Thanks to Grant’s gentle prodding and the fact that he provided me with the username and password I had forgotten, I’m posting again.

This is follow up to Mollie’s June 17 post on summer reading.  Those who have ventured onto Facebook know that a favorite pastime there is taking quizzes designed to reveal something about you.  Below is a version of one of the literary quizzes, along with my answers.

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“Rules: You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek. Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this.”

Don’t bother trying to italicize your book titles, even though we know you want to…

1.    What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?  (Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason)
2.    Do you prefer the French or the Russians? (The Russians, no contest)
3.    Roth or Updike?  (Roth)
4.    Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? (I’m reading Paradise Lost right now, so I guess it’s Milton)
5.    Austen or Eliot? (Eliot; it’s heresy but I can’t stand Austen)
6.    What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? (Joyce)
7.    What is your favorite novel? (Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing is right up there)
8.    Who is your favorite writer? (Wendell Berry – because his work is beautiful in three different genres, fiction, poetry, and essays)
9.    Who is the most overrated writer alive today? (I’m going to define overrated as a writer who has received enormous acclaim, but whose work just doesn’t engage me.  With that definition:  Annie Proulx,  I’ve tried The Shipping News multiple times, but have never made it past 100 pages.)
10.    What is your desert island book? (My Kindle, with solar cells attached)