Blog Tag: The Ultimate Book Q&A

Posted July 17, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Random / 0 Comments

I don’t normally participate in blog tags, but I thought I might as well, this one looks interesting. I’m not tagging anyone because I’m mean and get over it.

Favourite book cover?

What are you reading right now?
Currently reading a complete nerdfest in You by Austin Grossman (if you were a gamer in the 80’s and 90’s then this is worth checking out). Also I’ve just recently started The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon which I’ve been meaning to get to for ages.

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?
I don’t like this question; it depends on what I feel like reading; possibly Constance by Patrick McGrath, The Suite Life by Suzanne Corso, Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams or maybe something like War and Peace.

What 5 books have you always wanted to read but haven’t got round to?

  • The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
  • Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
  • Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

What magazines do you have in your bathroom/lounge right now?
I don’t read many magazines but the New Yorker on my iPad as well as Noir.

What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence, I just don’t get why people like this one and how it’s a classic.

What book seemed really popular but you didn’t like?
The Millennium series, it was terrible; book one (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) had an interesting take on the trapped, whodunit style to it but the rest of the novel/series was trash.

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone?
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón it just has a bit of everything and if I don’t know the person it’s a safe bet.

What are your three favourite poems?

  • Ode on Melancholy by John Keats
  • Prometheus by Lord Byron
  • Hymn to Intellectual Beauty by Percy Bysshe Shelley

This was harder than I thought, I love the romantic era and hard to just pick three.

Where do you usually get your books?
I’ve been on a semi book buying ban this year so my essential books come from the local indie bookstore or sometimes the kindle store and the rest of the books I’ve been reading have been from my bookshelf or send to me by a publisher.

Where do you usually read your books?
Normally in bed or whenever I can sneak some time at work.

When you were little, did you have any particular reading habits?
I wasn’t a reader until 2009, but I remember my dad use to read books like the Narnia series every couple of nights.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

Have you ever “faked” reading a book?
I don’t think I have. If I have, I’ve blocked it out.

Any excuse for a James Franco gif, hey?
Never an excuse for a gif here!!

Have you ever bought a book just because you liked the cover?
All the time, it’s only a problem if you already own the book, right?

What was your favourite book when you were a child?
When I was young I was all about There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake by Hazel Edwards, which featured a Hippopotamus that liked ‘special’ cake (whatever that means).

What book changed your life?
There have been a few (check this post out) but big thumbs up to both Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Hey! Nietzsche! Leave Them Kids Alone! by Craig Schuftan.

What is your favourite passage from a book?
That’s too hard to answer, there are too many great lines and I don’t write them down.

Who are your top five favourite authors?
Mary Shelley, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jeffrey Eugenides, Raymond Chandler and Philip K. Dick (ask me tomorrow and I might give you some different names).

What book has no one heard about but should read?
Hey! Nietzsche! Leave Them Kids Alone! by Craig Schuftan because it changed my life and turned me into a reader. It talks about how modern rock is similar to the Romantics, interesting read.

What 3 books are you an “evangelist” for?

What are your favourite books by a first-time author?
Hard choice, I really loved The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern which was a NaNoWriMo book but I’m going to go with a recent read; A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra.

What is your favourite classic book?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (of course)

Five other notable mentions?
This is hard so I’m going to cheat and give you five (I haven’t mentioned so far in classics and 5 modern novels)


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