1. Greed. What's your most inexpensive book? What's your most expensive book?
I'm a cheepstake when it comes to my reading. Most of my kindle collection was free, (Because I've bought maybe 30 books, rounding up, and I have over a thousand on my kindle at the moment.) And much of my physical collection I've picked up at my library's yearly books sales when I can get children's books and paperbacks for a quarter apiece.
So epensive? I don't know, since I didn't buy any of them. I have a few, though, that I suspect were pricey when they were bought, but I wasn't the one who shelled out the cash for them, so I wouldn't know. I do know that I've never spend more that ten bucks on a single book.
2. Wrath. What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?
Oh ... tough question here. I think I'll go with Piers Anthony. On one hand, I love the puns of his Xanth series, but on the other, he likes to more ... spicy stuff than I like to read. Xanth is his tame series, and even there, it's borderline what I read.
3. Gluttony. What book have you devoured over and over again with no shame?
That's a list. I've got a number of books on my shelf that I wander over to whenever I'm bored and just ... read.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (because it's a genius retelling of Cinderella)
Chronicles of Narnia (for obvious reasons, and I recently picked up a single volume of the entire series for a dollar)
Lord of the Rings (And my copy is again, single volume, as Tolkien intended)
The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw (I don't know why I love this book so much, but I do. Mebbe it's the accents)
Or Give me Death by Ann Rinaldi (A historical fiction about Patrick Henry's family. It is ... tear-jerking.)
The Claidi Collection by Tanith Lee. (Because epic world building. Also, a single volume, I love single volumes)
Fairy Tale Collections (And I own SEVERAL)
Elsie Dinsmore by Martha Finley (I have the entire series - not single volume, though - plus Mildreth's series)
Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. (Because it's funny, and again, lovely worldbuilding)
And there are more, but I think I shall stop now. Basically, I highly recommend any of these books, and I read them frequently
Wait, I forgot a few:
The Ankulen
Sew, It's a Quest
Do You Take This Quest?
Water Princess, Fire Prince (notebook edition)
Yes, I'm the author, no I have no shame.
4. Sloth. What book have you neglected due to laziness?
Um, well ... that's a list equally long. Books on my shelf are in one of two states. Either I've read them a million times, or I've barely picked them up. I've spot read at these books, but I've never taken the plunge and actually devoured them. They include:
Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. (I own the whole series except Brisngr, which happens to be the book I've read the most of. I ... uh ... snuck into my mother's closet and read at it while she had it out from the library several years ago.)
After the Twelfth Night by A. G. Werff. (I have it on my shelf. I bought it. I loved the first part when I edited it ... but I just can't seem to pick it up and finish it.)
Only a Novel by Amy Dashwood. (Again, on my shelf, and I loved the first few chapters that I read on Amazon look inside, but I can't seem to finish it!)
Second Son by Janelle Leanne Schmidt. (I won it in a giveaway. I loved the first book in the series. But unfortunately, the book focuses on a character that I was perhaps the least interested in - don't shoot me Brant fans, he's a great guy, but with his secrets and all that in the first book, he and I just didn't form a good relationship.)
Kestrel's Midnight Song by J.R. Parker. (Again, won it in a giveaway, and I love the concept, but I just can't get into it!)
Ben Hur by Lew Wallace. (I recently moved it down from currently reading to to-read on goodreads. I own a really nice copy, but I just can't get any further in the book. Incidently, I'm stuck at the same point in both book and movie)
Again, there are more, terribly good books that are having trouble cracking into me. I've doubt that one day I'll pick them up hit a point in the story, and then I'll be useless the rest of the day, but that just hasn't happened.
5. Pride. What book do you talk about most in order to sound like an intellectual reader?
Mostly classics, including David Copperfield, Pride and Prejudiced, and The Lord of the Rings.
6. Lust. What attributes do you find attractive in male characters?
I require a snappy voice, or brains, or both. He needs to be open and talkative, especially if he's the POV. If he's a POV and is keeping secrets from me ... that's an automatic on my bad list (actually, this is true for any POV character, but we're talking about guys right now). I like some heroics, and if he can save the girl, that's great (though I prefer it if it's a joint effort.) Accents are a must. I melt for accents.
