Hooliganism: A to Z Book Survey

Posted by bennardfajardo on November 12, 2013 · 5 Comments 

Apparently, a book survey is making the rounds in the internet specifically on book blogs. I first saw the post on KyusiReader and I’ve decided to do the survey on my blog. It makes for an interesting entry, it will make up for my lack of blogging lately, and it’s fun to fill out. Trifecta.

Here goes:

Author you’ve read the most books from

This is a no-brainer since, my favorite writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is my most read author not just in the number of books read but also in the number of rereads that I did with his works. I especially liked his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude; his novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold; and his short story collection, Strange Pilgirms.

Best sequel ever
I don’t read a lot of book series that’s why I don’t have a lot of books to choose from but I think this is a contest between Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling or The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carre.

Currently reading
I’m currently reading Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem while also perusing Neil Gaiman’s Sandman as my bedtime reading for at least two months now.

Drink of choice while reading
I don’t usually drink while reading.

E-reader or physical book
I still love paper and I’m not quite ready to have an e-reader yet. Although I do use my tablet for reading graphic novels.

Fictional character you probably would have dated in high school
This is quite the hard question but I think Rio, from Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters, would be someone that I’d be interested in since  she is intelligent, gentle, and not in-your-face about her beauty. Quite like someone that I know. *wink*

Glad you gave this book a chance
Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I’m not really much of a YA reader but this book opened doors for me. I think after reading this, I am now more comfortable in exploring other genres and literally not judging books by their covers.

Hidden gem book
The NYRB Classics imprint and Melville House’s Art of The Novella are, in my opinion, filled with hidden gems. For NYRB, there’s Vladimir Sorokin’s The Queue and Stefan Zweig’s Journey Into The Past. From Melville House, there’s Alexander Pushkin’s Tales of Belkin and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s May Day.

Important moment in your reading life
In high school, I read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez and I remember that that’s the point in which I fell truly in love with books. Due to the books I’ve read during those times, there are some anecdotes at that point in my life related to King Arthur and Don Quixote but those are stories for another time.

Just finished
I just finished Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game and Elmore Leonard’s When the Women Came Out to Dance. Two books that are usually outside of my preferred genres but I ended up liking reading them.

Kinds of books you won’t read
As much as I want to venture into other genres, I think I am not quite prepared to read Erotica and Romance yet.

Longest book you’ve read
Clocking in at 852 pages, it’s George RR Martin’s A Feast for Crows.

Major book hangover because of
Because of the way he ends his works, I get major hangovers for every Paul Auster work that I’ve read. Also, I think Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man and Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado deserves a mention too.

Number of bookcases I own
Sadly, I don’t have any bookcases.

One book read multiple times
I usually reread One Hundred Years of Solitude once a year. Plus I sometimes revisit Hogwarts by haphazardly reading through the Harry Potter series every now and then.

Preferred place to read
Anywhere as long as I can read in peace.

Quote that inspires you or give you all the feels from the book you read

This quote from Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita essentially describes how I feel about literature being timeless and immortal:

“Manuscripts don’t burn.”

Simple but quite effective.

Reading regret

I don’t think I have any.

Series you started and need to finish
Well, there’s A Song of Ice and Fire and that’s not going to happen until GRRM finish writing the series but I haven’t read Dance with Dragons yet. There’s also John le Carre’s Karla Trilogy since I haven’t read the last book of the series yet.

Three of your all-time favorite books
It’s hard to choose just three because there’s just so many plus the list changes everyday but, right now, I’m thinking of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Paul Auster’s Man in the Dark, and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.

Unapologetic fanboy for
I’m not really sure what this question means but I’m really a fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. How many times did I mention his name in this post again?

Very excited about this release more than all others
I’m not really the kind of person that looks forward to the release of a book but I’m pretty excited for David Mitchell’s next work and Jeffrey Eugenide’s short story collection.

Worst bookish habit
Book buying and book hoarding that’s impulsive.

Your latest book purchase
I bought Madeleine Miller’s The Song of Achilles and Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach.

ZZZ-snatcher book (the last book that kept you awake)
I read Motherless Brooklyn until 2 AM last night (or morning).

Well, that was fun.

Filed under Books, Hooliganism · Tagged with Books, Hooliganism, Survey