Book Meme

I was tagged by Cheryl for a book meme. I hadn't done one in a while (heck, I haven't updated my blog in a while), so I thought I'd do it. And hey, I finished off the final revisions on my book, so I had no excuses anyway.

1. Hardcover or paperback, and why?
Hardcover if I plan on keeping it. But then, I really love old paperbacks too. I have a whole collection of old sci-fi paperbacks and they're fun in a way that a HB can't quite be. So...I guess my real answer is "I don't care; I just like books."

2. If I were to own a book shop I would call it…
You'd think I'd have a good title all prepared. Huh. Maybe "Down the Rabbit Hole"? Kind of a double meaning there -- there's the Alice in Wonderland reference and the whole thought of losing yourself in something new and fantastic. Of course, I guess you could also get a drug reference out of it too, but let's not go there. Follow the White Rabbit and all that.

3. My favorite quote from a book (mention the title) is…
“Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.”–Lazarus Long (Robert. A. Heinlein)

I think that's from The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

And there's this, from Henry Rollins, of all people:
"If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you."

I'm not sure where that's from though. Has he written a book? Probably...maybe. I dunno.

4. The author (alive or diseased) I would love to have lunch with would be ….
Robert A. Heinlein
Harry Harrison (had dinner with him once; would love to see him again - he's awesome)
Douglas Adams
P. L. Travers

5. If I was going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except from the SAS survival guide, it would be…
Could I cheat and say a set of Encyclopedias? That's kind of like one big book, right?

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that….
...was like a hand-held scanner and you could just point it at a bunch of books on the shelf and it would catalog them all to your computer.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of….
happiness

8. If I could be the lead character in a book (mention the title), it would be….
I think I've read too many books to answer this. Maybe Coraline, if I had to pick one. She's brave and plucky and she's got her whole life ahead of her. It would really depend. And besides, for a book to be good, there's got to be conflict. Take poor Harry, for instance. Would you really want to go through everything he did? Of course, I wouldn't really want to go through what Coraline did either...

9. The most overestimated book of all times is….
Ulysses. I'm sorry, but it's really almost impossible to read. I understand that what Joyce did was amazing and there's even other stuff of his I like okay, but Ulysses...just...ugh.

10. I hate it when a book….
Has a lot of typos. A minor thing, I suppose, but it always takes me out of the story. There are other things, but typos are consistently annoying.

So, I suppose I should tag someone back. I'll say Pam and Jeffy. Not that I think Jeffy has a blog, but I'd be curious to hear his answers (and he might actually read this).