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oursin - I also swiped some of her answers, not all, just a handful, because they fit and I liked them. When it comes to memes there is no such thing as plagirism.
1) The worst reading experience that you have ever had?
Not counting stuff I had to read for school or work? Sigh...it's probably American Psycho, which is the only book that I actually considered throwing in the trash. The scene that did me in was a detailed description that continues to haunt me to this day - of how Bateman was going to torture a woman with a rat, that he had starved in his kitchen for days, and putting blue cheese in her vagina. They may be others, which I've forgotten. I do vaguely remember abhorring reading Clarissa...a tome that I forced myself to finish and has stayed much like Psycho embedded in the memory. Confederacy of Dunces also had that result - painful reading experience. Those were back in the days in which I felt compelled to finish whatever I started, that compellation is long since gone.
2) The best reading experience you have ever had?
Hard to pick just one. Lately? It was a Kim Harrison novel. The best reading experience is usually a book that I don't want to end, that I can't wait to read, devour the words, and savor - actually a better description is a book that I fall inside of, that everything else fades away but the world of the book, time space, etc. Felt that way reading Checkmate - the last of the Chronicles of Lymond novels, and also reading The Hobbit, Harriet the Spy, and Dune. These are books that you want to hug after you read them, they fill you with joy. (I apparently have a yen for journey books or books in which the hero has to go through a series of obstacles or solve problems.)
3) Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?
If a book has influenced one that much, one probably doesn't even remember what it was, it's too embedded in one's being. (I'm swiping oursin's answer - that works perfectly)
4) Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of?
Well, I have yet to start Michael Faber's Under the Skin - because it bugs me. I'm not sure I can read it.
5) What do you use as a bookmark?
Anything I can find at the moment. Currently using a card thatembers_log sent me which makes a rather wonderful book mark - it's an old woman with a hat and cut out, also small. And sturdy.
6) When do you usually read? At home, work, while cooking, in the morning, noon, afternoon, before you go to bed...?
While waiting for things, transporting to and from a place (often on the train commuting to and from work in the mornings and evenings - also airplanes and airports), in bed, at home in the morning on weekends and at night occassionally.
7) Do you remember the first book that you read?
I was read to a lot, and it's hard to separate the two in my head. I think they may have been the Dick and Jane readers...
8) Which do you prefer - paperback or hardcover?
Paperback for portability, but hardbacks where that's what's available.
9) What are you currently reading? What page are you on?
Iron Dragon's Daughter - which I'm about to give up on. Am on page 264, and it's 424 pages, which means I'm over half-way through. But it's painful going and I'm sick of pain at the moment, so it gets one more day - then I'm jumping to something else.
10) Do you ever leave "a mark" (deliberate and/or not deliberate) in your books? For example, write in them, underline quotes, coffeemarks or food crumbs and etc.
O dear yes: I have been known to annotate, underline, etc, for a whole host of reasons, and
have gotten chocolat and food on my books. The worste was spilled soy sauce in my backpack in college. I'd stolen soy sauce from the cafeteria and it leaked all over my books. I'm rather hard on books, I'm afraid.
11) Does the title, amount of pages and the cover affect you when you are considering a specific book?
Only if the issue at stake is will it go into my handbag does size become a concern - like when I'm commuting, but there are very few that won't fit. I should never have bought the hardcover version of Johnathan Farrell and Dr. Strange. by Susan whatsit, because the dang thing is the size of a huge brick and can't be lugged about - so as a result I've never read it. Title, no, cover occassionally...but not usually.
12) Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending?
Yes - usually if I'm thinking of giving up on something and want to see if there's much point in continuing and if I've guessed the ending. (When I get bored - I flip ahead to see if it gets better or worse...as I'm doing right now with Iron Dragon's Daughter - and it looks like it's getting worse not better, so will most likely give up on it. This is why it is so much better to buy books in bookstores than online - you can browse through and see if the book will hold your attention.)
13) Has knowing the ending of a book (example, through spoilers or a movie) ever made you decide whether you will read the book or not?
Depends. If the ending is predictable and by reading it - I realize that's the only point in reading the book, then it does effect my decision. If it isn't and I can't tell what the book is about when I read it - then I'll probably be more likely to read the book. If the ending is really cool? I'll definitely read the book to see how we arrived there. For me - I'm more interested in the journey than the destination. As long as the journey is interesting and as long as the destination is something that has to be earned and the character has advanced to a new place. Iron Dragon Daughter's ending for example is the sole reason I'm still reading the book at this point. I'm curious to see how we get there, but at the same time, I'm wondering if I care that much. Curiousity only gets one so far, after all.
14) Is there a book that you have read more than five times?
Yes, quite a few. I loved them to death. Notably: A Katherine Neville novel called A Calculated Risk, Elizabeth Peters - A Night Train to Memphis, Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Hobbit, and several others.
15) Have you ever been in an accident where the book was the cause? (for example, almost getting hit by a car when reading while walking, or having stacks of books falling on you from a bookshelf...)
I think there have been occasional falling books. Also ran into something once when I was reading and walking at the same time, not recommended.
16) Do you sell/give away your books or do you keep them, even though you don't like one of them?
I try to get rid of them, but I find it's very hard, even if I know I won't ever look at them again.
17) Do you have some kind of book system, where you write down what you are reading, have bought, will read, will buy and etc?
