I Haven't Seen a Survey in So Long! in Lists

Catch 22 is the greatest book ever written. Don't you agree?

Um, no. Contenders for the greatest book ever written are: A Dance to the Music of Time, Anna Karenina, In Search of Lost Time, Sentimental Education, Lolita, and Ada or Ardor.

What’s one book you'd love to see turned into a movie? Pretend there was an endless budget and time to make it, so doesn't matter the length of the book...just which one would you want to see acted out?

I would love to see The Corrections made into a movie. Two scenes, the turd with Alfred and the cardigan with Chip, would be amazing.

What is your reading routine like? How much time would you say you spend reading in a given week? How does this compare to time you spend on other hobbies?

I probably read 400 to 500 pages for school a week. For pleasure, I read about a book a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

What's the first book you remember reading?

Where the Wild Things Are.

What's the last book that really moved you?

Most of the books I read really move me. If they don't, I don't bother finishing. The Elegance of the Hedgehog really moved me. Renee's appreciation of art and transience, and Paloma's precociousness and precarious state, were continuously moving. I underlined at least a quarter of that book's text and I'm not ashamed.

What's the last book that so annoyed you that you bailed on it without finishing it?

Ravelstein by Saul Bellow. Chick's narrative voice killed me slowly.

What book (that you might not have picked up on your own) are you glad was forced upon you in school?

Probably The Sound and the Fury. Benjy in the beginning would have thrown me off, but I'm glad I read it.

Do any books perpetually live in your purse, briefcase, backpack, car, desk, or other such easily-accessible place as emergency or back-up reading options?

Nabokov's Lolita, Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae, and George Santayana's Persons and Places.

Do you use something other than a bookmark to keep your place? If so, what?

I usually use scraps of paper so I can write down new words.

What do you think of the Twilight saga?

Boo. The only speech-verbs are: muttered, hissed, and growled.

Sometimes, when people watch movies, they find themselves gasping or exclaiming out loud, or talking to or shouting at the characters. Have you ever done that while reading a book?

Yeah. Most memorably, I wept uncontrollably in a theater closet while Beth died in Little Women.

Everyone always says the book is better than the movie. Have you ever found the opposite to be true?

I don't think they were better, but I think that the Jeremy Irons Lolita film and the Jeremy Irons Brideshead Revisited miniseries were very good.

If you wrote a book and had to use a pseudonym, what would you pick? For example, would you anagram your real name, or pay tribute to a favorite author or a relative? Or just pick something out of thin air?

The only good anagram for my name is Remorseful Ramble (and/or Remorseful Marble), so that's out. I would pick a character name from my own book.

Have you ever re-read a book you first disliked or hated, and found that you liked it much better the 2nd time? Or, vice versa? If so, why do you think you changed your mind?

I...can't think of one. I'm like Mr. Darcy. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever. Luckily that doesn't apply to people.

Personally, I like to read the jacket/flyleaf of a book, to get some idea of what I'm getting into. Some people, though, hate to read that, lest they run into a spoiler. Which type are you?

I don't mind spoilers.

Do you ever read the Acknowledgements?

Yes.

If you could make sweet, sweet love to any fictional character you've read about, who would it be? And if you could date/marry/fuck a character, who would it be?

Um, Captain Blood. Yum.

What's one book you would pass on to your future spawn (or niece)?-- doesn't have to be a kid's book.

I collect beautiful copies of Jane Eyre. So those.

If you could live in a fictional universe that you've read about, which one would it be?

Wodehouse's world.

Have you ever flipped to the last page of a book and read the last page? Is so, do you remember which book it was, and why you were compelled to do it? If not, what is your opinion of people who do this (they are out there!)?

No way. First off, the last page on it's own almost never reveals the actual resolution. Second, I don't like reading anything out of order. I don't mind spoilers, but I wouldn't rearrange my experience like that.

**In the midst of a really juicy gripping chapter, do you find your eyes skimming to the end of a paragraph or the end of the chapter to kind of seeing where things are going?

No. I don't trust myself not to miss something.

**Everyone has been so immersed in a book that they think: "Okay, just one more chapter, and then I'll stop." But they keep reading, and hours go by. Have you ever missed something really important because you were so engrossed in a book? If so, what was it? Also, if so, does this happen to you often?

I've definitely skipped classes to read books.

What are your favorite children's books?

The Secret Garden, Little Women, The Silver Chair (best of the Chronicles).

What are your favorite young adult books?

The Last Unicorn, if it counts. It's hard for me to discern what exactly constitutes as YA and what is just good lit. for young people.

Who is the scariest literary villain and why?

Any villain Cormac McCarthy thought up. :shudders:

Should any books be banned? If so which ones?

No banning books.

Should the government be able to track the books you buy or take out from the library?

I don't care.

What is the most shocking or disturbing book you have ever read?

Naked Lunch. And no, I didn't finish it.

If you had to read one book for the rest of your days, what would you pick?

Persons and Places by George Santayana.

**If you could reverse the process & turn any movie into a book, what movie would you choose?

Mmmm...The Red Shoes.

What philosopher's book makes you want to cry?

Heidegger's Poetry, Language, Thought. Gives me hope. happy tears.

What is the longest period of time you've continuously read for? And accounting for some sleep have you read for more than a day straight?**

I think I devoted three days to Infinite Jest, outside of work and sleep. Of course, I didn't finish it in that time.

What’s the title of a book you thought was amazing but no one else seems to know it exists?**

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (not the actress).