I stole this from Nat Marshall, who blogs at The Owl on the Bookshelf
Author you've read the most books from…
Probably Enid Blyton- I read all 21 Famous Five books and all of the Adventure series...that's probably more than any other author.
Best sequel ever…
The Year of the Flood. by Margaret Atwood. SUCH A GOOD BOOK. I know now it's technically a series, which makes it not really a sequel, but at the time I read it, there were just the 2. And it was that way for ages. Also, I haven't read Madaddam, so it's easy to forget that it exists.
Currently reading…
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney because it's on the Bailey's Prize and the Desmond Elliott shortlist...and Asking for It by Louise O'Neill
Drink of choice whilst reading…
Tea. Always tea. Tea till the end.
E-Reader or physical book…
Physical book definitely. I've never, ever got into e-readers. I like books. I like to look at them and take photos of them and feel the weight of them. I can see why a long holiday would require economic book solutions- but I say take fewer pairs of uncomfortable shoes and 3 extra books. I regularly come back home with more books than I left with.
Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school…
Neville Longbottom. Without a shadow of a doubt.
Hidden gem book…
I still think about The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber. It's a novel written in verse about how Christopher Marlow might have faked his own death, lived in exile writing under the pseudonym of William Shakespeare and employed a not-very-intelligent bald headed glovemaker from Stratford to be the face of his operation. Did I mention that it's written in verse? Cos it's written in verse.
Important moment in your reading life…
I remember being all on track to do an art degree at the age of about 17- then reading the (then new) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the first time. The bit where someone kills someone at the top of the somewhere (look, some people still might not know and it turns out the internet wishes death on all spoilers) just totally floored me. I remember actually reeling from the realisation that everything I was feeling was the result of words. Just letters on a page, black on white. I guess that changed my course, sent me spiralling off in to literature more seriously and I've never recovered. I guess that marked the point where I stopped reading for fun and read because it was the only thing I wanted to do,
Just finished…
The Dead Zone, by Stephen King
Kind of books you won’t read…
Romance.
Anything about Anne Bolyn and her bodice-entombed contemporaries.
Thrillers.
Predictable serial killer police procedurals.
Crime fiction that isn't Raymond Chandler or Agatha Christie.
Anything that's core plot is about marriage, having kids, finding love.
Anything with an overly loopy title font.
Longest book you've ever read…
Under the Dome, by Stephen King. Incredible book weighing in at a whopping 1074 pages.
It's also answered a question that's bugged me for years. "Can you love a book, but hate the ending? Or will a disliked ending always taint the preceding plot?" I've swung between Yes and No for years, never quite sure. The answer is yes; you can love a book and completely hate the ending.
Major book hangover…
The Lunimaries by Eleanor Catton. I remember just looking mournfully out of the window when I finished it, sad that it could never be undone. I tried to find other things that were similar but never managed to relive that luminous high.
Number of bookcases you own…
2 Young Adult (overflowing) and additional pile of same...
3 Non Fiction (floor to ceiling)
4 Fiction (3 floor to ceiling, one waist high)
One book you've read multiple times…
Ohmygod Harry Potter. I have read that so many times. My first set fell to pieces. I can tell you whole chunks word for word. I'd finish whichever book was most recent and then start Philosopher's Stone the second after. Waiting years in between releases? Modern fans will never know the pain.
Preferred place to read…
On trains. Definitely. The train environment just the right amount of boring, necessary and removed from all other things. You can't just get up and put the kettle on or whatever- you're in for the long haul on a train.
Quote that inspired you from a book you've read…
"Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fellow ain't got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then…Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark– I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look– wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry and they know supper's ready, and when the people are eatin' the stuff they raise and livin' in the houses they build – I'll be there, too." Tom Joad's speech to his Ma, from John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
Reading regret…
Not liking Terry Pratchett. I feel like I'm betraying so many people when I shrug my shoulders and deliver a juicy, apathetic "Meh" as my verdict on the late, apparently great man himself.
Series you started and need to finish…
I've still got The End, the last of Charlie Higson's The Enemy series to read...but it's such a complex and intricate series I feel I should re-read the other 6 so I've got it all fresh in my mind. I'll only get to finish it for the first time once- and you don't want to be thinking "What? Who's this guy? Was he the one that whatever..." so I'm going to need to carve a chunk of time out to do that!
Three of your all time favourite books…
See this is really hard. I have a constantly morphing top 20 that I can launch into fangirl spiel about...but favourite three...
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Unapologetic fangirl for…
In case it's gone unnoticed, I am a card-carrying Potter nut. Me and my sister are going to the studio tour for the fourth time next month, almost certainly inspiring our annual Potter film-a-thon and reading race. HP is the frame through which I view the world.
Very excited for this release more than all others…
Errm- I'm pretty excited about the paperback releases of Sarah Crossan's One and Katherine Rundell's The Wolf Wilder. Normally when I wait for the paperback, it turns out to be dead ugly- these are two beautiful exceptions to that rule.
Worst bookish habit…
Obviously buying more books when I'm going to need 3 or 4 extra lifetimes to read all of the ones I have already.
X marks the spot- start on the top left of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book…
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
Your latest purchase…
Duma Key, by Stephen King (hi Stephen, 3rd mention for you my friend) Lumberjanes and my preorder of We Stand on Guard finally showed up
Zzzzz snatcher book (the book that kept you up to late)…
I've not stayed up reading late into the night since my Harry Potter days. I get up at 6.20!
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