Mitnik's Response to MALU'S LITERATURE CHALLENGE (Top Ten Childrens Books)

Member Name: Mitnik

Product:	Top Ten Childrens Books
Date:	19/11/03 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It`s all about Me!

Disadvantages: It`s all about Me!

Anyone that knows me will tell you I`m not one to shy away from a Challenge, I mean for heaven sakes I`ve read every Robert Rankin I`ve been presented with, if that`s not the stuff to make a man out of a mouse, I don`t know what is.. So here, I present my answers to the questions (and for once I haven`t been a smart-arse git and put "42" as the answer to any of them... (although I admit I was tempted for one of the questions, but which one?)) Anyways enough of this time-wasting, I`m not an Arsenal player desperately trying to hold onto a one-nil win...

q: what is your favourite genre?

a: mmmm, I think it would haveto be sci-fi, I have a deep love for the distant and near future, from the technological glory of it all in the bleak gibson-esque techno nightmare to the magical rebirth that seems to be at the core of many current day hard and soft-sf novels.. But, I`m afraid I can`t just leave the answer at that, in my mind their's a joint first-place and Comic Fiction holds a place in my heart also, from the streets of the fabulous Discworld to the bizzare twists and turns that are the trademark of Tom Holt, and all the lessers knowns inbetween.. So there you go SF & Comic Fiction, my favourite(s). It really doesn`t get much better than that. (hell of a lot worse, believe me, read some of my reviews for proof.. but not much better)
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q: do you read the classics, i.e., the great authors of the 18th and 19th century?

a: It depends on the classics you mean, to me stories like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Original Stories of Winnie the Pooh are all classics but you won`t find them in the classics section of a bookstore, but in answer to the question, Yes I`ve read the "classics", but it was during my time as a schoolboy and if asked to read one today I`d probably rather hide under the bed with the spiders (and remember, I highly Arachnophobic) It`s not that they don`t have
there place in the wonderful
world of literature, many of todays greatest writers haver found there inspiration in the early works of the masters, Just like you`d have no David Croft without Constable. You`d also have no Alan Moore without Dickens. So there`s no denying the value in a classic (after all that`s what makes them a classic) but unless you`re really studying the work, getting your teeth into it, tearing it apart to understand it`s structure, it`s power and it`s message they really can leave you cold.
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q: are you interested in thrillers?

a: This is a question that deeply depends on the definition of the term "thriller" I enjoy pacey books that like to keep you on the edge of your seat, but to some a thriller is more (or less) than that.. In my own definition I love a good thriller, in my wifes I can`t read them, her thrillers are more based on shock whereas I prefer a more intricate mind game, a deep mental struggle to me that`s thrilling..
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Q: What about horror stories?

A: Again this is a question that boils down to definition.. I`m not a blood, guts and gore man, I couldn`t stomach a Gemmill, I don`t find graphical indepth details of just how the arm was severed to be essential to a story for me, but a monster (such as the psychic being in Piers Anthony's Mode Series) can be scary and thought provoking without being all about the blood and guts, so again it depend upon who's writing the "horror" as to if I`d enjoy it or not.
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Q: Do you read Science Fiction?

A: 42. (Okay so I lied in my intro, in the end the temptation was just too much and this really is the only answer that can truly answer this question...)
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Q: How many Harry Potter books have you read?

A: So far I`ve read all of them, although I don`t admit to it lightly, my excuse fo
r it is that we purchased them for my wife's sister and well they where just sitting there wanted to be read and I felt sorry for them.. I can admit to enjoying parts, some of the ideas I felt where incredibly imaginative and if handed to a more talented author could weave some real magic.. (Not that J.K. is a bad author, She`s just not as good as many others)
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Q: Have you ever read and enjoyed biographies or autobiographies?

A: I deeply enjoyed Bio of an Ogre, (Piers Anthony's AutoBiography) although I felt it come have been longer, I`ve had to read others in the process of creating websites for various people, and mostly I`ve found them to not be that enjoyable.. It`s not that the people in question haven`t lived exciting our interesting lives, just that I didn`t feel I benefited from knowing about them, I didn`t find inspiration in their struggles, or happiness in their triumphs, that might have been due to the style's of the biographies in question as they where all from the same publisher and all followed a similiar format, So I`m not opposed to the idea of reading another in the future, infact I`d be interested to Read Tom Holt's..
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Q: Have you reread these books as a grown-up?

