MEME: Eva's Excellent Meme

It is cool to know where a meme started since this meme is an invention of Eva (A Striped Armchair). I've read many of these today; and I'm sure I will subconsciously take a few answers.


Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and The Lord of the Rings

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?
Bridget Jones to go clubbing with,
Henry Tilman (I just watched Northanger Abbey, swoon) to have snarky discussions with,
Ed Kennedy from I Am the Messenger, to play cards with and have a few drinks


(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?
On the Road by Jack Kerouac or maybe Moby Dick, both of which I tried to read last year.

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?
I'm not embarrassed by any books I haven't read and will freely admit to it. Not only that, I publicly made a list of books I have no intention of reading: see here

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?
I get a few of John Irving's books mixed up, but I am more likely to forget I read a book until I start reading it, especially mystery series by prolific authors like Agatha Christie or Ed McBain or Anne Perry


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 of personalise the VIP)
Yann Martel is already doing this to Stephen Harper, but he doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.
Maybe The Giver, an easy book to read but with a big message.

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?
I think I'd like Italian. I've read a few translated Italian books, especially Andrea Camilleri and Italo Calvino

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread one a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
This Can't be Happening at MacDonald Hall by Gordon Korman, a book from my childhood. It's very funny and I could easily read it every year.


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)?
Oh, so many new authors! And the dystopian genre was rather new to me as a genre.

I've read my first vampire books, another genre I was not aware of.


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.

Ooh, isn't this fun! First of all, the books don't have to be fancy and leatherbound, but a few special copies would be nice - The Stand, Anne of Green Gables, and Jane Eyre. I wouldn't worry about autographed works so much as complete works by an author. And, is it a magical library? So that, when I read a book by an author that I like, all of their books appear on the shelves. The DVD's of movies that have been made from books will also be there, to play on the big screen TV, discreetly hidden behind a painting.

A couple of big soft, winged back chair, a comfy couch, with a pile of blankets, a computer to keep up with my blogging readers and to hunt for more books, which appear on my shelves as I want them. Hardcover, trade paperbacks, mass market, it doens't matter that much. Availability is usually my issue.

I wasn't officially tagged, but I've been reading this everywhere and am possibly the last person to do this. I think it is pretty neat to be able to see where a meme started. I'm mentioning this and linking back to Eva, because I think she is having a draw. Aren't book bloggers just the best, most generous people? I think so.