Caught by the torrent of life

Disclaimer: The questions seem a bit vague to me, so I will exploit this every bit.
To start with, I will consider "books" refer to literary works. No technicals, no manuals, no gastronomical, no psychological, no "help yourself" or "do it yourself" works. Those aren't books.

1. What's the best book you've ever read?
Well, let's change the question to "What's your alltime favourite book?".
The answer would be "Dune" (including all Frank Herbert sequels).

2. Have you ever given books as gifts?
Rarely. Most of my close friends are not readers. Just a fragment of conversation to illustrate:
"Wow, they look so shiny, I would buy them just for the covers!"
"Dude, when was the last time you bought a book?"
"Like... never?"
"Well. Then you should know, they usually have pretty colors"

3. What's the future of literature?
No, really, is this a question? Are you taping this?
Literature doesn't have a beginning, doesn't have an end. People will find all the time something to write about. No police action will go unnoticed, no spaceship will be described accurately enough, no skin will be painted in the most erotic description. Ever. They (the writers) will always have something to improve, to communicate, to share with the rest of us. They will always find a better way to... to "literate".
Future of literature as in written, old-fashioned paperback blackish inscriptions with some embellishments? Key word: old-fashioned. Guess that makes me old-fashioned as well...

4. What languages have you read books in?
Romanian, English, a bit of French, a bit of German. Would like French, Italian, German, Spanish (meaning from cover to cover), but I guess I should actually learn those languages first... I love the way Arabian and Japanese sound, but I seriousely doubt I would ever get to actually read a book in any of those languages...

5. What famous books did you dislike?
Famous aka Blockbusters / Bestsellers / Marketed books: I don't read that. I just enjoy browsing through them. I only read a book if I find it interesting enough, which kinda' leaves out the "dislike" part. Ok, maybe I can say I wasn't impressed too much by The DaVinci Code (read it in about 2 days...).
Famous aka Time-proven books? As I said before, I only read a book if the first 10 pages or 10 minutes of lecture really gets me (I could be wrong). I don't give a damn if it's a part of a trend, if it's generally accepted as a "good book", or if it's centuries old. It's really difficult to get me impressed, yet both "Dune" and "The girl with Oranges" ("Appelsinkin" - Jostein Gaarder) had an equally interesting impact on me.

6. What country produced the best literature?
Oh, c'mon, you've got to be kidding me. How can one answer that?
Each country, no, no, no, each writer has his/her own style, you can't compare that!!!
If it's only for statistics, I guess French people own some spots, English as well, and Italians too (them being the first of most literary/cultural trends), yet I enjoy American writers just as much, Germans, Scandinavians; personally, I would go for the Orient: although I haven't actually read them, Omar Khayyam and Rabindranath Tagore seem to fascinate me.

7. Do you take notes when reading?
Usually no. I'd rather use my own words than produce an actual quotation.

8. How many books have you read until now?
Let me get my Babbage computer... I've got that info stored somewhere...

9. What books bored you to sleep?
I can't go to sleep in 10 minutes. (ref: question no. 5)

10. What do books mean to you?
Evading the reality.

11. What's the most expensive book you've ever bought?
Probably G. R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series: one book (2 volumes) is about 25-30 EUR (today's currency exchange rate).

12. What's the best ending of a book?
Vague. Best ending I liked? Best ending of a book I read? Best ending I'd like to read?
Bad guys die, good guys win. And they keep the girls.
No, really, I can't define "best ending".

13. Most influential book you've ever read?
Ghaaa... You're killin' me with these questions... Most influential for me? For others?
"Dune" is my favourite. I can't say one book or another can influence me to... to what? To act differently? To be differently?
For cryin' out loud, look at the Bible (or correspondents in other religions or beliefs)!!! That's the most influential and probably the most vague writing of all times! And I still believe in GOD!
(meaning I don't listen to people praising the Bible, nor to those denigrating it - in my humble opinion, the Bible is a collection of teachings, most based on certain facts, which should be treated carefully - yet, I don't consider the Bible a "book" as stated in the initial disclaimer)

14. What writer influenced you the most?
Iiiiin what? Please go to question number 10 and read the answer again...
I DO differenciate between reality and... well... non-reality...

15. How fast can you read a book?
My threshold is 10 pages in 10 minutes (yes, I like the number 10, because it's made up by 3 and 7), of a regular book, with a regular font. If I can't read the first 10 pages in 10 minutes, the book's not appealing or too deep for me: in the first case I give up reading, the second case has 50% chances that I would go on reading. If I can read the first 10 pages in less than 10 minutes, the book goes straight to the "favourite" list.

16. Can literature change the world?
Name a book, and I'll tell you how it changed me.


Thanks for bearing with me and my intricate mind, I'm not tagging anyone, yet if you seemed interested by this post, feel free to tag yourself or to at least leave a comment...