Here are my answers to a questionnaire I found on another blog. {or, if I'm honest, livejournal. yes, I am a livejournal reader. so sue me.} I really loved going through and spending all that time thinking about books. Maybe I can used parts of it for my project in Freshman "I AM the Humanities" Seminar.

1. Three authors that have inspired or influenced my writing are:

Joan Aiken, Dorothy Dunnett, John Banville, E.M. Forster, Alexandre Dumas.
(Five is the new three. Or maybe it's been three all along. Monty Python certainly tells us so.)

2. The hardest part of the writing process for me is:

Ignoring distractions. Top of the distraction list: awesome roommate conversations that I have to get in on and the internet. Also homework, but who really cares about that? (disclaimer: just kidding)

3. One book I have always intended to read, but I haven’t yet is:

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

4. (True or False) I sometimes read non-fiction for pleasure.

True, although I’d still pick fiction first any day. I used to hate non-fiction unequivocally until I hit my Lewis and Clark phase and read Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. It read like fiction, I actually cared about the characters, I was twelve, I was stunned. Since then I’ve made occasional voluntary forays into nonfiction and never regretted it.

5. (True or False) I came from a family that read a lot.

True. Books are everywhere. We give each other books as presents that we want to read. Mom’s reading style differs drastically from Dad’s in that she reads more, but faster and remembers almost nothing. Dad reads less, but more ponderously (like the English major that he is) and retains more. If I had to describe my own reading style I’d have to say that I am for the most part a mix of the two of them (although, given my current location, course load, and choice of profession I’ve been reading far and away the most of any of my family members).

6. My favorite movie adaptation of a book is:

To answer this I have to disqualify any BBC/A&E/WGBH Boston/Acorn/Grananda film from the running, or I would never be able to answer. The list is as long as my arm, and written in very tiny script. So I’m choosing To Kill a Mockingbird. Because it’s amazing and it captures the tone of the book without replicating every single event or feeling, and it seems incredibly faithful when in fact it only is in essentials. Also the score is one of my favorites.
Honorable Mention: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. This is a) an excellent movie, full of great acting and wonderful sights (and a colon in the title!) b) the biggest-budget piece of fanfiction I’ve ever seen.

7. The most boring book I ever read all the way through is:

I had to think about this one for a very long time, because for the most part I’m good at not starting books I know I won’t be interested in. That being said, I also have a horrible habit of feeling morally compelled to finish every book I start reading, even if the going is like pulling teeth. Ummm… I’m going to have to go with Eclipse, by John Banville. It is not, of course, the most boring book I’ve ever read, but it is the most recent. Another interesting thing is that John Banville is one of my favorite authors, and he does one thing very well: create an old, crotchety male protagonist, have him look back over his life which must include a) an awkward daughter, b) a sort of mean female love interest, and either c) a male object of unrequited love or d) an explicit romp with point b). The beach may or may not be involved. All of these elements, which I thought worked marvelously in all his other books, were present in Eclipse. It was just dull, and I have no explanation for why this one failed to grab me whereas The Untouchable became one of my favorite books. Ever.

8. Poetry is:

Great, and I wish I understood it better.

9. My favorite place to read is:

The porch at the cabin in Colorado, preferably when it’s sixty degrees and it’s unclear whether I’m actually reeeeaally cold or not.
(My Dad will probably start crying when he reads this. It’s one of those things he gets emotional about, the porch. I get emotional about other, stranger, things, so I admire him for it.)

10. The funniest thing I have read recently is:

Phaedrus, by Plato. I realize this makes me very strange. I just think Socrates, as Plato characterizes him, is absolutely hilarious. Sometimes he means to be, and sometimes I’m laughing at him.
Perhaps I should give a less stodgy answer too.
The thing is I laugh all the time when I’m reading. Out loud, to myself, it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t even matter if the book as a whole is funny or not (case in point: Phaedrus). I just laugh.
(Tangent: I also hold my breath when I read, occasionally. I’ve noticed that this tends to happen most often when I’m reading stretched out on our couch at home. Odd? I think so.)

11. The most mind challenging thing I have read recently is:

Oh my. Well, the first time I read this question I thought it said “mind changing,” so to answer that one I’ll say The Book of Disquiet, by Fernando Pesoa (as Bernardo Soares, bookkeeper of Lisbon). We read this for Freshman “I AM the Humanities” seminar and everyone loved it. I can’t describe it really, except to say that there is no plot or action whatsoever and no secondary characters. And yet it is a novel with amazing character development. Read it. I’m serious.
But to get back to the actual question (even though I’m not quite sure how to define “mind challenging), I’ll go with Tacitus’ Annals. How many times can one read about suicide under Emperor Nero and not have you mind challenged on some level? Also it was gross, which is always challenging to read, let alone absorb.

12. When I stop by my local library the librarians must think:

School local: Who is this girl and why does she keep renting the DVDs no one else wants?
Home local: Another Julian Barnes? That’s her fourth one this summer.