The Classics Club recently posted The Classics Club 50 Questions Survey.  I’ve cheated a little bit on this in that I’ve chosen 10 of the questions only and on one of the questions I’ve changed the wording slightly – still, I don’t suppose I’m going to be arrested for cheating a little!

1. First classic you ever read?  One of the earliest reads I can remember independently choosing myself and reading was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum – I think I was about 8 years of age at the time.  I’m fairly certain I also read The Borrower in the same year.  Both books were recommended by my teacher at the time.
2. Which classic do you think EVERYONE should read? Why.  Woah, what a tough question.  So many to choose from.  But, I think i would probably go with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dicken.  It’s a short story of redemption really with a feel good ending that has been popular since its creation.
3. Favorite movie adaption of a classic?  Lord of the Rings by Tolkien.  All three films are just excellent.  Jackson did an excellent job of recreating middle earth and the films were fairly faithful to the books.
4. If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you most want to keep reading? Or, would you avoid the augmented manuscript in favor of the original? Why?  I think I could continue Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.  Everybody could do with a little more Rhett Butler in the lives – and if you don’t agree, well, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!
5. Whose advice do you always take when it comes to literature. (Recommends the right editions, suggests great titles, etc.)  Well, I have a bunch of people that I rely on for recommendations but if I’m going to look for fairly early influences the first would be my dad, who is also a big reader and has massively influenced my reading over the years.  I basically read more or less everything on his shelves ranging from detectives and mysteries to fantasy.  The second biggest influence was a colleague at work who by dint of bringing me a constant supply of her favourite books introduced me to so many new authors and broadened my horizons.
6. Classic author you’ve read the most works by?  Jane Austen – well, I’ve read all her books.  I’m not sure if I’ve read the most books by her or not but she’s the author that immediately springs to mind.
7. List five fellow bloggers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs? I’ve cheated here on two counts – one, the bloggers I’ve listed are not all fellow classics club followers and two I’ve put too many down – I basically got carried away!  Jessica over at The Bookworm Chronicles – we’ve been following each other virtually since I started blogging.  She has a great blog and I love her books choices.  Stainless Steel Droppings, ditto the above about the length of time I’ve been following this blog.  SSD is Carl’s blog and primarily focuses on SFF – I love this blog and genuinely think I’ve had only one book where we’ve had slightly differing feelings in terms of liking it or not.  I would pretty much read a shopping list if Carl recommended it!  Andrea, over at the Little Red Reviewer – I think Andrea was one of the first people to actually comment on my posts – which was something of a revelation to me at the time as it never even occurred to me that anybody would even read my reviews.  I love this blog – Andrea is always at the forefront of book recommendations, always one of the first to bring me new ideas and I read her blog religiously!!  Wondrous Reads – Jenny is one of my best book buddies.  This is helped by the fact that we also attend book events and movies together!  We originally made friends through a love of reading and have continued ever since.  Wondrous Reads is a fantastic blog and probably one of the earliest blogs to boot.  If it wasn’t for Jenny I would have missed some amazing books – immediately springing to mind The Rebel Angels, The Martian, The Girl with All the Gifts and I am Legend! Finally – I’m going to be sneaky and add two blogs – basically because I found them both at the same time – Dark Cargo and Dab of Darkness.  Dark Cargo – I would say this is a very quirky SFF blog and I never miss a post if I can help it.  Dab of Darkness is Susan’s blog – tons of reading goes on over here and I’ve taken part in so many lovely readalongs with Susan that have introduced me to a host of other like minded bloggers.  I would love to add many more here – Jason at Genkinahito, Lisa at OvertheEffingRainbow, but, no, I’m going to stop there!!
8. If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made?  Lord of the Rings – a readalong hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings.  This was a great read along that I really enjoyed.  I always wanted to reread LotR but probably never would have done so without the impetus this readalong gave me.  I loved sharing the experience with so many other people.
9. Favorite thing about being a member of the Classics Club?  I like the diversity of the events and I also like that it’s given me a personal challenge that encourages me to pick up books that otherwise I probably wouldn’t pick up.
10. If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why?  That would probably be Les Miserables.  Why – because it’s on my list and I find it totally daunting.  I think if I took part in a readalong it would give me more encouragement to read this plus readalongs are usually a bit more gentle affairs, spread out with allocated reading time so that you can read other books at the same time.