Seven Deadly Sins of Reading

So, I found this idea over at LaurenReadsYA, but the original idea comes from BookishMalayza on YouTube.

Sin #1: Greed – What is your most expensive book, and what is your most inexpensive book?

My most expensive books are my Easton Press Leather-bound Classics, which ran at about $45 per book. Back when I lived with my parents (and thus had no rent, grocery bill, utilities to pay, etc.) I bought one a month for a couple of years, so I’ve amassed quite a collection that includes titles like Dracula, The Time Machine, Little Women, Ivanhoe, Frankenstein, Don Quixote, Paradise Lost, and Dante’s Inferno.

My least expensive books come from Friends of the Library book fairs and go as low as $0.50 a pop. A lot of my paperback fantasy novels come from there, like my collection of Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea books and my Star Wars EU novels.

Sin #2: Wrath – Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I tend to either love an author or hate him… I very rarely vacillate between the two. Maybe Charles Dickens? I recognize that he’s a master of his craft and has brought a lot to our literary traditions. I enjoy his wordplay and deft use of symbols and visual names, but… it’s such a depressing slog to get through his stories. Hard Times and Great Expectations had me frothing at the mouth in frustration, but I really enjoy the movie adaptations of Nicholas Nickleby (on the To-Read List, but I’m a little scared to start it) and A Tale of Two Cities. Besides, as an English Literature Major, I feel kinda obligated to like him.

Sin#3: Gluttony – What book have you deliciously devoured over and over again, with no remorse whatsoever?

Pride & Prejudice, Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels novels.

Sin #4: Sloth – What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

Published: Nicholas Nickleby (from a mix of laziness and trepidation). Unpublished: My mom’s work of sci-fi from her earlier years. I’m sorry, Mom! I will read it, I promise!!! I’m almost out of school!

Sin #5: Pride – What book do you most talk about in order to sound like a very intellectual reader?

Honestly? Whatever book I’m reading in my senior level college English courses. This tactic has taken  me through Spencer’s The Faerie Queene, Dante’s Inferno, Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, the poems of Lord Byron (which I hate), Shakespeare, and the works of William Blake. Add in a disdain for James Joyce, and I can sound as well-read and intellectual as you like… then just mention Doctor Who and I’ll devolve back into a frothing nerd. 😉

Sin #6: Lust – What attributes do you find most attractive in male or female characters?

I like my literary men a little gruff and overprotective of the women in their lives (only a little, mind you, too much and I get grumpy). I also like them consistent – a character that blows super rude and then super sweet all in the name of inner conflict will chase me away.

Sin #7: Envy – What books would you most like to receive as a gift?

Oohhhh, the list I have. The Harry Potter box set (the nice hardcover one) is pretty high on my list. Leather-bound copies of the classics are up there too – I tend to drool over my friends’ libraries full of pretty books.