But oddly enough, I don't really find myself attracted to guys in the books I read, not permanently, at least. Unless of course, they happen to be the rightful ruler of the land of sweets and is going to kill a mouse king. Yeah ... have I brought up my undying love for the Nutcracker before?
7. Envy. What book would you most like to receive as a gift?
Last Christmas, I could have answered this one easily. But between Christmas last year, and the fact that I've had money this year, I've managed to acquire pretty much every book I've been wanting to own. Besides this, my bookshelves are very full. I need to replace one of them with a taller one before I can go about expanding my collection some more. Maybe the Lunar series, because they're a pretty awesome spin on Fairy Tales. Or ... I only have two of the five Borrower books, I need the other three ... and, now that you mention it, my copy of Pollyanna is only abridged, and lacks a few of my favorite lines. I a full edition - and the sequel, because it's amazing.
And now, because we're talking about the books I own, my shelves.
This is the shelf that greets you as you enter my room. It starts with my Great Illustrated Classics, which, though they're abridged, have such wonderful illustrations, I love them. Then I have it organized as a proper library from there. ALE (for Lloyd Alexander) through JUS (for Norton Juster) on this shelf.
As you can see, it's taken up mostly by my Elsie Dinsmores. I'm quite proud of my complete set. It is gorgeous.
And then we have my other bookshelf, which is a bit busier. LEV (for Gail Carson Levine) through to WIL (for Laura Ingalls Wilder) here, and then we have my picture books, which are arranged by author (if I remember right) and then on the bottom shelf is Nonfiction. I need more shelf space for my nonfiction.
As you can see here, I also have a largish collection of Boxcar Children. Not a complete set by any stretch of the imagination, and I actually lack the first one. Need to get it, but haven't run across one for sale.
And, yes, those are furby feet you see at the top of the shelf. Her name is Ta-ta. I have a second, Toe-lou, but I'm not sure where he went. They both have dead batteries, so I haven't played with them in a while.
Someday I will get myself a nice one volume edition of The Lord of the Rings... but that is not this day! :)
ReplyDelete...Is that the Jess American Girl Doll book smack in the middle of your first shelf?
Great tag! I liked reading your answers. You should talk about the books you read more often.
Aye, that it is. A friend bought her for me for my birthday the year she was out. She actually inspired Jessica's Summer on my WIP list (together with my Clara barbie and my blue ice princess Barbie I named Tabitha)
DeleteI really should talk about my reading more often. It's such fun.
Cool! Jess is my favorite Girl of the Year and her book remains one of my favorite AG books.
DeleteIncidentally, my Jess also enjoys modelling. If you'll look through my backposts, you'll find a few of her wearing some knitted items I've made. And I gave her the middle name Anne, as apposed to your Antonia. (I also decided that Jess is short for Jessica and that she's the personification of summer)
DeleteSo .... NOW I find some of my "missing books"? Relocated them to your shelves.
ReplyDeleteUm, yes. You never read them, so I thought I'd give them a loving home.
DeleteI have a lot of free kindle books and 25 cent library book sale books too. My most expensive book is probably Resistance because, while I did beta read it, I had to have the paperback when it came out. Do you have all 28 Elsie books in paperback? I only have 1-7. I think they started to get boring at Elsie Yachting With the Raymonds since they started telling boring history stories nonstop.
ReplyDeleteI actually really love Ben Hur. I didn't get into it until the second part, but after that I even gave into the temptation to flip through for spoilers.
I got rid of all my Great Illustrated Classics. I hate abridgments. They usually seem to cut out the actual story, besides taking all the showing and turning it into telling.
I have two tall bookshelves and two shelves above my desk. They're not quite full, but I still have books I want to collect. I love books so much.
13 of my Elsies are in hardback (the expensive pink ones Mom tells me that the first twelve were probably about a hundred dollars. Interesting story about how we got them, but that's for another day, 14 is also in hardback, since it was apparently unavailable in paperback when my grandmother was finishing my series for me). The rest are paperback, as are the Mildreds. I will admit that I haven't completely read all of them, especially after book 14, but I enjoy the bragging rights of owning the complete series. It's mostly spot reading, looking for parts where the ventriloquism comes in.
