the Dalaverse

From linaelyn:

1. What's your name?
Dala

2. Do you read a lot?
I'd say so. I go through stages - right now I'm reading quite a bit, but not as much as a month or so ago.

3. What's your favourite genre?
Historical fiction and fantasy, I suppose. Oh, and anything Tudor.

+++FANTASY AND SCI-FI+++

4. Do you prefer fantasy or science fiction?
I'd have to go with fantasy.

5. What's your favourite fantasy book/series?
The various Tortall series (Tamora Pierce), His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman), Ruins of Ambrai (Melanie Rawn, despite the fact that she never finished the freaking trilogy), Stardust, The Graveyard Book and American Gods (Neil Gaiman), A Dirty Job (Christopher Moore - would Lamb count as well?), the Wrinkle in Time books (Madeleine L'Engle, RIP), the Young Wizards books by Diane Duane, Harry Potter. It's kind of difficult to draw the line between fantasy and sci-fi, but to me these fall more strongly on the fantasy side.

6. Who's your favourite fantasy author?
Tamora Pierce

7. What's your favourite science fiction book/series?
Hmmm...I'm going to count Connie Willis as sci-fi, I think; so Passage, Doomsday Book, and To Say Nothing of the Dog. Er...Ender's Game? I don't actually read much hard sci-fi, because most of the tradition stuff seems short on female protagonists. I suppose I could count the Thrawn trilogy. Oh, and Ray Bradbury is generally considered more sci-fi than fantasy, yes? I love The Illustrated Man and the collection of stories about Mars.

8. Favourite sci-fi author?
Connie Willis and Ray Bradbury

+++MYSTERY, HORROR AND THRILLERS+++

9. Which do you prefer: a puzzling mystery or a terrifying thriller?
I don't read much of either, actually. I guess I'd have to say thriller, since I've read a few Stephen King novels?

10. Do you have a favourite mystery novel?
I...kind of don't. Not that I can think of, anyhow.

11. A favourite horror novel?
Pet Semetary.

+++ROMANCE+++

12. Do you read romance novels?
I've read some, but none of the ones with cheesy covers. Since there's no separate category for it, I'll include the chick lit genre here (that moniker is very problematic, but is nonetheless a descriptor). It's certainly my favorite fic genre, though.

13. How about gay romance novels?
Only Mary Renault, which aren't technically romance novels. But I've read enough slash fic to fill up a bookshelf.

14. What's your favourite romance novel?
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (which could also fit under historical fiction and fantasy, but whatever). Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (I ought to hate Rebecca, but instead I love her, and Kinsella's a pretty good writer). The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory - not all of her novels could be classed as romance, but the relationship between Catherine and Arthur is really the heart of this one (historically inaccurate though it may be).

+++CHILDREN'S AND YA+++

15. What's your favourite children's book?
I'm going to leave off the ones I put in fantasy (also I can't recall a lot of these authors' names). Very young children: The Monster at the End of this Book, The Elephant's Child, Make Way for Ducklings, The Giving Tree. Young readers: The Little Prince, the Bunnicula books, Bridge to Terebithia, Lad: A Dog, Catherine Called Birdy, Stepping On the Cracks, Number the Stars, A Little Princess. I almost forgot that I was totally into horse books as well - Saddle Club, the Thoroughbred series, the Black Stallion, etc.

16. Is it the same book that was your favourite when you were a kid?
The Little Prince and The Giving Tree are still two of my favorite books, and I reread the Bunnicula series all the time.

17. What's your favourite YA book?
I remember these less well because I checked most of them out the library and didn't reread, plus I've already included my favorites in fantasy. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was enormously important to me. I remember that I really liked Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen. I was also into Francesca Lia Block. Recently finished the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray, which was pretty good (its Victorian finishing school parts are better than its fantasy parts, and the third is at least 150 pages too long). And I really did think The Graveyard Book was fab. Oh, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak! That on'es fantastic.

18. Did you actually read it as a YA?
Read A Wrinkle In Time for the first time in 5th grade, and the rest except for the recent ones in middle school.

19. In general, do you prefer children's books over grown-up books?
Depends. When I was growing up, there seemed to be a conscious effort to include more female characters in YA fantasy, and many of my all-time favorite books are from that batch. I don't see that the trend has made as much headway in adult fiction. I guess you could say that, rather than preferring children's books, most of my emotional literary attachments are to books for younger readers.

+++CLASSICS AND GENERAL FICTION+++

20. What's your favourite classic novel?
The Great Gatsby. Huck Finn. Frankenstein. 1984. The Catcher In the Rye. To Kill a Mockingbird.

21. What about general fiction?
Too broad! Recently I've loved The Time Traveler's Wife (which has fantasy elements but is not genre), Black Ships (same), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Drifters by James Michener, uh...my favorite book in high school was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, but I haven't read it in awhile.

