Wednesday 6 August 2014

Book a Day July

As promised/threatened last month I've once more summed up all of my answers to the #BookadayUK questions for July into one place.  Some of the questions are a bit similar to those in June but I did manage to respond to a few tweets on the day this month!


1st - A book that made you laugh out loud
The Suicide Shop by Jean Tuele, trans. Sue Dyson.  Deliciously black comedy, I found it a mix of The Addams Family and Pixar's Ratatouille.

2nd - Favourite SF/Fantasy novel for world UFO day
Easier to pick authors than specific books as so many are series rather than stand-alone novels but John Wyndham is a real favourite.

3rd - Favourite novel in translation
Either The President's Hat trans. by a team at Gallic Books or All Quiet on the Western Front (new trans. by Murdoch).

4th - All time favourite American novel for 4th July Independence Day
Children's book has to be Little Women but Stoner by John Williams is one I've recommended a lot.

5th - Most delicious novel about food
I really liked Baking Cakes in Kigali and also Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe but I'm not sure I'd try the barbecue.

6th - Which book you will put down to watch the Wimbledon final
For the first time in a long time I actually stopped reading to watch the sport, I usually multitask, but I was reading Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles (again).

7th - Most chocolatey novel - it's National Chocolate Day
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without a doubt.

8th - Favourite Great War novel
Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front is probably my favourite novel set in WW1 but my favourite book about the war is Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth.

9th - Most irritating character in a novel
Pollyana.  The idea of turning a positive to a negative is fine once in a while but for two novels and countless spin-offs it is just too much.

10th - Novel with the most memorable picnic for Teddy Bear Picnic Day
Any of the ones that happen in Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of books.

11th - The book that made you cry
Many books can make me cry but John Green's The Fault in Our Stars left me a wreck for ages.

12th - Novel that best conjured a place for you
This would be Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mystery series, by the time I got to Rome I felt I knew the place and on visiting Ostia I felt I'd stepped back in time.

13th - Best title for a novel
Which ever one has just caught my eye and made me pick it over everything else I've got in a to read pile.

14th - For Bastille Day, your favourite novel about or set in France
No surprises here as I pick The President's Hat.

15th - Last book that you bought
On the day here it was the wonderful biography of the first American female in space - Sally Ride - as recommended by the team who run Space Lectures and the events in Pontefract with the astronauts.

16th - Favourite book to take to the beach
Cheating here as I have to pick my Kindle as it gives me access to 100s of books to suit whatever mood I'm in.

17th - Novel which surprised you the most
Probably On the Beach by Neville Shute as it was the first truly bleak book I ever read and I was surprised that books didn't have to have a positive ending. I was only about 12 at the time.

18th - Favourite crime novel of all time - it's the Harrogate Crime Festival
Not a favourite genre at all but I do like the Greek Detective books by Anne Zouroudi.

19th - Most memorable plot twist
We Need to Talk About Kevin. I really didn't expect how that concluded. Really powerful writing.

20th - Your desert island novel
Again I'll have to cheat and pick either my Kindle as the thought of being without a book is the scariest thing ever.

21st - The novel you expected to hate, but turned out you loved
I wasn't expecting to like Longbourn as I've not read Pride and Prejudice but it was a real surprise and favourite from 2013.

22nd - The novel you most like to give to friends
I'm always a bit worried that people won't like books I love so I tend to give book tokens!

23rd - Favourite novel with an exotic background
Twisting this to be favourite exotic background and saying anything set in Greece as they either bring back memories or inspire travel!

24th - A book that reminds you of your English teacher
My Family and Other Animals. Durrell was recommended to me by a teacher when I had no clue what to read next.

25th - Book that is your guilty pleasure
The one I'm reading when I should be doing anything else.

26th - The novel you wish you'd written
I'm a reader not a writer so it really could be any book ever written but I think that if pressed I'd pick Matilda by Roald Dahl

27th - For National Parent's Day - the best or worst parents in fiction
Predictable but Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is awesome.

28th - Favourite animal character
I think this one goes to Badger in Wind in the Willows - antisocial and grumpy but a really good friend when in need! Although Tigger will always be my true favourite character.

29th - Favourite likeable villain
Influenced by the film Hook I've always had a soft spot for Captain Hook from Peter Pan.

30th - The book that you'd like to read thanks to recommendations on the #bookadayuk thread?
I've been reminded of so many books in the past few months but I think that it is time to re-read the Swallows and Amazons series and to try The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov.

31st - The book that reminds you of someone special
Two here - Heidi and Black Beauty as my parents recommended these two to me and I still have their childhood copies of the books.

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