20 questions about books

On one of the Swedish blogs I follow there was a post with 20 questions about books. They were in Swedish ofc, but here are my translations and my answers :)

1. Which book has been in your bookcase the longest?
I'd say it's probably Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Swedish, which has been in my bookcase, continuously, since I was 8 or 9. I would've said Philosopher's Stone in Swedish, but my first issue of that one fell to pieces so the issue I have of Chamber of Secrets is now actually older than my issue of Philosopher's Stone. I have one Chip n' Dale book too, which I saved from the trash when my grandmother moved from her house to a flat. I adored that book as a small child and couldn't watch it getting thrown away. But although I've probably had that since before Harry Potter, it wasn't in my bookcase. I only had it at my grandmother's house. So Harry Potter takes the spotlight on this one.

2. What are you reading right now, what was your last read, and what are you planning to read next?
Right now I'm reading Burton & Swinburne in The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. It's a steampunk/fantasy/mystery/detective novel and I really enjoy it. Before that I was reading Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper, which is your classic medieval setting fantasy novel, and it was totally amazing. Next I'm not sure but it will probably be Mistle Child by Ari Berk, or Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole. Mistle Child is a fantasy/horror novel set in the present. Ten Little Aliens is a Doctor Who adventure featuring the First Doctor and his companions Ben and Polly.

3. Mention a book that everyone seems to love but you hate.
This is a tricky one cause I'm very slow on reading the books that "everyone reads". I have Hunger Games, Cirkeln, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Hobbit in my bookcase but I haven't read any of them yet. But I think I'll have to say The Fellowship of the Ring. I tried really hard to read it when I was 14 or 15, but it was so boring that I just stopped after their visit to Tom Bombadill. I just couldn't take it anymore. And I'm a person who finds it very hard not to finish reading a book after I've started.

4. What book are you telling yourself that you will read although you probably never will?
Anything by Asimov. He's the father of modern sci-fi and I have a lot of friends who read his books and love them, but I'm not a huge sci-fi fan and although I keep telling myself that I'll read Asimov at some point, I probably never will.

5. What book are you saving 'til "retirement"?
I think I'll have to say the final two volumes of Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children. I read the first 4 while I was in high school and since then the final two have been released.

6. Last page: do you read it first or last?
I don't really read it, but I have a strange habit of wanting to see what the final word is. I don't do it all the time though. So I guess I read it last.

7. Author's Acknowledgements: waste of paper or do you read them?
Sometimes I read them and sometimes I don't. Sometimes the acknowledgements are really heartfelt and that's when I read them. Sometimes they're just a long long list of names and that's when I don't read them.

8. Which character in a book would you want to trade places with?
Maybe Rose Weasley? That way I could go to Hogwarts without the constant threat of Voldemort, but the stories would still be really close since my parents would've been in the midst of fighting him. And I'd be a Weasley and Molly would probably be an amazing grandmother.

9. Is there any book that reminds you of something special (a person, a place, or a specific time)?
I bought Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on my first ever trip to England in 2005. I read it all there and it will forever remind me of how 14 year-old me sat in my bed at my host mother's house and cried my eyes out in the middle of the night cause Dumbledore had just died. Similarly, Stardust will always remind me of sitting in my pajamas in my room at my host mother's house in Tokyo, and Fragile Things will always remind me of my trip to Seoul and how it got cheap Korean beer all over it cause I forgot to put it away before the party started.

10. Is there any book that you've acquired in an odd way?
I have a Bible in my bookcase. I'm not at all religious, but this Bible I recieved from my grandmother. It's from the late 19th century and it was her mother's confirmation gift. I have my great-grandmother's Bible in my bookcase and it is printed entirely in gothic lettering.

11. Have you at any time given a book to a specific person for a specific reason?
Yes, several times. I find that books make the easiest gifts.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?
Fragile Things has been with me to Tokyo, Seoul and then around Sweden.

13. Any book that you were forced to read in school and hated, but isn't that bad ten years later?
In 3rd grade we read Solstenen by Maj Bylock. I hated it back then cause I thought it was boring. So boring that it's still vividly imprinted in my mind. But when I was a teenager I fell in love with the historical fantasy series Häxprovet by the same author. I think I'd probably like Solstenen now, if I gave it a chance.

14. What is the strangest thing you've found in a book?
My mum enjoyed to press flowers in books when I was younger and she was young. I took after that and also pressed flowers in books as a child. And to this day I still find flowers between the pages of certain books at my parents' house. It might not be strange, but I'm not a fan of second hand books unless they're really very very old, and I don't use libraries anymore cause I always want to keep the book after I've read it. So flowers it is.

15. Brand new or second hand?
Preferably brand new unless it's antique. I want to bend and batter a book myself. The more battered, the more loved.

16. Stephen King - literary genius or crappy author?
I've only read a few of his books and I've enjoyed what I've read so I wouldn't call him crappy, but neither of the books I've read by him has had me on clouds all day or given me a book hangover. So I wouldn't call him a literary genius either.

17. Have you ever seen a film you've enjoyed more than the book?
Easy. The Fellowship of the Ring. I don't particularly like the first movie either, but it's leagues better than the first book.

18. On the other side - which book should never have made the big screen?
Harry Potter 4-6 are blasphemous.

19. Have you ever read a book that has made you hungry (not cook books)?
In many fantasy novels they usually eat stews. Several different types of stew. I love stew. Especially my dad's stews. So reading about them eating stew makes me long for autumn when my dad will make stew again.

20. Is there anyone whose book tips you always read?
I wouldn't say read, but at the Sci-Fi bookstores in Stockholm and Malmö there are usually small shelves called "The Nerds Recommend" and I always take a look at those shelves to see if there's anything that interests me.