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wingedwalls · 4 years ago

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Teen Wolf Season 1 from Derek’s POV

So I actually think Derek’s character is very consistently written, and that seasons 1 and 2 are examples of excellent writing (I know, shocker of an unpopular opinion around here 😂). I've been thinking about Derek's portrayal, and what the story looks like from his perspective, and it's like a different show altogether, so I thought I'd share.

Let’s take a moment to think about The Story So Far, from Derek’s POV:

• Derek was an arrogant jock brought up in a loving but very large family (ie used to a certain level of independence, and who would need to really act up for any adult other than Uncle Peter to pay attention and get involved).

• Not going to go into the Paige thing at this point, in case anyone reading this has only seen season 1.

• Falls for Kate, who takes advantage of him and eventually burns down his house, with all of his family in it except one of his sisters. Comes back from school to find his home burnt down, his family dead, and puts two and two together in his mind. What would young Derek have learned from that? A few things: don’t trust people, ever. It makes you too vulnerable. Don’t let people in, it puts you and yours in literal danger. It’s All His Fault and he basically killed his family. And - Seduction is power.

• Moves to New York and tries to get over this trauma. Probably doesn’t get very far, since the number one lesson he learned in his life is Don’t Let People In. He becomes a very angry person.

• Eventually Laura tells him she’s off to Beacon Hills to investigate. This is probably not something that came out of the blue, rather she was probably investigating the cause of the fire as a way of coping with her grief. Not only does Derek not have that, he had to spend 6 years watching her do that, knowing that he was responsible for their deaths (in his mind), and not being able to say anything. Either she wouldn’t figure it out, and he would feel guilty forever, or she would, and she would hate him forever. He lived with this eating him up for 6 years. Then off to Beacon Hills she goes, saying she’s close to figuring something out, but not telling Derek why.

• Then she goes radio silent. Derek has no reason to equate this radio silence with anything other than “she found out it was me, and now she hates me.” But Laura is literally all he has. So he goes to Beacon Hill the next morning, to try and explain. Instead, he finds half of her dead body in the woods. That’s the dead body of the last person who ever cared about him. (Not counting Peter - because while Derek cares for Peter, who was arguably his closest family member before the fire, he doesn’t expect him to ever recover). Laura is dead, and it’s probably hunters, and the only way to not let guilt and grief take over is to focus on his anger. He takes Laura back to the burnt out husk of his family home, and buries her under the family symbol for revenge.

• Literally within a few hours of him finding Laura’s body, two people come sniffing around the exact scene of the crime. He goes to check it out - it’s clear they’ve been here before (he found the inhaler) but it’s also clear they’re not hunters. They’re useless teenagers. One of them smells like a wolf. He tells them to fuck off.

• These two kids might not have been hunters, but there’s something weird going on with them. So he stalks them to try and find out what’s going on.

• Turns out this Scott kid was newly bitten. There’s something else going on here - an alpha who isn’t Laura. He’s apparently turning people, making new wolves. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? He’s not sure.

• But things are getting more complicated - the Argents are back. Not Kate, no, thank god, but her brother and his kid. And Scott is making all of the same mistakes he used to make - he needs to stop this before it all blows up in his face.

• Before he gets a chance to get his mind around any of this, let alone mourn the loss of his sister whose body he just discovered a couple of days ago, shit hits the fan and those asshole teenagers GET HIM ARRESTED FOR LAURA’S MURDER. That’s what he gets for not being distrustful enough of people. These idiots are going around like they know everything, when it’s clear they know NOTHING. He tells them exactly that.

• There’s not enough evidence, and so after this utterly humiliating experience, they let him go. Despite this, nobody doubts for a second that Derek is guilty.

• The one saving grace in this situation is that the Argents don’t know he’s here. But Scott is still making all the same mistakes Derek made in the past. And so Derek, who hasn’t had a single friend in literal YEARS, is poorly socialised, and has only ever had the great example of Peter as a mentor, actually tries to take Scott under his wing. He really, really *tries*. He just sucks at it.

• Scratch that, the Argents know he’s here, and they know who he is. He was just minding his own business at the service station when Argent tried to intimidate him and smashed up his car.

• This rogue alpha situation is becoming a problem, so Derek begins to go out at night and look for him.

• One such night he’s out tracking the alpha, there’s a commotion. The alpha attacks a car. As Derek moves to get closer, he gets shot in the leg. Uh oh. Hopefully it’ll heal. He slinks back to the preserve and his burnt out husk of a house.

