20 Reading Questions
Apr. 19th, 2018 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xinjinmengFavorite genre to read:
New Wave science-fiction. I enjoy the strange made mundane and the mundane made strange.
Current book you're reading:
EXCESSION by Iain Banks. It's nice, but thick.
First book you remember loving:
ON BEYOND ZEBRA, by Dr. Seuss. Monsters and letters in a dreamscape, sigh. <3
A book/series you wish would be adapted into film:
THE DEMON PRINCES by Jack Vance. Preferably with ham actors and a really low budget, with lots of CGI. Keep it stagey.
Honorable mention: SPELLSINGER as a jukebox musical.
Favorite Protagonist:
Emphyrio from his eponymous novel. When you're tired of Campbellian heroism, read this book, as it's the complete opposite.
Favorite Antagonist:
Markus the Ineluctable from THE MOMENT OF THE MAGICIAN. Criminally under-used in his own book, and just the right mix of savvy and power.
Runner up: The Mule from FOUNDATION.
Do you write any stories?
A few.
A movie you think was better than the book:
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Oh my stars, have you read this thing? It's not even remotely like the motion picture.
Runners-up: JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, and READY PLAYER ONE. Spielberg knows how to fill the tent.
Best book you've read this year:
PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia Butler. Prophetic, sadly.
One of your favorite authors:
Jack Vance, a name that is dropped far more than he is read, and who is read far more than he is understood.
Least favorite genre to read:
Fantasy. Which sounds weird when you read this list, neh? All too often, such things wallow in fannishness and franchises, instead of having something interesting to say. Or worse, when it's indefensible, but how can something that tastes so good be bad for you? Who would lie to you, to sell you a used car?
A book you'd recommend to a friend:
EMPHYRIO. It's short, it's accessible, and while you've read things like it, you haven't read anything that is it.
Favorite film adaptation of a book:
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. It keeps the good while jettisoning a lot of the bad. It had a lot to prove and then proved it, after others had failed before them.
Book you've read the most times:
THE BOOK OF LIES by Aleister Crowley.
A book you didn't expect to like:
THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier. The older I get, the more it rings true.
Favorite Classic Book:
DRACULA by Bram Stoker. The definitive movie adaptation has never been made. People keep wanting to make the count as some sort of romantic figure, instead of the controlling, unfaithful, baby-eating monster that he is. The novel does a fine job of being epistolary.
Book that's impacted you the most:
THE HACKER'S DICTIONARY (1990 Edition), edited by Eric S. Raymond. Being a printed matter frozen in 1990, it's easy for me to re-read, to gain insight into a different era, with its predictions, prophecies, proscriptions, and promises.
Runner-Up: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY by Ambrose Bierce, for the same reasons.
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
An author you think more people should know about:
The answer to both is Robert Stallman, who wrote three books: THE ORPHAN, THE CAPTIVE, and THE BEAST, a trilogy of bizarre shape-shifters, set in Depression-era America. These books are perverse, sentimental, brutal, mystical, and mundane in a way not often seen, and even more rarely written so well. I should like more insight into his process.
Favorite book/series of all time:
EMPHYRIO. "You are you and I am I. I am dissastified."
New Wave science-fiction. I enjoy the strange made mundane and the mundane made strange.
Current book you're reading:
EXCESSION by Iain Banks. It's nice, but thick.
First book you remember loving:
ON BEYOND ZEBRA, by Dr. Seuss. Monsters and letters in a dreamscape, sigh. <3
A book/series you wish would be adapted into film:
THE DEMON PRINCES by Jack Vance. Preferably with ham actors and a really low budget, with lots of CGI. Keep it stagey.
Honorable mention: SPELLSINGER as a jukebox musical.
Favorite Protagonist:
Emphyrio from his eponymous novel. When you're tired of Campbellian heroism, read this book, as it's the complete opposite.
Favorite Antagonist:
Markus the Ineluctable from THE MOMENT OF THE MAGICIAN. Criminally under-used in his own book, and just the right mix of savvy and power.
Runner up: The Mule from FOUNDATION.
Do you write any stories?
A few.
A movie you think was better than the book:
WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. Oh my stars, have you read this thing? It's not even remotely like the motion picture.
Runners-up: JAWS, JURASSIC PARK, and READY PLAYER ONE. Spielberg knows how to fill the tent.
Best book you've read this year:
PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia Butler. Prophetic, sadly.
One of your favorite authors:
Jack Vance, a name that is dropped far more than he is read, and who is read far more than he is understood.
Least favorite genre to read:
Fantasy. Which sounds weird when you read this list, neh? All too often, such things wallow in fannishness and franchises, instead of having something interesting to say. Or worse, when it's indefensible, but how can something that tastes so good be bad for you? Who would lie to you, to sell you a used car?
A book you'd recommend to a friend:
EMPHYRIO. It's short, it's accessible, and while you've read things like it, you haven't read anything that is it.
Favorite film adaptation of a book:
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. It keeps the good while jettisoning a lot of the bad. It had a lot to prove and then proved it, after others had failed before them.
Book you've read the most times:
THE BOOK OF LIES by Aleister Crowley.
A book you didn't expect to like:
THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier. The older I get, the more it rings true.
Favorite Classic Book:
DRACULA by Bram Stoker. The definitive movie adaptation has never been made. People keep wanting to make the count as some sort of romantic figure, instead of the controlling, unfaithful, baby-eating monster that he is. The novel does a fine job of being epistolary.
Book that's impacted you the most:
THE HACKER'S DICTIONARY (1990 Edition), edited by Eric S. Raymond. Being a printed matter frozen in 1990, it's easy for me to re-read, to gain insight into a different era, with its predictions, prophecies, proscriptions, and promises.
Runner-Up: THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY by Ambrose Bierce, for the same reasons.
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
An author you think more people should know about:
The answer to both is Robert Stallman, who wrote three books: THE ORPHAN, THE CAPTIVE, and THE BEAST, a trilogy of bizarre shape-shifters, set in Depression-era America. These books are perverse, sentimental, brutal, mystical, and mundane in a way not often seen, and even more rarely written so well. I should like more insight into his process.
Favorite book/series of all time:
EMPHYRIO. "You are you and I am I. I am dissastified."
