55 Quirky Questions for Readers

I created a fun little questionnaire to determine my (and others) reading personality. My conclusions are vague and hardly scientific (hah!), but I think it’s safe to say that my book addiction is here to stay. Feel free to cut and paste the questionnaire onto your own blogs, or if you would like to add a question, please do so! Did I miss anything? Let me know! Change it around or leave as is… it’s up to you.

1. Favourite childhood book: Nate the Great series

2. What are you reading right now? Be Nice by Anabel Donald

3. What books do you have on request at the library? Girl Crazy by Russell Smith and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

4. Bad book habit: very high library fines. Eeek.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis.

6. Do you have an e-reader? No. I haven’t been able to make the leap yet.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? For school, I had to read 3 or 4 books simultaneously. Now that I’m finished, I stick to one, two maximum.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Yes! The recommendations that come from my fellow bloggers have led me to some fantastic fiction I might never have found.

9.Least favourite book you read this year: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

10. Favourite book I’ve read this year: The Ministry of Pain by Dubravka Ugresic.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I’d say 20% of what I read is out of my usual go-to “safe” genres.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? Fiction. Theory and philosophy make me nervous.

13. Can you read on the bus? Yes, though sometimes I get nauseous.

14. Favourite place to read: the balcony during the summer.

15. What’s your policy on book lending? I prefer to lend a book after I’ve had a chance to read it, though that doesn’t always work out.

16. Do you dogear your books? Yes.

17. Do you write notes in the margins of your books? Yes, but only in extreme situations. My copy of Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying is highlighted and has several notes throughout the margins. I agreed with every word!

18. Do you break/crack the spine of your books? I avoid it at all costs.

19. What is your favourite language to read? English is my mother tongue, so I guess this isn’t a surprise (and, with help, French)

20. What makes you love a book? The characters make or break a story for me.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? If the novel has changed my opinion on something or expanded my knowledge of an intriguing subject, I will be tempted to spread it around.

22. Favourite genre: psychological thrillers

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did): drama/plays

24. Favourite Biography: Natalie Wood by Gavin Lambert

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? (And, was it actually helpful?) I’m in the process of reading Soul Craft by Bill Plotkin, which is actually very inspiring and full of great ideas for meditation, etc.

26. Favourite Cookbook: The Eat Clean Cookbook by Tosca Reno.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction): Judith by Aritha Van Herk

28. Favourite reading snack: liquorice

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience: New Moon & Breaking Dawn (books 2 and 4 in the Twilight saga).

30. How often do you agree with the critics about about a book? Rarely. For whatever reason, I usually have the opposite reaction to the “official critics” about both fiction and film. Go figure.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? If it’s my honest opinion, I’m okay with it, though I have absolutely no intention of being malicious. Honesty is just very important to me. I hope that I’ve never discouraged anyone from reading a book.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you choose? Croatian or Russian.

33. Most intimidating book I’ve read: I’m currently reading Middlemarch by George Eliot! So far, so good. It’s a little slow, but it has its juicy moments.

34. Most intimidating book I’m too nervous to begin: Ulysses by James Joyce

35. Favourite Poet: Sylvia Plath

36. How many books do you usually have checked out from the library at any given time? 8-10 (used to be 15-20…)

37. How often do you return books to the library unread? Half are usually unread.

38. Favourite fictional character: Dolores Haze, aka Lolita

39. Favourite fictional villain: Dexter

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation: YA or mass market paperback thrillers

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading: When I finished school, my brain was fried for about 2 months. I didn’t touch anything thicker than a magazine for quite some time.

42. Name a book you could/would not finish: Ghosted by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall; I started it earlier this summer but the characters were annoyingly masochistic. Maybe it was the story, I’m not sure. I just couldn’t get into it.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? If the television volume is too loud, the sentences on the page get mixed up with the voices in the air.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel: The Constant Gardner

45. Most disappointing film adaptation: Savage Grace (I’ve only read 1/2 the non-fiction crime book, but the movie did not do it justice. Don’t get me wrong, Julianne Moore was fantastic, but the overall film was somewhat lackluster.)

46. Most money I’ve ever spent in a bookstore at one time: $100CDN

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? 100% of the time!

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book halfway through? If the plot feels circular and if the characters are horrifically offensive. Usually, if a book makes me angry, I’ll put it back on the shelf or return it to the library. Sometimes I’ll continue reading at a later date, but sometimes I give up.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? I used to, but now they’re in random piles and stuffed in boxes.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once they’ve been read? Depends on the book. I’ll keep classics, but I’ll usually give away my paperback thrillers. If a book has affected me deeply, I like to have a copy for future reference.

51. Are there any books that you’ve been avoiding? Precious by Sapphire. The prospect of reading this book makes me want to cry. My friend loaned it to me and I would like to read it, but it sounds so heartbreaking. I’ll eventually read it, but it’ll take me some time.

52. Name a book that made you angry: Osama Van Halen

53. A book I didn’t expect to like but did: The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad.

54. A book I expected to like but didn’t: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

55. Favourite guilt-free guilty pleasure reading: John Grisham & Wendy Corsi Staub.

Do you want to take the quiz? Go ahead and post the questionnaire on your blog! Or, feel free to add questions in the comments! This is all in good fun, but I’m always curious to hear about the quirks and habits of other readers!

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