A: I`ve re-read many of the books I enjoyed as a child, I`m also looking forward to the time my daughter is old enough for bedtime stories and then we can start enjoying on the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, etc..
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Q: Is there a book of which you can say it has influenced you?

A: I can`t say I`ve been influenced by a book, I`ve had a book touch my soul, I`ve had a main character I truly believed in, that I looked deep into the eyes of and saw a very scared and very afraid me looking back.. The character was actually a girl (oddly enough) Coleen from Pier's Anthony "Mode Series" we connect most in the first book o
f the series "Virtual Mode" Where her school life, home life and attitude to life mirror my own in so many ways, The Mode Series was (in the begining) everything I`d ever dreamed of in a fantasy book, and I still can`t bring myself to review the series, I felt so betrayed by the final too books, so rushed, an idea abandoned in it`s prime, left to die with a terrible conclusion, although I hold a lot of respect for the talent of Piers Anthony I haven`t read a book of his since, and never will.. He let me down, he let us all down, anyone who`s ever been cold, alone and afraid, anyone who`s ever looked inside ourselves and not loved what they`ve seen, anyone that`s strived for freedom from this world with a hastily drawn blade over the wrist, he gave us a hero, a voice and then just as quickly muted her..
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Q: Which are your favourite authors?

A: At the moment I would say Tom Holt, he imagination and wit is the stuff of genius, if I could bottle that and sell it in supermarkets I`d be Everton's Romam Abramovich! He`s never afraid to cross a line, never willing to cut a corner and his books benefit strongly from that.
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Q: Which book would you take with you on a desert island?

A: I`d cheat and take a special edition of "Discworld" that included all the books to date, I just know it`s keep me giggling for years, even reading stories again and again you can always find something new in a Discworld Novel, something you missed last time as you w
here laughing too hard for the joke before it, or something that`s even funnier now you know the character a little better.. I truly admire PTerry for staying strong to his characters, for truly giving them heart and soul.. I close my eyes and I can see them, living and breathing, his writing just has that way of capturing your imagination, there`s no one book to pick from the series that stands out above the rest
they all have their merits and faults.. but they would still be a beautiful collection of reads and make that desert island that little bit more bearable!
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Q: What is your attitude towards translations?

A: I don`t believe I have one.. (a cop-out answer it might be, but it`s an honest one) I sit here and let the question wander through the passageways of my mind, and it can find no right or wrong door, there`s no answer to it for me..
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Q: Do you buy your books/get them from the library/borrow them from friends/steal them?

A: Just like any addict, I fuel my addiction any old way I can, I buy, I beg, I borrow (I won`t say if I`ve ever stolen, just incase the folks from waterstones end up reading this op.) but if I hear about a book worth reading, I`ve just got to have it, and by the fastest means possible, which in most cases nowadays is the internet.. it used to be my library, but they are getting less and less budget to purchase new books..
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Q: When you buy books, do you prefer hardcover editions or pocket books?

A: mmmmm, another tough question for my shelves a hardcover is always going to look nicer, last longer and take more of my daughters "love" (for want of a better word like "Brutal Punishment") But it`s not as easy to slip a hardback into your pocket for that four hour train journey to London, so for traveling purposes I prefer a softback, but when it comes to my own personal collection of "classics" I`d rather have a hardcover.
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Q: Have you ever tried Audio Books?

A: I have, and I have mixed opinions on them, at the end of the day I really think it comes down to vocal talents of the presenter, I think you`ll find no finer AudioBooks that Tony Robinson doing the Terry Pratchett Discworld and Johnny Maxwell Series, but then you get real som
e real duffers like the American Version of the Hitch Hickers Guide to the Galaxy.. Personally I`d love to hear a version of the self same done by the remaining members of Monty Python's Flying Circus..
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and well that was that.. I hope this gave you an insight into my wonderful world, I must say this was a hell of a lot harder than writing a book review, with a review, you have one focus for your thoughts, but when you`re just asked general questions on your own likes and dislikes you have an almost infinite range of posibilities, but well I hope you enjoy my answers :)

Cheers..

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