Eva’s meme from Emily

It seems that my public is clamouring for more, more, more! Or, at least, Emily is. Never let it be said that I am unresponsive to my fan. Here follows Eva’s meme on reading.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Almost anything for which I see only positive reviews, and that everyone else is reading. This includes everything on the ‘3 for 2′ table at Borders; anything for sale in Starbucks; anything at the top of the NY Times best seller list; and most certainly anything recommended to me by people who don’t read very much, or any of my relatives. The classic example is The Kite Runner. No way in hell am I reading that. I’m not even linking to it. Yes, I am a terrible book snob. I have learned to live with it and am unrepentant.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be? Peter WimsyWimsey, James Bond and Sir Percy Blakeney, for a night of excellent dining and hard core drinking at a good London club, perhaps followed by a bit of dancing and then some fast driving in Mrs Merdle. I think they might all get on quite well. I’m prepared to run the risk of either murder, an international incident or a dramatic rescue somewhat derailing the evening. I think all of them would reschedule, and probably make it up to me. My heart is aflutter at the very thought. I would have to spend the entire week getting tarted up, reading Kai Lung, refreshing my knowledge of the French Revolution and learning to dance.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave? Ulysses. Although I’m really not sure I could ever, ever get through it. I think it would take me a lifetime of grim determination to die.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it? Honestly, I don’t think I have done this. I am usually quite happy to be up front about what I haven’t read, and why. In the past, I think I would be apologetic about not having read some canonical work. Now I don’t care.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book? Again, I don’t think so. If this has happened, I don’t remember. Usually it’s the other way round – I think I haven’t read something (eg Neuromancer) and it turns out that I have.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP) It would very much depend on the VIP and their personal likes and dislikes. There are no books that I am so evangelical about that I would foist them on everyone. Although, if they haven’t read The Iliad and The Odyssey, they damn well ought to, whoever they are. And the Aeneid. And then the Oresteia.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with? Italian. Dante, and Sciascia, Pirandello and Calvino.
A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick? Pride and Prejudice. I read it every year anyway, along with the rest of Jane Austen. Also, A Little Princess. And probably The Dark is Rising sequence too. And perhaps Gaudy Night.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

Definitely new authors, I pick up recommendations all the time from other bloggers. It works the same way as Slightly Foxed, in that people write about what enthuses them, which is very alluring. For example, I have seen Josipovici referred to on a couple of blogs recently, so his name is hovering up near the surface, about to progress onto my ‘What to read’ list. The scope of what I read has also been broadened, by reading challenges or just by being exposed to more authors and writing, and thinking ‘That sounds interesting’.
That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

My library is a circular room, lined floor to ceiling with shelves, with a walkway that goes round the entire perimeter halfway up. There are a couple of sliding ladders that can be moved around the room so that I can reach all the shelves with ease. There is a roaring fire and a bottle of perfectly chilled champagne near a leather topped desk fully equipped with an array of writing materials. One window looks out over a forest, the other window looks out over the sea, both have built in window seats of immense comfort. Somewhere there is also a kettle, an array of teas, milk and a tin of biscuits. The door locks, from the inside.

The books themselves are a jumble of first editions, dog eared paperbacks, hardbacks without their covers, books inscribed by friends, books bought on holiday, books found, stolen, borrowed but never returned, books rescued. They are organised in alphabetical order, or perhaps by theme (the QI bookshop in Oxford organises by theme, and it throws up some interesting juxtapositions).

Eva’s rule is that everyone who does this meme has to tag four people, so I’m tagging:
Zoesmom, Dave (because something has to get her blogging again), The Reading Nook (her first meme!) and Noble Savage.