DeleteNormally, I hate abridgments too, but I love the illustrations of the GIC's that I'm willing to forgive them for it. And, again, bragging rights for owning so many.
Mine are all paperback. I've got them all on my kindle, though. My mom read them all to me and my sisters, but we got her to skip the history stories. I think Martha Finley lost track of time, though, because Elsie and Ned Raymond never seemed to grow up, no matter how much time passed. The Elsie books have a lot of literary what not to do, but I love them anyway. I want them all, but they're almost impossible to find used. McKay used book store in Chattanooga is the best used bookstore I've ever visited. They price things more on value rather than having a flat rate like Goodwill, so I have to think about every purchase (whether or not I can find it somewhere else cheaper), but they have so much, and so many things that are hard to find. Like Elsie, and Emily of New Moon books. It's a good thing I live far enough away I can't go there often. :)
DeleteA family I babysat for before they moved had what seemed like actually decent abridgments, but I still prefer full versions. I don't remember what the GIC illustrations were like, since I got rid of them awhile ago, but I couldn't stand how much they cut. If I remember right, they cut the Christianity out of Heidi.
My Grandma got the paperbacks of 13 and 15-28 off of Amazon. I'm not sure where she got the hardback of 14, though, and I'm clueless about where the first twelve came from (except that they're from my other grandparents, and that they were meant for a cousin, but she already had received them from her other grandparents, so my mom got them instead). The first five of the Mildreds came from Ebay (if I remember right) and the other two came from Amazon as a gift from an uncle. And yes, around book 14, time just kinda ... stopped. I think Martha Finley realized that if she kept going at the rate she was, Elise was going to die soon, and she didn't want that to happen.
DeleteYeah, GIC does tend to cut out the the Christianity, which is sad. I don't have Heidi, though we do own the full book, and the sequels that someone else wrote (but they're not on my shelf). As I said, I collect them mostly for the pictures. They're very well done, and usually look very close to how I picture the characters.
YAY! It's not only me who organizes books like the library! For the longest time, I was obsessed with turning my family's (quite numerous) bookshelves into a library. Complete with library cards. And a book catalog. My mom wouldn't let me put the stickers on the sides of them, though...something about if we ever sold them. (I know! Gasp!) Somehow a few of them ended up with labels on the back like where we used to stamp due dates before the digital age completely took over. At least, it has in my library system now...
ReplyDeleteI read the first Elsie book in original form. Then I kind of switched to the "A Life of Faith" serieses (?) they adapted Elsie and Millie into, and added a few characters. And I fell in love with those. Especially Millie's new books. And recently (as in, the past six months) Violet's.
Anyway. Interesting post. I liked seeing your bookshelves. :)
Actually, the tags were my mom's idea. We went through and labeled our entire library of 1000+ books (my shelves just scratch the surface) a year and a half ago. I also cataloged them all into my computer, but then my computer crashed last January and I lost all of it!
DeleteWe've added more books to our collection since then (the ones that aren't labeled) so we need to pull the supplies out and do them as well. But our shelves are ... organized.
I tried to read the Life of Faith versions a few years ago, and wasn't impressed. I'll admit that they were well done, but I'd fallen in love with the style of the original books, and just couldn't make the change.
I've read some of the Life of Faith ones. The Millie ones are good, but they're COMPLETELY different stories from the originals, particularly when she goes to Roselands. The Violet books change things even more. They even renamed Walter Travilla. And sent Vi to France with Elsie when she went to Lester instead of Edward and...I haven't read all of them, just the first two Violet and the first four Millie, but I prefer the originals. I'm an original kind of girl. :)
DeleteEXACTLY. I attempted to read the Elsie's, since my library had purchaced them, and in particular the third one (which is synonymous with a small portion of the actual third book), and they'd rearranged one of my favorite scenes - had changed her and her father's personalities to do it. I just couldn't carry through with it and sent it back.