• Well, shit. It was a Wolfsbane bullet. It’s not healing. That is NOT good. He needs help, or he’s going to die.

• Derek has not asked for help in a very long time. Not as a teenager, when it would’ve made him look weak, and not since the fire, because he literally doesn’t trust anyone enough to help. But this time he’s completely alone. And if he doesn’t get help, he’s going to die. SCOTT. Scott can help. He’s been helping Scott, so Scott owes him. He’s an idiot, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Scott needs his help, so Scott needs him alive, so Scott will help.

• Scott doesn’t care. Derek makes him to the school, barely conscious, and asks Scott’s peer - Jackson - where he is. That asshole won’t even tell him. He tries to carry on but pretty much passes out in the corridor. He’s literally on the brink of death in a building full of people, and is actively asking for help, and NOBODY CARES. NOBODY even STOPS.

• Eventually he makes it out, finds Scott and his friend, and they tell him to fuck off. Seriously?! He passes out again. Scott is like “Stiles, you deal with him, I don’t have time for this shit.” And leaves. They keep joking about letting him die.

• For all the nasty comments, that kid driving the jeep is the only one who actually hasn’t left him to die. Scratch that, he wants to dump him at his house and ditch him. His house with no locks where everyone who wants him dead knows to find him. Derek starts to panic.

• Derek has hours left to live and nobody is helping. Even though he has made it simple for them and told them exactly how to help. Scott, the one person he thought might care, is literally taking his time having dinner with his abusers’ daughter instead of doing the one thing that can save his life. Fuck it, he’s just going to cut off his own arm.

• Scott makes it back with the bullet in the nick of time. Fuck people.

• To add insult to injury, Derek has a run in with Chris at the service station and he smashes up his car.

• Derek is back at home, minding his own business, when the literal worst thing that could possibly happen happens. KATE ARGENT shows up in his home. The last time she was here, she was burning his family alive. She shows up with guns, incapacitates him, taunts him about his dead sister, his dead family, tries to pump him for information, and when none is forthcoming and it becomes clear he’s “outlived his usefulness” - she tries to kill him.

• Derek runs. The house isn’t safe anymore.

• Derek still tries. He tries to make an ally out of Scott. He’s the only non-psychopathic werewolf left in Beacon Hills. Derek has no pack, no one. They’re stronger and safer together. If only he would stop being such an idiot.

• His search for the alpha points to Deaton. The guy clearly knows things. Things about him. He is not forthcoming with information. Derek has no time for this shit. He roughs him up a bit. Unfortunately, Scott picks that night to come up with the stupidest plan EVER and apparently decides to broadcast his existence to all of Beacon Hills. Aaand then he gets mauled by the alpha.

• To add insult to injury, when he comes to Derek finds out that Scott has thrown him under the bus by telling the fucking sheriff that he, Derek Hale, trapped a bunch of kids at the school, kept them hostage, and killed a man. Great. Now all of beacon hills wants him dead. Back to being on the run. It’s not like his home is a safe place to stay anyway.

• He needs help, but the last time he asked for help that didn’t go so well. Scott didn’t give a shit. A building full of people left him for dead in the corridors and no one stopped. He passed out on the road and the only reaction people showed was annoyance at stopping the traffic. Actually, you know who did help? That Stiles kid. He’s probably Derek’s best bet if he needs a safe place to crash.

• Stiles has a lead - he can hear them talking about it. That other guy doesn’t want to help. Apparently Stiles is the king of brilliant ideas, and an improvised strip tease is exactly what it takes for that Danny guy to help them. (Again, what did Derek learn? Seduction is power.)

• Things are not looking good. Their one lead seems to point to... Scott’s mother? They need to think about this.

• If the hunters didn’t kill Laura... then the alpha did. An alpha more powerful than Laura? Derek doesn’t want to let the hope bloom in his chest, but maybe another one from his family got out? Survived the fire? But then why aren’t they coming for him? Why Scott?

• They need to talk to Peter. Surprisingly, Stiles appears to have a decent sense of priorities and skips his Lacrosse game to help with this.

• Bad news. Peter is the alpha. Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter has recovered?! What?! And now he’s killing people?! He killed Laura?! He attacked him?! Act now, think later. That Stiles kid is in danger, he needs to get him out of harm’s way first.