No, don't have the time or patience to keep a log. Have tried it in the past, but I do enough of that type of crap at work.
oursin - I also swiped some of her answers, not all, just a handful, because they fit and I liked them. When it comes to memes there is no such thing as plagirism.1) The worst reading experience that you have ever had?
Not counting stuff I had to read for school or work? Sigh...it's probably American Psycho, which is the only book that I actually considered throwing in the trash. The scene that did me in was a detailed description that continues to haunt me to this day - of how Bateman was going to torture a woman with a rat, that he had starved in his kitchen for days, and putting blue cheese in her vagina. They may be others, which I've forgotten. I do vaguely remember abhorring reading Clarissa...a tome that I forced myself to finish and has stayed much like Psycho embedded in the memory. Confederacy of Dunces also had that result - painful reading experience. Those were back in the days in which I felt compelled to finish whatever I started, that compellation is long since gone.
2) The best reading experience you have ever had?
Hard to pick just one. Lately? It was a Kim Harrison novel. The best reading experience is usually a book that I don't want to end, that I can't wait to read, devour the words, and savor - actually a better description is a book that I fall inside of, that everything else fades away but the world of the book, time space, etc. Felt that way reading Checkmate - the last of the Chronicles of Lymond novels, and also reading The Hobbit, Harriet the Spy, and Dune. These are books that you want to hug after you read them, they fill you with joy. (I apparently have a yen for journey books or books in which the hero has to go through a series of obstacles or solve problems.)
3) Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?
If a book has influenced one that much, one probably doesn't even remember what it was, it's too embedded in one's being. (I'm swiping oursin's answer - that works perfectly)
4) Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of?
Well, I have yet to start Michael Faber's Under the Skin - because it bugs me. I'm not sure I can read it.
5) What do you use as a bookmark?
Anything I can find at the moment. Currently using a card that
embers_log sent me which makes a rather wonderful book mark - it's an old woman with a hat and cut out, also small. And sturdy.6) When do you usually read? At home, work, while cooking, in the morning, noon, afternoon, before you go to bed...?
While waiting for things, transporting to and from a place (often on the train commuting to and from work in the mornings and evenings - also airplanes and airports), in bed, at home in the morning on weekends and at night occassionally.
7) Do you remember the first book that you read?
I was read to a lot, and it's hard to separate the two in my head. I think they may have been the Dick and Jane readers...
8) Which do you prefer - paperback or hardcover?
Paperback for portability, but hardbacks where that's what's available.
9) What are you currently reading? What page are you on?
Iron Dragon's Daughter - which I'm about to give up on. Am on page 264, and it's 424 pages, which means I'm over half-way through. But it's painful going and I'm sick of pain at the moment, so it gets one more day - then I'm jumping to something else.
10) Do you ever leave "a mark" (deliberate and/or not deliberate) in your books? For example, write in them, underline quotes, coffeemarks or food crumbs and etc.
O dear yes: I have been known to annotate, underline, etc, for a whole host of reasons, and
have gotten chocolat and food on my books. The worste was spilled soy sauce in my backpack in college. I'd stolen soy sauce from the cafeteria and it leaked all over my books. I'm rather hard on books, I'm afraid.
11) Does the title, amount of pages and the cover affect you when you are considering a specific book?
Only if the issue at stake is will it go into my handbag does size become a concern - like when I'm commuting, but there are very few that won't fit. I should never have bought the hardcover version of Johnathan Farrell and Dr. Strange. by Susan whatsit, because the dang thing is the size of a huge brick and can't be lugged about - so as a result I've never read it. Title, no, cover occassionally...but not usually.
12) Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending?
Yes - usually if I'm thinking of giving up on something and want to see if there's much point in continuing and if I've guessed the ending. (When I get bored - I flip ahead to see if it gets better or worse...as I'm doing right now with Iron Dragon's Daughter - and it looks like it's getting worse not better, so will most likely give up on it. This is why it is so much better to buy books in bookstores than online - you can browse through and see if the book will hold your attention.)
13) Has knowing the ending of a book (example, through spoilers or a movie) ever made you decide whether you will read the book or not?
Depends. If the ending is predictable and by reading it - I realize that's the only point in reading the book, then it does effect my decision. If it isn't and I can't tell what the book is about when I read it - then I'll probably be more likely to read the book. If the ending is really cool? I'll definitely read the book to see how we arrived there. For me - I'm more interested in the journey than the destination. As long as the journey is interesting and as long as the destination is something that has to be earned and the character has advanced to a new place. Iron Dragon Daughter's ending for example is the sole reason I'm still reading the book at this point. I'm curious to see how we get there, but at the same time, I'm wondering if I care that much. Curiousity only gets one so far, after all.
14) Is there a book that you have read more than five times?
Yes, quite a few. I loved them to death. Notably: A Katherine Neville novel called A Calculated Risk, Elizabeth Peters - A Night Train to Memphis, Mary Stewart's Touch Not the Cat, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Hobbit, and several others.
15) Have you ever been in an accident where the book was the cause? (for example, almost getting hit by a car when reading while walking, or having stacks of books falling on you from a bookshelf...)
I think there have been occasional falling books. Also ran into something once when I was reading and walking at the same time, not recommended.
16) Do you sell/give away your books or do you keep them, even though you don't like one of them?
I try to get rid of them, but I find it's very hard, even if I know I won't ever look at them again.
17) Do you have some kind of book system, where you write down what you are reading, have bought, will read, will buy and etc?
No, don't have the time or patience to keep a log. Have tried it in the past, but I do enough of that type of crap at work.