Stranger Than Fiction: Part 1

So, you know what site I haven't mentioned lately?  NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month!  I haven't officially signed up there for any of the months this year, even though I'm trying to post 365 posts in all this year, more of a NaBloPoYe.  But since I like the freedom of being able to skip a day here and there and then double up later, that didn't really seem to be in the spirit of NaBloPoMo's "post every day for a month."  So no NaBloPoMo this year for me. 

However, I do like the writing prompts at NaBloPoMo, because sometimes I need help thinking of something interesting to blog about, so boring is my life.  And when I moseyed over to the Prompts tab yesterday, you know what I discovered?  This month's theme is "Fiction"!  And I was just about to write a post about books! 

So I'm going to go through and answer all the prompts for August.  There are maybe about 20-ish, because they only give them on the weekdays, and I think sometimes they just randomly forget to post one.  I'll compose an x-part series answering the August prompts.  That x is a variable, and not Roman numeral 10.  See, you can tell it's a variable because it's italicized. 

(The previous sentence would be an example of the kind of exciting things I deal with in my everyday life.  Italicize all variables, people.  Remember it.  Live it.  Oh, and side note, remember how Richard Gere's character in Runaway Bride had a cat named Italics?  Best cat name ever!)

Anyway, my point was, I don't know how many posts it's gonna take to answer all the prompts, but I'm gonna do them all.  This time I'll answer them in order from earliest to latest prompt.  Here goes:

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August 1: What is your favourite book?  [Note British-ized spelling is theirs, not mine.]

Let me say first, that for me at least, book quality is context-specific.  If I read a book in a relatively happy situation, I'm gonna like it more than a book that I read in a stressful or annoying situation.  So I'm likely to enjoy a book more if I read it on vacation than if I read it while waiting in line at the DMV.  Obviously any given book can be read under many different circumstances, since most books aren't read in one sitting.  And a really good book can transcend poor circumstances, and vice-versa.  I'm just saying, sometimes I don't give books a fair shake because of outside circumstances. 

Case in point: all the books I've read this summer.  Since the nature of my freelance project is sort of unpredictable, sometimes I get a whole bunch of work sent to me all at once, and I don't have that much time to read for pleasure.  So I'm trying to parcel out a book into several minuscule chunks, and I forget what happened because it's been so long, and besides I'm sick of reading anyway because I read all day for work.  So, this summer I haven't really liked anything I've read.

So, back to the original question, what is your favorite book?  My favorite book is The Time Traveler's Wife, which I read during a retreat to a fancy hotel/spa in Palm Springs that my husband's company paid for.  So, as you can see, my love of that book was partially context-specific, because who doesn't love reading out by a pool after a relaxing mani/pedi?  But I think most people liked that book, no matter where they read it. 

Other books I like: The Help, Room, Hunger Games Trilogy, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Bossypants, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ... those are the only ones I can think of right now.  I also reserve a special category for "Best Book I Was Required to Read in High School," which is To Kill a Mockingbird. 

August 2: Who is your favourite author?  

I really don't have a favorite author.  I find that often an author can hit it out of the park with one book, but then his/her other book(s) may not be very good. 

August 3: Have you ever wished you could enter a book? 

Honestly, no.   To make a book interesting, there has to be a conflict, and why would I want to voluntarily enter into conflict?

August 4: Which character would you most like to meet?  

The Man With the Yellow Hat from Curious George.  That dude needs a makeover.  And I'd want to find out what his name is.  But since he's a grown man who has a pet monkey he treats like a child, and since he voluntarily wears the same outfit every day, and it's yellow, I think I'd insist upon meeting him in a public place. 

August 5: What is the best first sentence you can think of off the top of your head?

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."  Though generally speaking, reading A Tale of Two Cities was not the best of times for me.  It was sophomore year in high school, and like most high school students I was busy with sports and other activities to list on my college applications, and so I waited until the last minute to read A Tale of Two Cities.  It was probably about 3 a.m. when I finally got to "It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."  So the night I read A Tale of Two Cities was not the far, far better rest that I have ever known, but being a teenager, I was totally fine running on four hours of sleep. 

August 8: Do you always tell the truth?  

Mostly.  I am not a very good liar.


August 9: What do you think about white lies?

That term is racist. 

August 10: Fictionalize a boring part of your day and retell it.

See here.

August 11: Unpack the statement: truth is stranger than fiction.

I don't want to. 

August 12: What character would you never want to meet?

Old Nick, the rapist/captor from Room.  

August 15: What is your favourite place to read?

First and foremost, a beach.  There is nothing more peaceful than reading on a beach.  These days I very seldom get to read on a beach, though.  Mostly I do my reading in my bed.  Or on the elliptical at the gym.  And while the elliptical is not my favorite thing to do, I do appreciate that I'm able to distract myself with reading while I'm working out.  Also the ability to read in the middle of the day is a good incentive to get me to the gym.  

August 16: Do you prefer to own books or borrow them from a friend or the library?  


I like to mix it up.  If I'm at the library and they have something I want on the Hot Copies shelf, I will certainly borrow it.  I feel like anytime you borrow a book, you are doing your part for the environment and saving money.  However, I have a Kindle, and that's good for the environment too, not to mention fast, easy, lighter to carry around, and easier to read on the elliptical at the gym.  So, I do end up purchasing more books in Kindle form than I check out from the library.  Very occasionally I have a need to purchase a book in paper form, because I just want to own that book.  Tina Fey's Bossypants is an example.  I just wanted to keep that one in hard copy form in my personal library.  But usually I am just as happy to get rid of books or own them in e-book form, because my husband's books take up more than enough room in our house for the both of us. 

August 17: Talk about your favourite bookstore.

I feel like my favorite bookstore should be some quaint little independent mom 'n pop store, but I like the big-name chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble better.  Of course, Borders is out of business, so that really just leaves Barnes & Noble.  Except I never buy anything there, I just browse.  I really only get books off of Amazon for my Kindle.  So, I guess Amazon is my favorite bookstore.  I do like the idea of a small bookshop with a cat that lives there.  But I guess Amazon has a bookstore cat.  Her name is Leia. 

August 18: What was the last book you read?  

I read Sisterhood Everlasting, the latest in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.  It was so. sad.  So sad.  I just wanted to get through it to get all that sadness out of my life. 

Currently I am reading a historical fiction novel, Rules of Civility.  It's one of those books that sort of gives you a slice of everyday life in a different era (the Great Depression).  I like that kind of book, but it may not be for everyone.  I do think the author is really good, although I admit that it's one of those books where every so often you just have to accept that you have no idea what she is talking about. 

August 19: Do you like paper books or e-readers?

I kind of already answered that question above.  Mostly I'm moving over to e-readers, because it's nice to just be able to think of a book you want and then have it almost instantly. 

And, with that, I am caught up on prompts.