All About Books discussion

1. Have you always loved books? Who, if anyone, in your life has most inspired you to read?
Yes, I have always been a reader. Both of my parents also read a lot and they encouraged me both by reading aloud to me and by taking me to the local library regularly.

2. What was your favourite childhood book?
So hard to choose just one! I can still remember some of my preschool books, such as What Do You Say Dear, but I will select a book from a later age that I have read & reread over the years -- Norman Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth.

3. Which books do you remember studying at school? Did you enjoy them?
I don't remember books from primary school, but in secondary school (high school) I read a lot of great books! Some of the ones I remember best are Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth, Hardy's The Return of the Native, Dicken's Great Expectations, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow, and The Heart of Darkness, A Passage to India, The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, and many more. On the whole, I enjoyed them although Hemingway, Fitzgerald & D.H. Lawrence will never be favorite authors of mine.

4. Where do you most enjoy reading? Do you need silence to read, or can you read almost anywhere?
I read most in my living room, curled up on my couch, but I can read almost anywhere. For many years, I read with the TV on but nowadays I tend to prefer quiet.

5.Choose five of your favourite books and tell us why you loved them so much!
Don't hold me to this!! My favorites change with my age and my mood. But right now, I am selecting:
1. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie -- I love mysteries and Dame Agatha was one of the authors that created that love. This book is one of her best Poirot stories, even though it is missing the lovable Hastings.
2. The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas -- No matter which movie version you have seen, it isn't as good as the book! To me, this is the archetypal swashbuckling adventure book - it has great friendship, romance, sword fighting, treachery, and political intrigue!
3. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein -- I may have read this trilogy 20 times since I first read it in my early teens. Although I don't like all parts of it, Middle Earth is like my second home -- I even taught myself & my best friend the Elvish runic alphabet so we could write notes to each other in it when I was in 6th grade! I suspect that if I had read it first as an adult, I might not have this strong attachment, but this is to me what Harry Potter is to many of you twenty-somethings out there.
4. Frederica by Georgette Heyer -- I had to pick something by Heyer, as I own almost all her books & have read & reread them over the years. Frederica is one of my comfort books; if I am sick or depressed and need to cheer myself up, I turn to this. Even at my lowest, the antics of Frederica's brothers can make me smile. For those of you unfamiliar with Heyer, she wrote 3 separate types of books: contemporary fiction (which was pretty terrible!), mysteries (which are quite good), and historical fiction romances (which are wonderful!).
5. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope -- Unlike the previous 4, this is a newcomer to my favorites. I read this for the first time last year, but my liking for it keeps growing! I wanted to pick a British satire, as I love that subset of the genre, and this one was so enjoyable!

6. Do you prefer reading fiction or non fiction?
Fiction, no question.

7. Are you fond of a particular author and what attracts you to their books? (You can pick a few if you can’t choose!)
Sheri S. Tepper -- I am a big fan of her science fiction/fantasy books! I particularly like A Gate to Women's Country, as I have mentioned here before, but I also really like The Margarets & The Family Tree. Her books always make me think, which is why I find them so good even if I have read them before.

And as I couldn't manage to squeeze one of his books into my favorites, I will also say that I love Charles Dickens!

8. Is there an author you haven't yet tried but you'd really like to?
Oh so many!! But to name a few who are on my list to read next year, George Eliot, Theodore Dreiser, Stendhal, Tobias Smollett....

9. Do you rely on goodreads to keep track of your reading or do you have your own method?
I pretty much rely on GoodReads, although this year I started keeping a written record in a little notebook as well.

10. What's the best book you've read so far this year? What are you reading at the moment? What will you be reading next?
Hmmm, best book I have read this year.... I have had a good reading year so that is difficult. Maybe Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham.
Currently, I am reading One Man's Initiation (well, listening to it as an audiobook) and am just about to start The Snow Child in print form and Phineas Redux in Kindle form.

Interesting answers Leslie, to honest I have only heard of a couple of books you have listed here. If you don't mind me asking (it's for my dissertation) :) What makes Charles Dickens one of your favourite authors?

Alannah wrote: "Interesting answers Leslie, to honest I have only heard of a couple of books you have listed here. If you don't mind me asking (it's for my dissertation) :) What makes Charles Dickens one of your f..."

I think the biggest reason I love Dickens is his wonderful characters, especially the eccentric ones such as the Micawbers in David Copperfield. The villians are satisfactorily defeated in the end too, which I like (just as in mysteries, I like good to triumph over evil!).

I've been looking forward to reading your answers Leslie :) You have lots of books that I've heard of but many that I haven't read, so I'm off to add a few more to my ever growing TBR list! It's nice that you've got a mix of old and new favourites too.

There are some books here I've not heard of Leslie but looks like more to add to the TBR mountain lol. Thank you for sharing your journey.

