Survey

What book are you reading now? The Reader


What are your favorite books? [You can put specific books or genres or both.]

My two favorite books are To Kill a Mockingbird and The Giving Tree



How did you learn to read?
With those skinny books in first grade that we had to read a jillion times to our parents each night. God I hated it.

What foreign languages do you read?
Um, none.

What 's the funniest book you ever read?
When you are engulfed in flames by David Sedaris. I had to put my hand over my mouth a few times while reading it in public.

What books have changed the way you look at the world or the way you live your life?
I like to think that they all do, but Dispatches from the Edge by Anderson Cooper was pretty great.


What books have affirmed what you believe about life or the way you look at things?
To Kill a Mockingbird. When Atticus says, "Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do."



What books have you changed your mind about? Chick lit books in general. Sometimes it's ok and actually fun to read something easy.


What are some of the scariest books you've ever read? Yea, I don't read scary books. I read some goosebumps when I was in 6th grade and that was good for me.


About how many books do you think you have you read in your life?
I have no idea. I started keeping track in 2005 and since then I've read 102 books.


About how many books do you own? I have no idea. My bookshelf is packed and I have books stashed everywhere in my apt and my parents house


How many books per month do you usually borrow from the library? Probably like 3 or 4. Since I work in a place with a library sometimes it's more


How much would you say you've paid in library fines in your life? I've only had to pay a library fine once because I like time limits with books. Plus if mine are overdue I can just call my library and renew it


Do you read in bed? Rarely. I like to be sitting up.


Do you ever read while walking or driving? Sometimes while walking just to finish a paragraph


OK, let's get real. Where is the strangest place you've read a book?

Nowhere really strange. One summer I was forced to go to a lake cabin with the fam for a week and I spent the entire time reading and re-reading Just as long as we're together by Judy Blume. I read it seven times that week.


Do you listen to audio books?
Sometimes. They're great for when you can't sleep. I love Harry Potter on audio book.

Has anyone ever read aloud to you or you to them? Tell us more. I read books outloud everyday at work. The last one I read was Julius Caesar which is better the second time around. I don't like when people read to me now but my parents had the best reading voices ever. We liked my dad to read Chica Chica Boom Boom and my mom to read Purple, Green, and Yellow.


What book was the most difficult to read?
Catch-22 was really hard for me to get through. I printed of character lists and used spark notes after certain sections. I was glad that I got through it though.


Do you read every word of a book, or skip parts that don't hold your interest?
Skip Parts! People think I'm crazy when I tell them this.


What books do you keep intending to read but put off? Jane Eyre. Passage to India. The Hobbit. Sherlock Holmes.


Do you buy new or used books, paperbacks or hardbacks, leather or collector's items? Mostly used on Amazon except if I have a Barnes and Noble gift card or when Harry Potter came out


How do you feel about writing in books, dog earing, etc I love underlining and dog ear almost every book. If I haven't dog eared anything it usually means I didn't like it (except again for Harry Potter).


What is the first book you remember reading
Besides those stupid first grade books I disctinctly remember going out to buy Shel Silverstein books when I was little and attempting to read all the crazy poems because of my first grade teacher

Do you lend your books? Ever had to hire Large Louis to get it back for you?
I do lend books to people, and I do have to make them give them back to me. So far I've only had one go missing and one come back very dirty.


What were your favorite books when you were a child I lived for Ramona books.


What children's books do you most enjoy as an adult I love the Lorax and The Butter Battle Book. I also love Peter Pan books, Roald Dahl books, Holes, and Tuck Everlasting.


What books would you especially recommend to young people? I would have middle school aged people read Holes and high school aged people read The Perks of Being a Wallflower


Do you ever read the ending first? I always read the last line of a book first. It's interesting and usually doesn't give much away.


DUELLING BOOKS


Did you ever agree to read the book somebody was pushing on you
if they would read one for you in exchange? What were the books?

I reccomend boooks to people all the time. I rarely need to be pushed into reading a book.


Have you ever read a book more than once? If so, mention them and
why you read them more than once, please. I've read my top ten books repeatedly because they each mean something to me.

What frequently recommended books have you been unable to finish? I finished it, but Wicked was really a challenge for me. I thought it was kind of boring and not very whimsical.



Which of these world classics did you actually plow through at one time or another in your life?

X The Iliad
X The Odyssey
The Aeneid
Dante's Inferno
Paradise Lost
Goethe's Faust
War and Peace
Ulysses
Les Miserables
Atlas Shrugged
Moby Dick
Gone with the Wind
Remembrance of Things Past
Churchill's History of England
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire




What other favorite books of yours are extremely long? I haven't really read any extremely long books. I guess the largest was probably between 700 and 800 pgs