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selenak1. What is your favourite genre to read?
Historical novels. I like other genres, too, but the majority of what I read is still historical.
2. What is the first romance novel you ever read and how old were you when you read it?
That depends on how you define "romance novel". For example, I wouldn't include Anne Golon's Angelique novels (as opposed to the film versions), because while the heroine's love life is certainly important, the novels (which I started reading from age 8 onwards) were about more than that. The question driving the plot forwards wasn't "will our heroine unite with her true love (tm)?" but "will our heroine make it out of poverty and get her life back"/"will she remain alive and successful at the French court amidst all the poisoning schemes"/"will she regain her freedom after having been made a slave?"/ "will she win her rebellion against the king"? and so forth. Mind you, my grandmother was a bit shocked to find me reading the novels from Granddad's bookshelf anyway. She thought they were too daring for a child, by which yes, she meant the sex. (Which, btw, is never detailed. I mean, you get the impression it must be great, since the characters are enthusiastic about it, but not a single, err, act, is actually described, so child!me still had no idea what it was that men and women, or men and men, come to that, actually did with each other once they started making love.) Which is why I never stopped teasing her about something that happened a few years later. When I was 13 or thereabouts, my grandparents took me on vacation; my grandmother had been given a novel by a friend and knowing I was a fast reader, she handed it over to me unread, because she wasn't really interested and wanted a quick summary to tell her friend. I strongly suspect the friend hadn't read the novel, either, because it contained all the details that had been missing in Ms. Golon's adventurous yet undetailed novels, and then some. I came back from that holiday and asked my mother whether blow jobs really existed or whether the author had made that up because it sounded really disgusting. And very unhygienic. A few questions later, when my parents had deduced what I had read, my poor grandmother's fate was sealed. As I said, she was teased forever more. (Also, btw, my teenage soul was not traumatized. I thought the book was pretty boring and implausible, what with all the unhygienic acts, and I didn't like any of the characters, so I happily returned to the likes of Angelique sa revolte and didn't read more explicit erotic descriptions until a few years later, when Gary Jennings Aztec got published.
3. How many books -- paper or ebooks -- are in your existing TBR pile?
I'd hate to think how many, so I don't. But I'm working on it.
4. Do you read non-fiction? If so, from which sub-genre?
Absolutely. Biographies, published diaries and letters, travel memoirs, the occasional historical cook book (though never a contemporary one) - you name it, I read it.
5. Do you own an e-reading device? If so, which one(s)?
I got an iPad for my birthday last year, on which there is a kindle, so yes, now I do. It is very convenient for travels, and I do a lot of travelling. However, it will never replace the sensual pleasure I get from reading actual, physical books, holding them in my hand, and yes, even smelling them.
6. Which one book have you re-read most often?
I can't narrow it down to one. Also, it depends on the time frame we're talking about. Between 13 and 20, it probably was The Mists of Avalon, but I haven't read it since then. In my 20s, it probably was the Josephus trilogy by Lion Feuchtwanger, not least because I wrote my dissertation about him during that time, but also for fun. In my 30s? I discovered Neil Gaiman then, and judging by the looks of the various Sandman volumes... yes, probably the trade collections, and of those, Brief Lives. The current decade is still up for grabs.
7. How many library books do you have out right now?
Ten from the university library, eight from the city library.
8. How do you mark your place in a book?
Usually with whatever comes in handy - a bookmark, a yellow sticky paper, something torn from a newspaper - anything.
9. About how many books do you typically read in a month?
Ten at least. It depends on what I'm doing real life wise.
10. What was the last book that made you cry?
I rarely cry over books. One reliable tearjerker that is the exception to that rule is the last third of The Reckoning by Sharon Penman, which I reread last year, but nothing since then.
11. What was the last book that made you laugh?
Ciacomo Casanova's memoirs, specifically, a passage in which he turns out to be an early non-smoking campaigner, wondering how anyone could stand to swallow the smoke of other people. :)
Historical novels. I like other genres, too, but the majority of what I read is still historical.
