This week’s question is from the lovely Chris:

Here’s something for Valentine’s Day.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back? – BTT

I don’t think this has happened to me for writers. Generally with authors I’ve read more than one book and stopped, I get bored or “grow” out of their books. For example, Meg Cabot: straightforward chick lit that can sometimes get a laugh out of me, but I haven’t read any of her books in awhile though. Most of the time, I want to read books from authors I haven’t read in awhile. I’m very understanding with my authors if they screw up, I know they can write better. I forgive and move on.

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells? – BTT

I knit! Except I’m exasperated with the vest I am making and just about to rip a few rows. Anyway, I do fair share of my leisure time knitting. I watch films. Since I’m back to working out, I do that too. I surf the net too much. While I took a lot of photographs in 2007, I haven’t done any major photography in awhile. I’ve been forced to stay away from baking for awhile. Sometimes I go out with friends, but only when the mood strikes.

By the by, Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!

Sometimes I find eccentric characters quirky and fun, other times I find them too unbelievable and annoying. What are some of the more outrageous characters you’ve read, and how do you feel about them? – BTT

For the most part, I don’t find many characters really annoying. I had to check back on the books I read.

Jane  Eyre: Mr. Rochester I think counts. I find a lot of eccentric, well written characters amusing and he’s definitely that.

Wuthering Heights: I found both Cathy and Healthcliff incredibly annoying. Moreso Cathy who isn’t eccentric as so much as incredibly self-absorbed.

Watership Down:  General Woundwort is crazy, but incredibly well written villain.

Rebecca: Mrs. Danver is also crazy, and I found her incredibly creepy. Annoying, but necessary to the plot.

Time Quartet by Madeleine L’Engle: Sometimes I found Charles Wallace too precocious that it didn’t warm me to him.

Winnie the Pooh: Pooh is very quirky, and I love him for it.

Leo Tolstoy, Lewis Carroll, Thomas, Hardy, Louis de Bernieres, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman and many authors I read all  write many eccentric characters in their works. I vary from loving them to just being amused or indifferent.

There are many more eccentric characters I could name, but I’m not bothered by them for the most part. Often, they weirdest characters serve a lot of the valuable purpose to the plot of the book if not their outrageous presence.

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?” – BTT

I am really quite predictable since I love classics and books most people have heard of.  I think The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa is simply wonderful but not totally unknown. A lot of people I know don’t really get into graphic novels so they aren’t aware of Neil Gaiman’s work or Sandman. Speaking of graphic novels, this one counts, but I forget to add it to my GN challenge recs: Griffin and Sabine Trilogy by Nick Bantock. In nonfiction, I love a lot of memoirs and travel books such as Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik and Blue Latitudes: Boldy Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz.

In a lot of cases, while some well read people on the blogsophere or bibliophiles have heard of books, I have a lot of friends who are not big readers and will go “Huh?” when I say I like Jose Saramago,  Milan Kundera, Neil Gaiman, etc.

This week’s question is suggested by Puss Reboots:

How much do reviews (good and bad) affect your choice of reading? If you see a bad review of a book you wanted to read, do you still read it? If you see a good review of a book you’re sure you won’t like, do you change your mind and give the book a try? – BTT

In general, I prefer not to read reviews of things such as movies or books. When I was impressionable, I found them affecting the way I watched the film. Usually the bad reviews. I’m the type of person that wants to see the good in these things, and if I can’t, I rather be the one who sees the bad. It’s impossible to not read reviews though or catch news of books. I read book blogs, but I find those reviews connected and closer than newspaper book reviews. If I do see a bad review of a book I want to read, for the most part, I’ll still read it. I usually read book from authors I like, and my relationship with them is fairly stable and committed.  As for good reviews, I do tend to note the books because they are a good way to find other books.

1. How did you come across your favorite author(s)? Recommended by a friend? Stumbled across at a bookstore? A book given to you as a gift?
2. Was it love at first sight? Or did the love affair evolve over a long acquaintance? – BTT

I like many authors. Often, the ones who have past are found through my readings of classic books. Sometimes, I saw the movie version of a book and picked it up. Alot of books were recommended or discussed with others. I know a friend who shares my interest in Nick Hornby, another who loves E. M. Forster as much as I do.

As with most things, it was love at first sight mostly. I tend to know what I like and feel my way first. Some authors grow on me to be sure though.

Do you get on a roll when you read, so that one book leads to the next, which leads to the next, and so on and so on?

I don’t so much mean something like reading a series from beginning to end, but, say, a string of books that all take place in Paris. Or that have anthropologists as the main character. Or were written in the same year. Something like that… Something that strings them together in your head, and yet, otherwise could be different genres, different authors… – BTT

Well, I’ve done the whole reading a series thing, by the same author thing, but theme wise, I’m not too sure. I also read the same genre quite a bit as I go through stints where I’ll read a lot of food books, memoirs, or travel books in a small time period. I think I have read a couple books about Paris on a roll before. If I look really hard at my book lists in previous years, I could probably find some more themes. In general, I usually read books as they come to me on request from the library or lent by friends, etc.

I would enjoy reading a meme about people’s abandoned books. The books that you start but don’t finish say as much about you as the ones you actually read, sometimes because of the books themselves or because of the circumstances that prevent you from finishing. So . . . what books have you abandoned and why? – BTT

Sometimes, I’ve had to abandon books due to time which is why I put The Two Towers on hold; I haven’t finished LOTR for that reason. Some books require more attention over time.  Usually, it’s circumstances. Very rarely do I abandon a book because I’ve disliked it so much. I usually pick books I have an idea I’d like, and a book can’t be all that bad. The one memorable book I’ve abandoned is Mists of Avalon. I’ve mentioned that before, but I’ve tried to finish that at least three times. Life is too short to read books I don’t enjoy at the time. I tried reading Jane Eyre when I was 15, but didn’t try again and love it until years later.