• After a fight, Derek and Peter have a heart to heart. This is huge. Derek isn’t alone in the world after all. He *does* have family. He wasn’t in control before. He was angry. Derek can understand that. Maybe things can be okay after all... they need to talk to Scott.

• They go to the school, and Peter does something Derek didn’t know was possible. He sticks his claws in Scott’s neck as a way of sharing memories. Well, shit. This reminds Derek of something, but he can’t quite figure out what.

• He feels a bit more powerful now. A bit safer, knowing he’s got someone else on his side. He can go back to the Hale house.

• Scott is at Derek’s house when the hunters attack. This is bad. They’re probably going to take him - he barely got away last time. But he can’t let them get to Scott. He has to protect Scott. So he buys him time. As a last-minute decision, he takes Scott’s phone. Hopefully someone can figure it out. Use it to track him. That Stiles kid is pretty smart. Maybe he can figure it out.

• Derek is held prisoner and tortured by Kate. On his own property. I don’t think I need to go over this - what you see is what you get. Kate shows him off to Allison like he’s some circus animal, and Allison barely reacts with anything but fear. She voices all the guilt and self-loathing and resentment he’s kept to himself for 6 years. He gets physically and emotionally tortured. For days. In his own basement.

• Derek only got caught because he was buying Scott some time to get away. When he hears Scott’s howl he thinks maybe he might have a chance of getting away after all. Except then Scott shows up and refuses to help him out. Derek is seriously freaking out. Kate could be back at any point. They can talk about this later, but he needs to leave NOW.

• Eventually Derek breaks himself out, fuelled by the mix of relief and panic that came with Scott’s appearance. Wait, Scott might actually be saying something important. Now that he’s free he can pay attention. Shit, Scott might be right. Peter didn’t lose control and kill Laura in a moment of confusion. He lured her here. It was premeditated murder. Peter MURDERED his sister.

• Barely does he make it back to the house before Allison and Kate show up to kill him and Scott. Scott won’t listen to him, won’t listen to any of his advice. Kate shoots him. Everyone there leaves him for dead. And this is the sad thing - if Derek did die, right here right now, no one would mourn him. No one would miss him. No one. At all. He’s completely alone.

• By the time he comes to, Stiles and Jackson are on the scene and Peter is being burned alive. Again. It’s a horrible sight, but this time the thought of Peter murdering his only family left alive is worse. Derek wants revenge. Scott asks him to let him do it. But fuck Scott. He’s spent weeks trying to help him, WEEKS, and for what? To die alone in a ditch, with all of Beacon Hills wanting him dead. He wants revenge, yes. But what he needs right now, also, more than anything, is a pack. He needs to not be alone. And so he needs to be the alpha. He kills Peter.

I find it interesting when people say that Derek is intended to be the villain or the antagonist in this season, because to me that really isn't the case. He's more of a red herring than anything. Scott may see him as a threat, but if you actually look at things from his perspective, he actually goes OUT OF HIS WAY to help Scott and Stiles, over and over again, and gets nothing but shit for it.

#teen wolf #derek hale #reposted from my own reddit #teenwolfmusings #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #derek hale pov

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wingedwalls · 8 years ago

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i love the term “partners” are we dating? are we robbing a bank? do we run a legal firm? are we the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies and are members of an elite squad known as the special victims unit? who knows.

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wingedwalls · 8 years ago

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Rapid Fire Book Tag

I nicked this off Wordpress - not sure who originally came up with it, but thanks!

Question 1 : E-Book or Physical Book?

Physical book for everything except academic papers.

Question 2 : Paperback or Hardback?

Paperback! Mostly because I have a tendency to drop books on my face when I read in bed and paperbacks are lighter. Also because they’re easier to lug around.

Question 3 : Online or In-Store Book Shopping?

In-store, always. I get such a kick from picking up new books in person.

Question 4 : Trilogies or Series?

Single stand-alones.

Question 5 : Heroes or Villains?

Anti-heroes... But no, in actuality, whoever is best written. Some series write heroes better than villains (e.g. Harry Potter), others write villains very well (e.g. Neverwhere).

Question 6 : A book you want everyone to read?

The End of Mr Y, by Scarlett Thomas. I found it by accident and I can’t recommend it enough. I haven’t read such a fun, thought-provoking rollercoaster of a book in a long time.

Question 7 : Recommend an underrated book?