2. What is the first romance novel you ever read and how old were you when you read it?
That depends on how you define "romance novel". For example, I wouldn't include Anne Golon's Angelique novels (as opposed to the film versions), because while the heroine's love life is certainly important, the novels (which I started reading from age 8 onwards) were about more than that. The question driving the plot forwards wasn't "will our heroine unite with her true love (tm)?" but "will our heroine make it out of poverty and get her life back"/"will she remain alive and successful at the French court amidst all the poisoning schemes"/"will she regain her freedom after having been made a slave?"/ "will she win her rebellion against the king"? and so forth. Mind you, my grandmother was a bit shocked to find me reading the novels from Granddad's bookshelf anyway. She thought they were too daring for a child, by which yes, she meant the sex. (Which, btw, is never detailed. I mean, you get the impression it must be great, since the characters are enthusiastic about it, but not a single, err, act, is actually described, so child!me still had no idea what it was that men and women, or men and men, come to that, actually did with each other once they started making love.) Which is why I never stopped teasing her about something that happened a few years later. When I was 13 or thereabouts, my grandparents took me on vacation; my grandmother had been given a novel by a friend and knowing I was a fast reader, she handed it over to me unread, because she wasn't really interested and wanted a quick summary to tell her friend. I strongly suspect the friend hadn't read the novel, either, because it contained all the details that had been missing in Ms. Golon's adventurous yet undetailed novels, and then some. I came back from that holiday and asked my mother whether blow jobs really existed or whether the author had made that up because it sounded really disgusting. And very unhygienic. A few questions later, when my parents had deduced what I had read, my poor grandmother's fate was sealed. As I said, she was teased forever more. (Also, btw, my teenage soul was not traumatized. I thought the book was pretty boring and implausible, what with all the unhygienic acts, and I didn't like any of the characters, so I happily returned to the likes of Angelique sa revolte and didn't read more explicit erotic descriptions until a few years later, when Gary Jennings Aztec got published.
3. How many books -- paper or ebooks -- are in your existing TBR pile?
I'd hate to think how many, so I don't. But I'm working on it.
4. Do you read non-fiction? If so, from which sub-genre?
Absolutely. Biographies, published diaries and letters, travel memoirs, the occasional historical cook book (though never a contemporary one) - you name it, I read it.
5. Do you own an e-reading device? If so, which one(s)?
I got an iPad for my birthday last year, on which there is a kindle, so yes, now I do. It is very convenient for travels, and I do a lot of travelling. However, it will never replace the sensual pleasure I get from reading actual, physical books, holding them in my hand, and yes, even smelling them.
6. Which one book have you re-read most often?
I can't narrow it down to one. Also, it depends on the time frame we're talking about. Between 13 and 20, it probably was The Mists of Avalon, but I haven't read it since then. In my 20s, it probably was the Josephus trilogy by Lion Feuchtwanger, not least because I wrote my dissertation about him during that time, but also for fun. In my 30s? I discovered Neil Gaiman then, and judging by the looks of the various Sandman volumes... yes, probably the trade collections, and of those, Brief Lives. The current decade is still up for grabs.
7. How many library books do you have out right now?
Ten from the university library, eight from the city library.
8. How do you mark your place in a book?
Usually with whatever comes in handy - a bookmark, a yellow sticky paper, something torn from a newspaper - anything.
9. About how many books do you typically read in a month?
Ten at least. It depends on what I'm doing real life wise.
10. What was the last book that made you cry?
I rarely cry over books. One reliable tearjerker that is the exception to that rule is the last third of The Reckoning by Sharon Penman, which I reread last year, but nothing since then.
11. What was the last book that made you laugh?
Ciacomo Casanova's memoirs, specifically, a passage in which he turns out to be an early non-smoking campaigner, wondering how anyone could stand to swallow the smoke of other people. :)
