Book FAQs: Info about my bookish taste and how I choose what to read

1.) What was the last book you read?

After reading one of my friends’ book reviews on Goodreads (Hi Beth!) I read “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman. I borrowed the audiobook from my library via the Libby app. Yes, listening to an audiobook is reading. And yes, the book was very good.

2.) What made it good?

It struck the perfect balance of funny and sad. Living in Florida, surrounded by snowbirds and retirees all the time, can be frustrating. This book helped me have more empathy for my elders. I would absolutely recommend it.

3.) How often do you read?

I bookend (LOL) my days with reading. I read for at least an hour in the morning while I have my coffee, and then I’ll usually go for a walk and listen to an audiobook. At night, I read before I go to bed.

4.) What was the last bad book you read?

This is a long, complicated question.

I write paid book reviews for an author marketing service, City Book Review. If there’s a bad book, it’s usually coming from their sponsored review program. The program encourages honest reviews as part of this program. The books are usually self published or come from tiny vanity publishers.

The downside of writing paid reviews is the reviews are written for the authors and not for the readers, and so the author gets to decide whether the review is published or not. If it’s not, I can’t talk about the book anywhere.

So what was the last bad book I read? I can’t say! If I talk about it, I'll get in big trouble!

For my monthly rankings, I won’t rank my sponsored books whether I like them or not, just because I was paid to review them.

5.) Do you wish to be a writer?

I can appreciate the effort that goes in to writing. Sometimes I write articles for my day job, but I have no desire to write fiction. I’m not interesting enough for that.

6.) Has any book influenced you greatly?

Recently? Probably “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. I’ve spoken before about how it made me view my possessions differently.

7.) Do you read fan fiction?

Indirectly, most likely, in the way that “Fifty Shades of Grey” is “Twilight” fan fiction. I don’t read overt fan fiction, but I’ve probably read books that draw heavily on a work an author likes and I didn’t know.

8.) What’s your favorite book?

“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. I’ve read it at least eight times by now because it’s one of those stories where you find something new to interpret or think about every time you read it. I’ve also gone through times where I’ve disliked it, even going so far as to trade in and repurchase it, but I always go back to it as my favorite book.

My favorite part is in the middle when Jane finds the strength and confidence within herself to leave Mr. Rochester, despite being an unwanted child and a lowly governess after that, and on top of being desperately in love with him. I don't mind that she goes back to him in the end when they can be equals and his ego was knocked down a peg or two (and, you know, he wasn't married anymore.)

9.) What’s your least favorite book?

One, that I read and wrote a paid review for, was so bad it left me angry and weeping intermittently for days. After that, I stopped reading for months. I can’t talk about that one, but if you ask me privately I’ll probably tell you.

The books I view as “bad” or “my least favorite” usually have one or more of the following qualities in common:

• Obviously horrible, amateurish writing
•  Horrible things happening to the characters simply to be lurid and gross, with nothing gained or learned
•  Flat, unlikable characters. They're fine, but they have to have a motivation and/or they have to grow or change for better or worse.
•  A main character, framed as a hero and meant to be an analogue for the author, but that main character is some combination of racist, sexist, homophobic, fatphobic or transphobic. (See: “Tek War” by William Shatner)
• Racism, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia or transphobia without a reason for it being there.
•  A manifesto of the author's horrible personal views or it contains revisionist/distorted view of history.

10.) Do you prefer physical books or reading on a device (like Kindle?)

I’ll read using any method, and I won’t be a snob about it.

11.) When did you learn to read?

I was 3 years old and it just kind of happened. I remember being desperately bored in first grade while reading a book called "Here Are My Hands." I was reading things like "Anne of Green Gables" and "Babysitter's Club" when I was 6 or 7.

12.) What is your favorite book you read in school?

In fourth grade, I remember loving and hating “Stone Fox” by John Reynolds Gardiner. It was so good! It was so sad! I still cry when I try to summarize this book!

In college, I really enjoyed Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and “Titus Andronicus” and wondered why, when I was initially learning about Shakespeare in high school, we didn’t learn about those much more exciting plays.

13.) What is your favorite book series?

I’m going to be a typical millennial and say “Harry Potter.” I’ve been listening to them on audiobook lately and I’m remembering how much better they were than the movies. I’m also remembering how problematic they are and how terrible it is that JK Rowling is trying to go back and change the canon years later.

14.) Who is your favorite author?

Right now it’s N.K. Jemisin. It changes from month to month.

15.) What is your favorite genre?

I’m really into sci-fi right now.

16.) Who is your favorite character in a book series?

Daenerys Targaryen in GRRM’s “A Song of Ice and Fire.” Alabaster Tenring in N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy.

17.) Which book did you wish had a sequel?

I don’t wish sequels onto books that don’t have them.

18.) Which book do you wish didn’t have a sequel?

I mentioned this in my January book list, but I really wish Sara J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series would have been restricted to 3 or 4 books. I just struggled through the sixth book, and now I’m supposed to suffer through a seventh? I’ll do it eventually, but I don’t think I’ll like it.

19.) How long does it take you to read a book?

It depends how long it is and how much time I have to read. I can usually get through 300 pages or so in a couple days.

20.) Do you like it when books become movies?

Yes! There have been some excellent movie adaptations of books lately.

21.) Which book was ruined by its movie adaptation?

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” – The movie didn’t *ruin* the book, but a lot was left out of the movie that made the book really good.

22.) Which movie has done a book justice?

The “Ready Player One” movie adaptation was better than the book. The movie stripped away most of the misogyny and fandom gatekeeping that made the book so intolerable.

Movies released specifically last year were on the same level, if not better than their bookish counterparts including:

• "Annihilation"
•  "A Wrinkle in Time"
•  "Avengers: Infinity War" (I HAAAATED "The Infinity Gauntlet")
•  "Crazy Rich Asians"

23.) Do you read newspapers?

I work at a newspaper

24.) Do you read magazines?

Yes. I have a subscription to Vogue Knitting. I read various snooty magazine articles from random publications online because I follow a bunch of magazine accounts on Twitter.

25.) Do you prefer newspapers or magazines?

Depends what mood I'm in.

26.) Are you a fast reader?

Yes. I average about 150 pages a day, and I have a full-time job and other chores and hobbies.

27.) Where is your favorite place to read?

In the recliner in my book/knitting nook, on the loveseat in my living room or in bed. Someplace comfortable where I can keep a cup of tea or coffee nearby.

28.) Who gave you your love for reading?

I developed it on my own, but it was encouraged by my family who purchased books for me on holidays and my birthday.

29.) What book is next on your list to read?

Audiobook: "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng, followed by "Black Leopard Red Wolf" by Marlon James.

Comic book: I just finished “Giant Days Vol. 1” by John Allison, and I might soon be starting “Saga Book 1” by Brian K. Vaughn. The third anthology comes out in June.

Physical book: I just finished "The Light Between Worlds" by Laura E. Weymouth, and I’m evaluating my “to-read” pile for something new. You can see that whole list here. 

I have a complicated system of prioritizing what I read based on review deadlines and when things need to be returned to the library. My personal mood factors very little into what I’m reading.

30.) Which author do you think you’d be friends with?

Based on Twitter presence and her writing, I think I would like to be friends with N.K. Jemisin. We seem to like the same things, such as video games and Star Trek and social justice issues and feminism. She'd probably be way too smart for me.