If you’re reading this I’m already dead, by Andrew Nicoll. People often dismiss it as ‘a silly but fun’ book, but it’s about as silly as Catch-22 really is.

Question 8 : The last book you finished?

Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere. I don’t know what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it. I’m very, very impressed. Excellent world-building and storytelling.

Question 9 :The Last Book(s) You Bought?

The Pillow Book by Sei Shounagon - an 11th century Japanese book by a Court gentlewoman who apparently really liked to make lists. I also like to make lists.

Question 10 : Weirdest Thing You’ve Used as a Bookmark?

Honestly? A full mink skin. I was on the steppe in Mongolia and came across one, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Question 11 : Used Books: Yes or No?

Yes, duh. They smell delicious, and everyone knows smell is the most important thing in a book.

Question 12 : Top Three Favourite Genres?

Fantasy, Travel, Detective stories.

Question 13 : Borrow or Buy?

Buy if I can afford it. I tend to lend out books I liked though and rarely get them back.

Question 14 : Characters or Plot?

Hmmmmmm maybe plot? What I really look for in a book, at the end of the day, is a good story. And to me good storytelling has three components:

* Characters (and this includes dialogue, how characters relate to each other and to the reader, etc. Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles is a good example of a series prioritising characters - you feel like you know them all personally, they ring true and feel like real people you return to for regular visits.)

* Plot (do you want to turn the pages and keep reading? Do you keep asking yourself, ‘what happens next??’ Do plot twists make you gasp or bounce in excitement rather than think I knew it all along...? A book that does this really well is The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar.)

* World-building (Can you picture yourself walking around and living in that world? Does it stay with you, like a coloured lens, tinting your vision of the world around you for days or weeks after you’ve finished reading? Make you want to eat different foods, wear different clothes, speak in a different manner? Then it’s a world-building success. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, does a spectacular job of this.)

I think a book tells a good story if it has two of these. It is an excellent story if it has three.

A story with only one of these will probably keep me reading, but ultimately leave me with a general feeling of ‘meh’ - I’ll remember it as an average book with some redeeming elements that spoke to me. One such example is Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha series. The world-building is excellent: despite being a little shaky in the first book, Shadow and Bone, the ‘Grishaverse’ truly comes to life in the later books, and had me listening to Russian music, wearing military fashions and seasoning my food with cream and dill for days. Unfortunately, most characters are two-dimensional and the plot is predictable and full of holes. So, would I re-read them? No. Would I read other stories set in that world? Yes.

An example of a book that has two of these components down is A Darker Shade of Magic, by VE Schwab. I absolutely loved that story - it really spoke to me. This is because a) the characters are particularly likeable. They have very distinct personalities, the dialogue is both witty and believable, and they interact with each other in a way that feels like a natural progression rather than stunted or forced. And b) The world-building is like a storyteller ate all of your childhood stories and dreams, pirate ships and fairytales and Studio Ghibli and one day I’ll be able to fight!, and vomited them back up into a format your adult self never knew you wanted. The plot? Well, the plot was... predictable. But the other elements of the story held my attention and captivated me so much that it made for a bloody good story, and had anyone been reading it aloud to me they would’ve collapsed before I’d let them take a break.

A book that has all three? It seems like a cop-out to reuse an example, but The Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch) has it. And the result is truly phenomenal. I went through all five stages of grief when some of the characters died. I missed Tube stops and walked into people on the streets because I couldn’t put the book down. I was late for work. It made both me and my boyfriend dream so much we’re planning a holiday to flipping Venice, even though I’m completely broke. And you know what? I’m not even sorry.

Question 15 : Long or Short Books?

I like alternating between the two. Long books are great for falling into a new world, short books are great for traveling and insta!satisfaction.

Question 16 : Long or Short Chapters?

I think long? I don’t feel particularly strongly either way, but the constant staggering of short chapters sometimes annoys me.

Question 17 : Name The First Three Books You Think Of…

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy, Throne of Glass - Sarah J Maas, Today I Wrote Nothing - Daniil Kharms

Question 18 : Books That Makes You Laugh or Cry?

Laugh - I like books that make me bark out my appreciation in loud and uncontrolled laughs, it keeps me entertained when I’m reading in public places.