DeleteWhile GIC cuts out huge chunks (and in the case of Robinson Crusoe, rearranges the beginning and the end so that the beginning isn't as boring) at least the placate me with gorgeous pictures. The LoF just slash and rearrange, and then try to masquerade as the originals! It makes me uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable.
Ugh. What scene was it that they changed? Just curious.
DeleteFrom the foreword to the first LoF Elsie book:
This version is a careful adaptation of the Elsie Dinsmore series, faithful to the original yet rewritten for modern readers. Since every effort has been made to preserve the nineteenth century flavor of Miss Finley's original text, some terms and customs may require explanation and historical context.
Riiight. Oh, and from Millie:
In bringing Millie's story to life for today's readers, many changes have been made. The language has been updated, the plot expanded and enhanced, the characters more fully developed, and the Christian message has been strengthened.
Why is that necessary? Martha Finley included whole Bible studies in the originals! I just don't get it. We got most of our LoF books free when we took over running the LoF girls' club we used to do. The originals certainly have problems, mostly literary, but I like them so much better. Besides, you can get them all free through Amazon kindle or Archive.org.
The scene that stood out to me was the one where she had just returned from Lucy's after Lucy had tried to circumvent Mr. Dinsmore by inviting "Mr. Eagerton." In the original, Mr. Dinsmore locks her in her room as punishment, thus displaying his characteristic firmness, and his proper fatherly horror at learning that his daughter had been associating with the scoundrel. It wasn't until Rose came home and interceded (reminding him of their own newly-wed days) that he let her out. In the LoF, she locks herself in, which just felt wrong to me. Yes, she was properly horrified by the experience of disobeying her father (evidenced by the fact that she returned home early), but she honestly didn't believe him the scoundrel that her father knew him to be. And, again, they had to change her Mr. Dinsmore's personality to do this.
DeleteYes! You can also get them free at gutenburg.org, and many of them at librivox.org if you'd prefer to listen. They didn't NEED to rewrite them, save to produce an edition that they could copywrite and all that stuff.
That doesn't seem necessary. I guess they were trying to make Mr. Dinsmore seem less mean, maybe. But that's how he was. And he had every right to be upset at Elsie associating with Bromly Egerton.
DeleteAre they all on Project Gutenburg now? Only some of them were when we read them, so we had to get the PDFs. There are some people who think Elsie's relationship with her father is inappropriate because they don't understand the language of the era, my mom has encountered a good bit of that, but I don't subscribe to that. Yes, Martha Finley's characters are very affectionate, but there's nothing wrong with that. But maybe that's one reason the LoF people thought they needed to rewrite them. And, by the way, I've started rereading Elsie's Womanhood, after rereading the most terrible part of Elsie's Widowhood and deciding I needed a happier part of Elsie's life. :)
I'm not sure if they all are, but I do know that there are many of them. I just checked, and there are 32 Martha Finley books, including some of her standalones, and I don't think that that's all of them. It's a lot though.
DeleteYeah, I've just accepted that they had a different society back then, and found it a wonderful study of the era. The book that kills me is Elsie's Holiday. I don't cry easily, but that one can usually get a few tears out of me.
I'll have to see if there are any PDFs to replace with kindle books.
DeleteExactly. It was more than one hundred years ago. Things were different. I'm sure in one hundred years people will read contemporary fiction of today and think our society and standards and such were strange. I love reading old books because of the different perspective, among other things. It can be very interesting, and sometimes quite amusing. Like, how do the older children not have a clue when there's a new brother or sister on the way? I know they didn't talk about those things in the Victorian Era, but don't they notice that Mamma isn't the same size that she used to be?
Elsie's Holiday. I know this is from the first book and a less extreme circumstance, but, "Dinsmore, you're a brute!" Reading Mr. Travilla's death last night almost made me cry, but I think it's because I know a family in that situation and I couldn't help thinking about them.
Aye! Especially when Zoe has the twins in book 14. Although at least by that point Martha Finley was acknowledging (at least in hindsight) that at least the fellow adults were aware of it.
DeleteI mean, corsets can conceal a lot (example, the Music Man) but there does come a point ...