haven't read it yet: I'll chalk this one up to laziness, and there always being an easier read around. Case in point, I'll choose chick-lit over something that will stimulate my mind more. (No offense, chick-lit writers. I'm probably going to be one of you anyway.) With books like this, I have an, "Eh, next time" frame of mind as I'm scouring libraries. I nearly missed out on the joys of Jane Eyre, The Virgin Suicides, and Pride and Prejudice as a result of this, but still I persist in this way of thinking.

Other things I realised in writing this post: Jim Caviezel (aka Guy Who Starred in A Movie Once With Jennifer Lopez, But Who Is More Commonly Recognised Due To Playing Jesus in The Passion Of The Christ) is in the most recent (?) film adaptation.

Guy on the right.
Who is guy on the left, though? And can I have his sword?
Apparently, he makes the ladies swoon.

Caviezel outwardly is calm, but inside is frantically
trying to remember the DRABC method.
The question remains... when will you get around to reading these books?
Oh, all right. Stop twisting my arm. I'll aim to do it by this time next year, okay?
I have a full list of books I've been meaning to read but keep forgetting to. But I'll put these ones first, because I love you all.