That said, some of the books that have affected me the most and stayed with me the longest have made me cry like a madeleine (this is a genuine French idiom and I’ve never questioned it before, but I now realise I have no idea where it came from). Again, usually in public spaces. My 14-year-old self read Balzac’s Le Pere Goriot on the Eurostar and was massively embarrassed when I found I couldn’t stop sniffling after having complained about how ‘boring’ it was for days. Naturally, my family called me out on it. I finished the Amber Spyglass (Philipp Pullman) in a bookshop and came out in tears, to the utter puzzlement of the staff.

Question 19 : Our World or Fictional Worlds?

When both collide. I suppose for modern fiction this mostly amounts to Urban Fantasy.

Question 20 : Audiobooks: Yes or No?

I couldn’t say - I’ve only ever listened to one audiobook, The Lies of Locke Lamora. Some things about it bugged me, but overall I think I liked it, so I will try again.

Question 21 : Do You Ever Judge a Book by its Cover?

All the time, but in many ways that is because I have nothing else to rely on. I went into a bookshop once that had a recommendations table, where staff had not only picked out their favourites but left a little note in each of them marking out a page or scene that best illustrated the essence of the book. It was great. I think all bookshops should do that. In fact, I think publishers should do that, and put it on the cover. “Open up to page 138 to read about the Floating Market!” Now I always try to do that when recommending books to people.

Question 22 : Book to Movie or Book to TV Adaptations?

I love that this is a question. Book to TV, definitely! I spend so much time with the characters and worlds of a book that I feel movies can never do them justice, and I end up frustrated more than anything. With a TV adaptation, they can add in detail and build up a story that is familiar, yet a little different.

Question 23 : A Movie or TV-Show You Preferred to its Book?

True Blood! I read the first couple of books of the Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris, and couldn’t get into it. The first few seasons of the show, by comparison, were very good - they figured out what had worked in the original content and built on it.

Question 24 : Series or Standalones?

Standalones - mostly because I don’t have the patience for series anymore. To me some of the best series are those that feel like one book cut into episodes.

#books literature recommendations bookrecs

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wingedwalls · 8 years ago

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Book Questionnaire

I’ve been thinking about books, reading and storytelling a lot lately, so I’m mostly doing this to try and get some of my ideas straight.

1. Favourite childhood book? Peter Pan, Harry Potter and Les Contes de La Rue Mouffetard by Pierre Gripari.

2. What are you reading right now? Neil Gaiman’s ‘A View from the Cheap Seats’, a collection of essays, speeches and short non-fiction pieces on the theme of, essentially, stories.

3. What books do you have on request at the library? I don’t, I’m not signed up to any library at the moment.

4. Bad book habit? Starting a million books at the same time, and/or getting distracted mid-book by another book or five.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library? Again, see above.

6. Do you have an e-reader? I have the Kindle app on my phone and iPad.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? I mean, what I prefer? To read one book at a time. What I invariably do? Read a gazillion at once, until one book or story hits me as particularly immediate and I devour the whole thing before returning to the others.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog? Not really. I guess I now have an outlet for any book theories or reflections I have; I wish I could say I allow myself more reflection time as a result but I’m not sure that’s true.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?) Animal Crackers by Hannah Tinti, a chilling collection of vaguely animal-themed short stories. They’re undoubtedly well-written and accomplish what they set out to do, but that’s precisely the problem: it’s a bloody disturbing read that makes me shudder in a way I don’t particularly like. I do actually recommend it, I just don’t particularly like it.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year? That’s tough - I’ve read a lot of excellent books. If I limit this to books I’ve *completed* so far this year, it’s probably The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone? I’ve been making a conscious effort to read out of my comfort zone this year, and so far it’s been a success - about half my reads of the year so far have fell into categories I don’t normally touch: short stories, non-genre fiction, non-fiction, plays and classics.

12. What is your reading comfort zone? Fantasy, classic crime, travel and so-called ‘children’s books’

13. Can you read on the bus? It’s one of my favourite places to read!

14. Favorite place to read? Outdoors, lying on a patch of grass.

15. What is your policy on book lending? I almost always lend out my favourite books, I almost never get them back. What can I say, I don’t learn from my mistakes.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books? Totally. A good book is a worn-out book.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books? Sometimes? It depends on the book. I mostly do it with academic books and honestly can’t bring myself to apologise - I love reading other people’s margin notes.

18. Not even with text books? ^ I came clean already.

19. What is your favourite language to read in? Probably English, but I’ve been rediscovering the joys of reading in French (my native language) recently.

