A book meme!

I love reading, and I love memes, but for some reason, almost every book meme I come across feels too elaborate for me to post it – I remember those never-ending lists of books one needed to cross, bold or italicize depending on the titles’ status on my reading list: there were always too many in one of those status for me to try and edit the whole list…

So when I fell upon this books & coziness meme at Bloglily’s, I thought it was about time I posted a book meme… So here it goes:

What kind of a book are you most comfortable reading?

Genre aside, it must be books by authors I’ve grown to know and love: Jim Butcher, Lindsey Davis, Terry Pratchett, Donna Leon… And also, as Lily, any book I’ve already read and liked.

What kind of a book do you love to hate?

Well, I wouldn’t use the word “hate”, but I certainly couldn’t bear with Umberto Eco’s “Foucault’s Pendulum” first chapters and so gladly dropped it – I still don’t see the point in writing lines and lines of text that force your average reader to look every two words in a dictionary… And I was reading in Spanish, my mother tongue, in which I thought I had a richer-than-average vocabulary!
Also, it’s a bit hard for me to enjoy Sci-Fi -maybe it’s my feminine side but I don’t get them-, real life drama -I can turn on the news for a dose of that- or tragic romance stories -I don’t read so I can cry, quite the contrary!

What was the last book you surprised yourself by liking?

It was about a year ago, when I read “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks – yes, a tragic romance story like the ones I love to hate! I read it in quite a short time, finished it in the wee hours of a weekend day, and spent the last 15 minutes of it sobbing on a tissue so I wouldn’t wake up my family… In spite of all that, I liked it – though I don’t think I’ll read it again sometime soon.

What was the last book you surprised yourself by disliking?

Easy: “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell” by Susanna Clarke. I started reading it with anticipation, thinking it was going to be a fantastic experience, that I was going to have so much fun, that it took me some time to realize I wasn’t liking it at all! I couldn’t explain exactly why I didn’t like it, but it was the slow rhythm with which the story was developing which “killed it” for me: I might like it better in some time, when I don’t need a quick pace in my bedside-table book.
Oh, and “The Black Dahlia” by James Ellroy: I finished it with a sigh of relief just 2 days ago – I guess I chose the wrong moment again. Because just like Susanna Clarke’s book, this is the kind of novel I usually enjoy, so I think my mind is not only picky about the books, but also about the moment the book is read! does that sound weird…?

What would be the worst book to be marooned on a desert island with?

I guess some non-fiction called something like “beware cruel Man, Nature will take its revenge on you someday”… Or “Foucault’s Pendulum” without a dictionary around.

What book would you take with you if you suspected you might be marooned in the near future?

“The Three Musketeers” complete series by Alexandre Dumas – I never tire of their friendship stories, those 4 men would keep me company and take me with them on their exciting adventures!

What forces you to read outside your comfort zone?

Maybe a movie I liked or disliked: “I am a legend” with Will Smith disappointed me, but has sparked curiosity on the book it’s based on; or advice from some friend with similar tastes: one of my colleagues recently lent me a sci-fi book that’s waiting for me to come back home so it can be read; or even plain curiosity, although this doesn’t happen very often. I am quite shy when it comes to stepping outside my comfort zone, I have so many adventures, fantasy, crime and fantastic crime books to read, I don’t feel the need to pick something else!

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There you go, consider yourself tagged if you’d like to answer to this meme! I didn’t have time for a drawing like Ella at Box of Books, but I think it’s a fun idea!