Literature Challenge (Top Ten Biographies)

Member Name: angiepanj

Product:	Top Ten Biographies
Date:	03/11/03 (375 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: entertaining, opens new worlds of possibility

Disadvantages: Time consuming- you end up spending time reading when you really should be doing other things., can be expensive, depending on the size of your literature habit!

question: what is your favourite genre?

answer: I love scifi and fantasy, I like my escapism to be as unreal as possible- there's enough reality in the world without encouraging it any more! Even so, I'm not above picking holes in a plot if a book takes unreality too far without backing itself up in any way, either by using real or unreal facts. I really love the idea of worlds and univeres where anything can happen, it gets you away from the mundane for a while.
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q: do you read the classics, i.e., the great authors of the 18th and 19th century?

a: Not recently, but I have done. I enjoyed reading DH Lawrence, Thomas Hardy, and of course Stephenson, Kipling and Jane Austen. I like them because unlike quite a lot of contemporary fiction, the plots and the iteractions between the characters tend ot be more unpredictable. I hate knowing whats going to happen next!
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q: are you interested in thrillers?

a: Occasionally. Although this isn't my favourite genre, I have been know to indulge. When I run out of things to read, I tend to re-read Dick Francis novels. The characters are really well constructed, the writing style flows, and even though I've read them all so many times I only have to look at the covers to remember the plot, I'm really quite attached to them. I find he writes in such a way, that by the time you get to the end of one of his books you feel like an expert in horse racing (although I do find that this is something of an illusion, when I actually try to remember anything about horse racing, all that springs to mind is that if you give a horse a bucket of water before a race it rns slower, so I don't really do much betting).
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Q: What about horror stories?

A: Yep. Like these occasionally too. I go through phases really. I prefer Stephen King, Clive Barker and James Herbert when I dip in
to this genre, purely because I find the story line entrancing enough that I can read the books without having my stomach turned by the surfeit of blood and gore! If I'm being dragged through the book by the story, I find I don't get too involved in the more violent parts of it.
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Q: Do you read Science Fiction?

A: This is what I spend most of my time reading. I've managed to read most of what I feel are classics, Arthur C Clarke, Philip K Dick, Asimov and Frank Herbert. I found Arthur C Clarke the most enjoyable though, and the bonus to this is that he's still publishing, and that he's a really prolific author! My favourite Arthur C Clarke series was the Rama series. I love series of books. I like the idea of a story continuing after the last page.
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Q: How many Harry Potter books have you read?

A: I've reaad three, which I found in a charity shop. I think it was the first three. I did find them rather dull, especially when compared to the sudden reputation of the author. They were quite disappointing, especially Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, during which Harry is constantly described as being angry. I found the constant repetition of this quite annoying. He's 15 in this one though, so I suppose it is kind of true to life!
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Q: Have you ever read and enjoyed biographies or autobiographies?

A: The biography I most enjoyed was of Fanny Stephenson, the wife of Robert Louis Stephenson. It was a readable, and incredibly touching account of an unconventional, corageous woman, who supports her man though all manner of trials and tribulations, and greatly contributes to the artistic movement at that time. A great read. Sadly, I think that this was the only biography that gripped me in that way. Can't remember who wrote it either.
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Q: Do you remember any of th
e books you read and loved as a child?

A: I loved the What-A-Mess stories, about an afghan puppy who roamed about his house and garden creating havoc, to the extent that he thought his real name was What-A-Mess. Another one was Would You Rather? Which asks you questions like... would you rather have a spider sandwick or snail soup? A nice gorey picture book designed to appeal to kids. I loved the works of Roald Dahl too, especially The Witches and The BFG. I read the usual amount of Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree stories, which were introduced to me at school. There was also The Narnia series, and Nesbitt's The Amulet and 5 Children and It. I basically loved anything with magic or ghosts in it, even though I ended up spending a lot of time hiding under the blankets as a child, to escape from monsters.
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Q: Have you reread these books as a grown-up?

A: Not all of them. There was a really surreal book called Marianne Dreams, which has been since shown as a childrens TV series. It was really quite spooky. I reread that quite recently and found it just as disturbing.
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Q: Is there a book of which you can say it has influenced you?

A: There isn't any one book, although I pick up bits and pieces from all of them as I go along. Even when you don't expect it, there's always something you can gain from books, even from the most trashy scifi, there's some kind of knowledge you end up with that you didn't have when you started, from physics to what to do when you're n a flood to avoid getting your engine wet (apparently you can put canvas over the radiator, and your engine will keep going).
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Q: Which are your favourite authors?

A: Clive Barker is one of my favourites, I like his fantasy books, such as Imajica, more than his more horrific Hell-Raiser type series. Philip K Dick is great too. I like
Kate Elliot, Kate Jacoby, Anne McCaffrey is good for a relaxed read, although I wouldn't buy them. Terry Pratchett is quite funny, although his more recent ones do have a kind of manufactured feel to them. Ursula Le Guin is definately up there in my top ten, her Earthsea series is something that I've read again and again over the years.
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Q: Which book would you take with you on a desert island?

A: I have ot pick two I'm afraid. An omnibus edition of any 5 Dick Francis books, and also the Omnibus edition of the first three Earthsea books I've had for years. I know its cheating, but imagine how dull it would be if you had to read the same single story again and again!
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Q: What is your attitude towards translations?

A: Translations are fine as long as they have the same feel as the original book. I recently began reading a translation of Cervantes Don Quixote, which was done in the same irreverent tone that Cervantes applied to the original story, and it was really good. In the notes at the front of the book, the author made the point that when translating a classic, the danger was to be too much in awe of the original author, which could lead to (as in some translations of Don Quixote) some of the less serious parts being taken too seriously, and therefore the jokes being missed. I think its a good point. The translator should try to look at a work of fiction in the same way as the author did, and not be too overawed.
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Q: Do you buy your books/get them from the library/borrow them from friends/steal them?

A: I buy, borrow and beg! I haven't stolen any so far (although when I was 10 I did take a pound from my mum's purse and use it to put with my pocket money to buy a book. I felt so bad about it that I told her as soon as I got home, and she wasn't sure whether to punish me for taking it or pra
ise me for admitting it!). If I come across a new author, I tend to try the library first to see what they're like, before I commit myself to buying any by them.
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Q: When you buy books, do you prefer hardcover editions or pocket books?

A: Softcover/pocket books are definately my preference, purely because of how muc hmore you have to pay for a hard cover edition, and also how big and unwieldy they are to carry them around. If you, like me, read in the bath, there's no big deal about dropping a scratty old softback in the water by accident, but if it was a brand new hardback, it would be a disaster. I'd love to have a huge collection of hardbacks, the feel, smell and look so much nicer, but I think that even if I was rich enough to do that, I'd still have my trusty collection of scratty paperbacks for reading purposes! The hardbacks would just stay on the shelves.
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Q: Have you ever tried Audio Books?

A: Not so far. I can see the appeal though. My boyfriend doesn't read very much, but loves to listen to radio plays, so this is a sneaky way for me to get literature into him. If I ever get a job which only entails using my hands, rather than my eyes, ears and head, then I'd pay them all the time at work. At the moment though, I prefer to carry books around with me.

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