Malu's Literature Challenge (Top Ten Childrens Books)

Member Name: lamorna

Product:	Top Ten Childrens Books
Date:	05/11/03 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for the soul, You learn stuff, It's a cheap entertainment

Disadvantages: Not enough time to read everything, Not enough time to read everything, Not enough time to read everything

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br>This is a Q & A challenge originally set by Malu. It is not in the correct category but we are still waiting for that to be added, since this is an empty category I thought it would be OK to post here. It will be moved eventually (promise).

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The Literature Challenge
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Question: what is your favourite genre?
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Answer: Psychological crime thrillers. I like trying to get into the minds of people that the author has created and to see if I can anticipate their next set of actions and to understand why they acted as they did. Ruth Rendell and Patricia Highsmith are two fine examples. Remember Ripley?

Question: Do you read the classics, i.e., the great authors of the 18th and19th century?
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Answer: No. I don't read them and I never watch the television or listen to the radio dramatisations of the classics. They leave me cold.

Question: Are you interested in thrillers?
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Answer: Yes. I like violence, crime and clever plots. Violence in books isn?t threatening as the pictures are in the reader's mind, and if I don't like what I see in my mind I can close the page.

Question: What about horror stories?
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Answer: Depends on the definition of horror. Horror can be something seemingly mild such as a gradual mental decline and yet this can send a chill of horror down the reader's spine as this disintegration becomes apparent. I read a book by Barbara Vine called 'A Fatal Inversion' and was suitably horrified. I was very surprised when I then read that Barbara Vine was Ruth Rendell's pseudonym as Rendell wanted to move away from her Inspector Wrexford novels and travel deeper into the psychological make up without her famous Inspector. She certainly succeeded.

Ques
tion: Do you read science fiction?
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Answer: I have read Steven King. Is he Science Fiction? But they all began to get very samey to me.

Question: How many Harry Potter books have you read?
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Answer: None and I never will.

Question: Have you ever read and enjoyed biographies or autobiographies?
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Answer: Yes. I enjoy a warts and all approach to people such as Kitty Kelley's 'His Way'- the unofficial biography of Frank Sinatra. I enjoyed the biography of Richard Burton too-by Melvyn Bragg I think-so it seems I rather enjoy reading about badly behaved but exciting men!

Question: Do you remember any of the books you read and loved as a child?
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Answer: 'Arabian Nights. Tales of a Thousand and One Nights' by Husain Haddawy. I loved reading this and would fancifully imagine that I was the beautiful Shahrazad telling magical tales to King Sharayar night after night and thus saving her life and that of all the wives, as the King couldn't possibly kill her until he had heard the end of the tale. I was eight years old.

We also had a copy of 'The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor' at home and I must have read and re-read that many times over.

I had an excellent English teacher at school and contrary to my answer to the 'Classics' question she encouraged us all to read 'The Woman in White' by Wilkie Collins and I have re-read this book several times. This teacher also taught us History and to feed our imaginations she encouraged us to read historical novels by Jean Plaidy and her pseudonym Victoria Holt. Reading these colourful novels certainly made historical facts a lot easier to absorb.

Question: Have you reread these books as a grown-up?
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Answer: No, but now I think I must, especially 'Arabian Nights'.

Question: Is there a book of which you can say it has influenced you?
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Answer: 'Exodus' by Leon Uris. Although this is a novel with fictional characters I learned more about the Jewish race by reading this than any history lesson could offer me. The impact of this book has stayed with me forever. He then wrote a further book 'The Haj' depicting the lives of Palestinian Arabs from World War 1 to the Suez War of 1956. This is equally moving and I learned a lot about the Arab culture and their thinking.

Question: Which are your favourite authors?
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Answer: All of the above authors and I am just beginning to read Ian Rankin's 'Rebus' crime novels and he's being added to my list.

Question: Which book would you take with you on a desert island?
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Answer: Both the Leon Uris books to give me a sense of balance.

Question: What is your attitude towards translations?
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Answer: 'Arabian Nights' was translated so my attitude must be that I am for them.

Question: Do you buy your books/get them from the library/borrow them from friends/steal them?
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Answer: I borrow from the library and buy books with my Amazon vouchers I earn from writing in Dooyoo. I never borrow books, as I don't like lending mine.

Question: When you buy books, do you prefer hardcover editions or pocket books?
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Answer: Paperbacks because of the price.

Question: Have you ever tried Audio Books?
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Answer: No, but I love the spoken voice so can imagine I would listen to an audio book on a long car journey if travelling alone.


This challenge was originally set by MALU, please join in, read other peoples? entries and pass the challenge on to another bookworm!

Thanks for reading and rating this opinion.

Summary: