Book meme
From seishonagon

The best reading experience you have ever had?

Tough question. Emotionally, I think it might have been Kazuo Ishiguro's When We Were Orphans. Christopher, protagonist, who had been an expatriate child in the expatriate quarter of Shanghai, returns to Shanghai in the middle of the Japanese invasion of the city, in search of his mother. He encounters his former neighbor, Akira, who had grown up with him in the International District, and who had grown up to command a platoon of the invading Japanese forces. Christopher and a wounded Akira pick their way through the city/battlefield, and Akira assures Christopher that they cannot be lost, that he knows Shanghai "like [his] home village." Christopher stops him, and says: "This is our home village."

Nothing I had read before, or that I have read since, better captures the experience of expatriation. Christopher and Akira are out of sorts in their home countries and cultures, but "home" in a city and culture that wasn't even "theirs" in any meaningful sense. Few things have resonated with me more forcefully.

The worst reading experience that you have ever had?

Jane Eyre. I had to march through that stinking dung-heap of Victorian rot and sentimentality in a single day, because I had neglected to keep up with regular reading assignments. No academic punishment has yet been administered or threatened that compares with that.


Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?

Another tough one. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes--I started reading Sherlock Holmes stories as a little kid, and loved how Holmes could deduce answers from observation. The character of Sherlock Holmes probably inspired me to learn as much as I could about everything--because Holmes could use his grasp of general knowledge and keen powers of observation to see things that lesser people (Watson, Gregson, Lestrade) could not.


Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of?

No.


What do you use as a bookmark?
Train tickets, airline boarding passes, lottery tickets.


When do you usually read? At home, work, while cooking, in the morning, noon, afternoon, before you go to bed...?

In transit--on the train (Metro or inter-city), on planes and buses; in bed; in libraries (yes, the law library has to count).

Do you remember the first book that you read?

Yes. Fox in Socks, by Doctor Seuss.


Which do you prefer - paperback or hardcover?

Depends on the situation. Trade paperbacks are easily abused and travel well. Octavo-sized hardbacks are good as well, but less handy for travel. And if I have to read out loud from a lectern, I'd love a proper folio, board-and-leather-bound.

What are you currently reading? What page are you on?

Other than my casebooks, I'm skimming through A.P. Herbert's Uncommon Law: Being 66 Misleading Cases--a collection of satirical "law reports," purporting to come from English courts. A great bit of review for common-law doctrines--the humor comes from the correctness of the legal reasoning.


Do you ever leave "a mark" (deliberate and/or not deliberate) in your books? For example, write in them, underline quotes, coffeemarks or food crumbs and etc.

Yes and no. Some of my casebooks are marginated and annotated (Most notably my Contracts book and the statutory supplement thereto). Others are pristine (Constitutional Law). I tend to write my name in my books, too.

But "leisure" books tend not to be marked-up at all, other than, of course, my name.


Does the title, amount of pages and the cover affect you when you are considering a specific book?

Yes. Good book design (cover, type, etc.) will sell me a book. I have bought better typeset editions just because the type was more appealing. Historical books with good dust-jacket illustrations are interesting as well--see, e.g.,
Bradley K. Martin's Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty for an excellent example.

Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending?
I used to do this when I was younger.


Has knowing the ending of a book (example, through spoilers or a movie) ever made you decide whether you will read the book or not?

Not really. I have re-read many books (see below). Plus, I have read books that have been adapted for film or television and been pleasantly, well, "un-spoiled."


Is there a book that you have read more than five times?
Several. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (with illustrations by Jules Pfeiffer) was probably my favorite childhood book. I have probably read Frank Herbert's Dune a dozen times now, as well. Franz Kafka's The Trial probably ranks here, too.


Have you ever been in an accident where the book was the cause? (for example, almost getting hit by a car when reading while walking, or having stacks of books falling on you from a bookshelf...)

I dropped a deed book on my pinkie in the county land record office once. Those things HURT.

Do you sell/give away your books or do you keep them, even though you don't like one of them?

I hoard books compulsively, so no. I do give them away occasionally--but that's rare.

Do you have some kind of book system, where you write down what you are reading, have bought, will read, will buy and etc?
I used to, but they have failed.