An (almost) Liebster award!!

Yasmine Rose’s Book Blog is one I discovered fairly recently and have been following since. Yasmine is a keen reader and feminist, so we have quite a lot in common as book lovers! She was nominated for a Liebster award recently and mentioned in her post that she would have nominated me but my name has already been put forward a couple of times. However, I’m always happy to ramble on about books, so I’m having a little go at her questions anyway!

What was your favourite book as a child/teen?

It’s hard to pick out just one – I used to devour many, many Enid Blytons when I was young  (and was pleased to find they still stand up to re-reading now!) so she was  probably my first favourite author. I particularly adored the “Adventure” series.

Who is/are your favourite author/s?

How long have you got? I’d have to list several – Italo Calvino, Paul Morley, Dostoevsky, Bulgakov, Simone de Beauvoir, Colette, Virginia Woolf – and more recent Georges Perec. So many books, so little time…

Which book, or books, has had the most influence or impact on you?

Again, it’s hard to pick out just one when you’re as old as I am and have read as much as I have! The book “Literary Women”, which I read in the early 1980s was very influential as it pointed me at some most amazing women writers. “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf gave me a major obsession with the Bloomsberries and a life-long love of Woolf’s prose. Calvino’s “If on a winter’s night a traveller” is still high on the list of desert island books, and made me unafraid of reading so-called difficult books.

What is your favourite literary era/time period?

Definitely the 20th century – up to about 1980. Although I like to read the 19th century too, but I don’t get on well with modern books as a rule.

How would you describe yourself as a reader?

Omnivorous and greedy!

What is the worst book you have ever read?

Wow! I’ve read a few! Possibly any of Robert Service’s biographies of Russian revolutionaries – they’re so biased and full of errors and misinterpretations I can’t bear them.

Why did you start blogging about books?

I guess because I had started reading lots of book blogs and got so much out of them, and so much enjoyment, that I just wanted to start giving something back and sharing my own thoughts and feelings about my favourite books.

What is the most rewarding or challenging aspect of blogging?

The most challenging is finding time to do a review and also getting my thoughts into some kind of coherent form! Rewarding, when you hit a nerve and find other people who love the same books as you do.

Can you pinpoint the exact moment where you discovered your love of/interest in books?

Not really – I’ve just always read and always loved books, for as long as I can remember. All my pocket-money, when I had it, would go on Enid Blytons, and I had a few old battered classics (“LIttle Women” and the like) that I would read over and over again.

How often do you read, and for how long?

As often as I can and for as long as I can! Even if it’s only five minutes over breakfast, I’ll fit in a few pages, but I’d rather have a good hour or so when it’s possible.

Do you watch TV/movie adaptations of books, if so what is your favourite adaptation and why?

Not often – I’m a bit picky about them, especially if they mess with the conceptions of the characters and settings I have in my head. However, I *loved* to bits the Bortko 2005 Russian version of “The Master and Margarita” – I thought it was spot-on and I could watch it over and over again.

Nice questions, Yasmine – thanks!