20. What makes you love a book? When it speaks to me and I can connect to it. This can be in terms of characters, world-building, plot, the tone of the narrator’s voice, anything - I really don’t care, but it has to speak to me on a personal, instinctive, primal level.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? I can only really bring myself to recommend books that spoke to me, but even them I’m very selective, and usually try to carefully tailor recommendations to specific individuals.

22. Favourite genre? I don’t think I have one. Neil Gaiman once pointed out that someone else once pointed out that genres tell you which aisles not to bother going down in bookshops, and I think that’s true. I can’t list genres I like, only those I have no interest in.

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?) Possibly historical fiction? I’ve always been a bit wary of it, but am curious to try it. It’s just hard to know where to start.

24. Favorite biography? Biography? This may be a little bizarre, but: the introductory chapter to the Peter Owens edition of The Oblivion Seekers, which recounts the short and spectacular life of its author Isabelle Eberhardt. Autobiography? My First Hundred Years, by Margaret Murray, published in her 99th year. She laments in the introduction that she’s never had any adventures, and then proceeds to recount 100 years of working as a nurse in India and an archaeologist in the Middle East. Pretty epic.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book? A couple. People seem intent on gifting them to me, though I rarely make it through the whole thing. One exception: Marie Kondo’s Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which I’ve devoured multiple times and is now my personal bible.

26. Favorite cookbook? Fannie Merritt Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cookbook, 1969 illustrated edition. I’m very selective about cookbooks and this is my absolute favourite - it has EVERYTHING. And diagrams.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)? ‘Inspirational’ is a really confusing word to me. Probably A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab - something about the character of Lila Bard keeps nagging at me from a back corner of my brain and probably affects my decision-making process more than I care to admit.

28. Favourite reading snack? It totally depends on the book! Something related in some way or other; I always feel like books have flavour profiles. And associated sounds.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience. I don’t listen to the hype when it comes to books, because 1) I often feel like I read a different book from everyone else, even if the cover says the same thing, and 2) I have no patience for books I don’t like and no qualms about giving up. So, I can’t say it’s ever happened to me.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book? Again, I can’t claim to know what the critics are saying about any given book.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews? Quite comfortable, unless I personally know the writer.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? Russian, probably.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read? Hunters in the Snow, by D.M. Thomas. The narrator is a young Adolf Hitler.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin? The Lord of the Rings - I simply haven’t read it and probably never will.

35. Favorite poet? Rimbaud!

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time? As many as I can - my card is always maxed out!

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread? I... don’t think I ever have? Unfinished, certainly, but I always browse through at the very least.

38. Favorite fictional character? Ever? What kind of question IS this?!

39. Favorite fictional villain? The best villains aren’t really villains. [Yes, this is a cheap cop-out.]

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation? Cheap YA Fantasy and travelogues related to my destination.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading. Er... a couple of weeks?

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish. Fifty Shades of Grey. I bought it to see what all the fuss was about, got bored two chapters in, skipped to the sex scenes, found them so thrilling I fell asleep, and sold it off on ebay for 50p.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading? Music in a different language.

44. Favourite film adaptation of a novel? Hmmm I’m only ever critical of film adaptations if I’ve read the book first. Probably Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, which is an entity in its own right.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation? Is there any doubt? The Golden Compass, which I was dragged to watch kicking and screaming and had me actually shouting at the screen in frustration.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time? £70, I think.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it? I used to do this as a kid! I would skip to the last page and read the very last sentence or word, for a little thrill. I don’t do it at all anymore.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through? Absolute boredom (On l’Appelait Tempete by Colin Thiele comes to mind) or irreconcilable anger at the message behind the piece. This rarely happens though.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized? More than organising them, I love to catalogue them, and have multiple catalogues on multiple apps and programmes.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them? If I liked them, I almost always keep them - or lend them out and never see them again.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding? I don’t think I could ever read Z for Zachariah, by Robert O’Brien, again. It traumatised me as a kid and I’m uncomfortable just thinking about it. I don’t think I’ve ever truly avoided anything I haven’t read already.

52. Name a book that made you angry. Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel - a very well-written book that markets the absolute bollocks notion that civilisations can ‘collapse’.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did? Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos. One of the books that surprised me the most.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t? Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I suppose I didn’t completely dislike it - I can think of two sentences I really liked in it.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading? Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones, and City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.

(Source: sarahthinksso.blogspot.com)

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