Friday Fiver

[ringsandcoffee]

1. Most everyone will recommend a book or two to read, but are there any you would tell people to avoid?
As a young kid, I remember HATING Pippi Longstocking, and struggling through The Secret Garden. Daniel Deronda started ok but I only finished it for the sake of finishing it (and the miniseries was even more painful).

2. If you take a book on vacation, are you more likely to take something you haven't read yet or an old favorite?
One I haven't read.

3. Do you read any genres by the season? Like horror around Halloween? Cozy Mysteries in the Winter? Romance in the Summer?
No. I mainly read memoirs, then non-fiction, and sprinkle in fiction here and there. I line them on the shelf in the order I bought them, so just read the next one up.

4. If you read a lot of Fiction do you prefer an author that has a series with the same character(s), or do you prefer stand-alone stories?
Not a lot of fiction, but when I do, stand-alones.

5. Is there a book that you wish you could read again, but experience it like it was the first time?
Maybe Jane Eyre,, which is my favorite.

Comments

[ragnarok_08]

Here are my answers:

1) I haven't read It Ends With Us, but I've heard it leaves a LOT to be desired.

2) I'd take a book I haven't read yet.

3) I do like to read mysteries and horror around Halloween.

4) I usually prefer to read stand-alone stories.

5) So many books, especially one I read recently, Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo.

[lookfar2]

I encountered Pippi Longstocking on a cassette tape when my kids were little. I don't think I listened too hard because these were go-to-sleep activities. But when Honora was old enough to read them on her own, I got her the books and I was amazed at what they really were - a child's fantasy of being free of adults' constraints. Pippi does whatever she likes and she lives alone and likes it. Tommy and Annika are the reader stand-ins, who enjoy Pippi's freedom from the safety of their own sheltered life next door. I was like, Oh, these are about throwing off the chains of social conformity, but for children. I liked them a lot for that reason, and I wonder why people don't think of them as radical.

[ringsandcoffee]

Thank you for confirming that Pippi Longstocking really IS a book, as I started to doubt my memory. I've never touched the book since then, so I'll have to take your word it's merit.