Thanks Leslie, I can see some favourites of mine in amongst yours, The Lord of the Rings, for one, although I've only read it once! I liked Agatha Christie too! Haven't read anything by Georgette Heyer or Anthony Trollope though. And I've never heard of the Phantom Tollbooth!

Some fascinating books there Leslie. I am particularly interested in seeing your science fiction recommendations

Shirley wrote: "Thanks Leslie, I can see some favourites of mine in amongst yours, The Lord of the Rings, for one, although I've only read it once! I liked Agatha Christie too! Haven't read anything by Georgette H..."

Oh Shirley, even though it is a children's book, you should see if you can find a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth at your library! It is an allegorical story of a boy, Milo, whose toy car & tollbooth takes him to an alternate reality in which the sisters Rhyme and Reason are being held captive. Milo encounters many adventures as he tries to free them -- I have a strong urge to enumerate them or describe some of the characters he meets but I am suppressing it!

Wow Leslie, so much I haven't read! You've really sold Georgette Heyer to me, historical romance can often make my toe-nails curl but I would love to find out if there's the kind that doesn't.
Also Barchester towers: I've read my first Trollope with you over at Perks, and I would love to read a bit more by him, so I will make that my next one I think.

Leslie wrote: "Shirley wrote: "Thanks Leslie, I can see some favourites of mine in amongst yours, The Lord of the Rings, for one, although I've only read it once! I liked Agatha Christie too! Haven't read anythin..."

I've just checked online and they do have a copy! I might read that over Christmas!

I enjoyed reading Leslie. Some great choices I've heard of and some I haven't!

Jenny wrote: "Wow Leslie, so much I haven't read! You've really sold Georgette Heyer to me, historical romance can often make my toe-nails curl but I would love to find out if there's the kind that doesn't.…"

Heyer to me is a lot like reading Austen - it is romance, not sex (no heaving bosoms or manly throbbings), with a good dash of humor. However, it isn't everyone's cup of tea, so you may not like it.

"Also Barchester towers: I've read my first Trollope with you over at Perks, and I would love to read a bit more by him, so I will make that my next one I think."

It will probably stand alone, but it does refer to the first book in the series, The Warden (which Laura listed in her top 5) - Barchester Towers is the second book of the series.

Thanks Pink, Tracey, and Heather!

Paul - I think that you might like Tepper's The Awakeners or the Grass trilogy. I tried to pick ones that would have the widest appeal in my original post, but you are a sci fi/fantasy reader and so might like these better!

That's a really interesting list Leslie, with a couple of surprises! I love the way your tastes are so varied. "Barchester Towers" is my favourite out of the 6 Barsetshire Chronicles too. Some books in your list I am nodding my head at as they are so familiar...and some I'm saying who??

Thank you for sharing it. 2014 is definitely the year for me to read some Sheri S. Tepper. I downloaded and read a couple of samples on your recommendation earlier :)

Jean wrote: "That's a really interesting list Leslie, with a couple of surprises! I love the way your tastes are so varied. "Barchester Towers" is my favourite out of the 6 Barsetshire Chronicles too. Some book..."

I found it difficult to select, and I almost didn't choose Barchester Towers since Laura had pick The Warden. My other choices for that slot were Vanity Fair or Cakes and Ale… or a Wodehouse!!

Love it :D

Awesome journey! I need to figure out what I'll put for mine. I enjoyed your reading journey leslie! :-)

Thanks Amber :)

Very enjoyable read, Leslie. Although, I haven't read any of your books! I like the sound of cakes and ale, will have to look that one up.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is one of my favourite Christie's!!!
A lot of books you like I love, but that I already knew. I definitevely have to look for Cakes and Ale since you are so keen on it!!!!

P.S. Great Journey by the way!!!! ;)

Thanks Gemma & Laura ☺

Found Cakes and Ale!

LauraT wrote: "Found Cakes and Ale!"

I hope that you enjoy as much as I did!

Hope so. But not this month: I'm already into too many books! Maybe in january, or after having moved to my new house.

Such interesting answers Leslie. Agatha Christie was my way into a lifelong love of detective fiction too ( though I had read Conan Doyle around 10 Years old) and I still vividly remember my first Christie. A second hand paperback copy of Death in the Clouds with a suitably lurid cover. That was it I was hooked and went through many of her books from 16 to 19.

Tweedledum wrote: "Such interesting answers Leslie. Agatha Christie was my way into a lifelong love of detective fiction too ( though I had read Conan Doyle around 10 Years old) and I still vividly remember my first ..."

I didn't read any Conan Doyle until I joined GoodReads 18 months ago! Kind of surprising, but one reason why I like this place.

BBC Radio 4X broadcast Death in the Clouds recently - that is a good one :)

Missed it but love 4x was catching the sci fi hour regularly for a while.