22. What classic novel do you just *not* *get*?
We had A Farewell to Arms for senior year summer reading, and I despised it. I still can't bring myself to read any Hemingway. I also thought Thoreau came off as a pretentious douche in Walden. I hate The Stranger and I had to read it twice, once in high school and once in college. I love The Iliad, but Paris is my least favorite character IN ANYTHING EVER.

23. Do you have a favourite play or drama?
Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream (my one and only stage performance; I was one of Titania's fairies and I had no lines, but I did get to have Titania and Bottom sit on me during a scene. Megan and I made a bench out of our backs, which was somewhat awkward because of the six inch height difference), The Creation of the World and Other Business (a little-known Arthur Miller play about the first book of Genesis; it's funny and lovely), A Streetcar Named Desire (saw a production of this in Southampton and was deeply amused by the attempts at Southern accents, also by the fact that Stanley looked Italian). And all right, I was obsessed with Romeo and Juliet when the Luhrman movie came out. I was in sixth grade, okay, and powerless against the DiCaprio. It's got some of old Bill's best turns of phrase, and I can still recite the Prologue in one breath.

24. What do you think of Shakespeare?
He is The Man.

+++POETRY+++

25. Could you pick a favourite poem?
Honestly? Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out, by Shel Silverstein; The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carrol. I'm not much for poetry, although I do like WB Yeats.

26. What about a favourite poetry collection?
Where the Sidewalk Ends!

27. Who's your favourite poet?
Shel Silverstein

+++COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS+++

28. Do you read comics or graphic novels?
Not really. I intend to read Watchmen before the movie comes out.

29. Do you have a favourite series?
Nope.

30. A favourite book?
I remember reading a collection of Grimms' Fairy Tales (the original creepy versions) in comic form, which was pretty good.

+++SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS+++

31. Do you prefer short stories (or short novels) over full-length novels?
Almost never. I like short stories, but I always want more if the writing is good (same trouble with poetry, really).

32. What's your favourite short story?
All Summer In a Day by Ray Bradbury, Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne...there are probably others I can't think of, mostly Bradbury. The Veldt from The Illustrated Man is creepy-excellent.

32b. Favourite novella?
The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain. They are hilarious and touching.

33. Favourite short story collection?
The Illustrated Man. Of course, that's the only one I actually own.

34. Do you have a favourite short story author?
Bradbury. He's very good at short form, and I can take hard sci-fi better in smaller doses.

+++NONFICTION+++

35. What kind of nonfiction do you usually read?
I've read mostly British history, especially the Tudor period, plus archaeology books from various periods and disciplines.

36. Do you have a favourite nonfiction book?
Antonia Fraser's The Six Wives of Henry VIII is fabulous. But my all-time favorite is Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (which everyone around me knows I refer to as simply The Dead Body Book). She's written two others since, but Stiff is the best. Oh, and Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Marley and Me by John Grogan and The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory.

37. Read any interesting biographies?
The aforementioned Fraser book, plus her biography of Marie Antoinette. Amanda Foreman's biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is very good. Angela's Ashes is great. Right now I'm reading John Grogran's second book The Longest Trip Home, which is more of a straight-up biography - he's a good writer and I'm enjoying it.

38. History books?
(Adding archaeology) X Marks the Spot: The Archaeology of Piracy; In Small Things Forgotten by James Deetz; The Mary Rose by Margaret Rule; Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly; Warrior Queens by Antonia Fraser (seriously, she is the shit); Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis; 1776 by David McCullough (when it comes to history, I definitely have a type)

39. Politics?
I don't read much on politics, actually. Does Al Franken count.

40. Religious texts?
I used an annotated NIV Bible for a course in college, and the footnotes were fascinating. I should buy one of those sometime. At the other end of the spectrum I'm currently reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, which is interesting as long as you bring your grains of salt. Oh, and The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs is a funny, insightful read. I'm going to count Lamb just because I have the special edition that looks like a Bible.

41. How about books on mythology, fairy-tales or other cultural stories?
I totally stole D'aulaire's book of Greek Mythology from my sixth grade English teacher. I also read Bulfinch's mythology in that whole phase. Really liked Lady Gregory's stuff on Irish mythology.

+++ELEMENTS OF FICTION+++

42. What's the most important element of a novel? Plot? Characterization? Style? Themes? Happy ending?
For me, characterization is the most important. Examples: Libba Bray is not so good with plot, but her characters were keenly drawn; I had a hard time getting into Tolkien because he's very good at plot but not so much at characterization. A happy ending is not important AT ALL. I have very strong aversions to some styles (I hated A Farewell to Arms because the language was so plain as to be harsh-sounding in my brain) and a great fondness for others (Fitzgerald's imagery and lush but not purple prose).

43. What kind of plot interests you the most?
I like a traditional hero's journey, with the occasional twist. I also love revenge stories.

44. What kind of characters usually appeal to you?
I like characters who are smart but perhaps not so self-aware as they like to think. They've got to have flaws.

45. What is your favourite book overall (fiction)?
The Great Gatsby. If I had to pick one, I suppose that would be it.

Okay, that took me over an hour. I'm sure I'll go back and add stuff I forgot.