A Bookish Q&A

I decided to do this bookish meme, because I find today’s TTT topic a little difficult and I don’t really have the time to mull over it and find a good adaptation (see why here). Cate and Christine both did this survey, with some differences between them.

What are you reading now?

Hives in Paradise by Midge Hill Mebane (signed copy, bought from her son in Hilo, Hawai’i)

Marked in your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America by Leonard B. Glick (because I’m trying to figure it out, and because I’m currently rotation through Urology)

What are you planning to read next?

African Cookboy by David Dinwoodie Irving

Other Lives by Andre Brink

What five books have you always wanted to read but haven’t got around to?

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I know, I know)

2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

3. Anything by Zakes Mda

4. The Giver by Lois Lowry

5. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

What magazines do you have in your bathroom/lounge right now? 

A few backdated Time copies. I usually just read other people’s magazines. Fairlady and Marie Claire are two of my preferred lady magazines, and then Braintainment is an awesome nerdy mag.

What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel – I loved Life of Pi, which made this book even more devastating.

What book seemed really popular, but you didn’t like?

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I barely got through The Hobbit.

Three favourite poems

I love poetry but I don’t tend to really remember my favourites. Oops. Three I can remember:

1. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost – probably a cop-out, but this was thematic of my high school career (and was actually the poem that helped me choose the high school I attended)

2. Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

3. Ma by Antjie Krog (I’ve yet to find a translation I consider to be adequate, but here is a taste of its wonder)

Where do you usually get your books?

I try to win some in competitions. Otherwise I buy them from second hand sales (Bikini Beach Books in Gordon’s Bay is my new favourite) and from sales at bookshops.

When you were little, did you have any particular reading habits?

I read while I walked, and read under the blankets with a flashlight, and read so much that my parents rationed my reading time at one point so that I wouldn’t turn into a complete social idiot.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was too good to put down?

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Have you ever “faked” reading a book?

I feel bad because this is so recent. During Psych rotation, a doctor mentioned One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and I blurted out, “The book was better!” – because it almost always is, right. But then the assumption was made that I had actually read it, and I didn’t correct him. So then I had to read it.

Have you ever bought a book just because you liked the cover?

Considering how few books I do buy, no. But I guess you could say the pretty cloth bound covers are part of the reason I bought a Puffin Children’s Classics box set last year.

What was your favourite book when you were a child?

I loved Roald Dahl. Especially George’s Marvelous Medicine.

What book changed your life?

I don’t think a single book did. Books were always there, and they all played a huge role in my experiences (even the awful ones).

Who are your top five favourite authors?

1. John Green

2. Lauren Beukes

3. Roald Dahl (still)

4. Andre P. Brink

5. Rose George

What book has no one heard about but should read?

The Radiation Sonnets by Jane Yolen

Maverick: Extraordinary Women from South Africa’s Past by Lauren Beukes

What books are you an ‘evangelist’ for?

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The Big Necessity by Rose George

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

What is your favourite classic book?

I really haven’t read that many classics, and sometimes I am confused by definitions.  I liked The Call of the Wild by Jack London, is that a classic?