Our story so far: I had nothing to post on my blog, so I succumbed to the allure of a blog meme and revealed my darkest reading secrets. Only ten questions remain. How will I answer them? Find out now!

23. What is your favorite novel? I suppose Little Women because I keep rereading it.

24. Favorite play? I’ll say “Romeo and Juliet” because I like the 1968 movie version.

25. Favorite poem? “O What Is That Sound” by W. H. Auden

26. Favorite essay? Can’t think of an answer.

27. Favorite short story? “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

28. Favorite work of nonfiction? This is an impossible question to answer.

29. Favorite writers? Almost every Victorian novelist I’ve ever read (except Wilkie Collins), and 20th century British historical novelists such as Norah Lofts, Catherine Cookson, and Mary Renault.

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Boring literary writers who win a lot of awards

31. What is your desert island book? The Canterbury Tales. It’s about time I read it.

32. What are you reading now?  The Snowball, The Black Swan,  A Confederacy of Dunces, and I’ve just started The King’s Rose. (No wonder it takes me so long to finish anything!)

In Part 1 of this blog entry, I revealed my barbaric failure to be bothered by dangling prepositions, my past addiction to Nancy Drew books, and my shocking willingness to award Nobel Prizes “just to upset people.”

What deep, dark secrets will I reveal in Part 2? Read on, if you dare.

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? “Outlander,” directed by Peter Jackson.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie? “Dragonfly in Amber” by Diana Gabaldon. Outlander didn’t need a sequel.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. I wish I could think of a good answer.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you read as an adult? A lame unauthorized biography of unauthorized biographer Kitty Kelley.

15. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? I could not finish “Look Homeward, Angel,” but for months I amused myself by writing parodies of it in my head, so it wasn’t a total loss.

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve ever seen? I suppose “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t count.

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? I’ve read more French authors than Russian, so I’ll go with French.

18. Roth or Updike? Haven’t read them.

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? I’ve never heard of David Sedaris, but I have read Eggers’s “Staggering Genius” book, so I guess he wins.

20. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? I’ve only read two Shakespeare plays, excerpts from Chaucer, no Milton. When I’ve read more, Chaucer will probably be my favorite.

21. Austen or Eliot? Eliot, Eliot, Eliot, Eliot, GEORGE ELIOT. Can you tell I’m a George Eliot fan?

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer.

The third and final part of this blog entry will be published in a day or two. Stay tuned.

I was looking for something to post today, and happily I found this meme on the Medieval Woman and Writing the Renaissance blogs.

1. What author do you own the most books by? Norah Lofts.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? I’ve been discarding duplicates due to lack of storage space, so I don’t have any now (or shouldn’t).

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with a preposition? No… I am a barbarian.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Boromir as played by Sean Bean.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding children’s picture books)? “Little Women.”

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? I think I was still in my Nancy Drew phase, so “The Crooked Bannister” by Carolyn Keene.

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? There was one so boring that I didn’t finish it, but I can’t remember what it was.

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the last year? Possibly “The Golden Compass.”

9. If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be? Um — Aesop’s Fables?

10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature? I’ll say Stephen King just to upset people.

…And there are more questions, but I’ll save them for the next time I need something to post. (Which will probably be soon.)

Catherine Delors at Versailles and More was kind enough to give me the Proximidade Award, which is intended for friendly bloggers. The online royal-watching community is made of up lots of nice, generous people, so I’m happy to pass this award on to:

British Royal Wedding
Kingdoms of Indonesia
Marilyn’s Royal Blog
The Merry Royals
Netty’s Royalty Page
The Royal Forums
The Royal Twist
Writer of Queens

Thanks to all of you for your excellent sites. (If you wish, you can post the award on your own blog and pass it on to eight other people.)

Catherine Delors of Versailles and More has given my blog a “Great Buddy” award! Thank you so much. Here’s what award winners are supposed to do:

1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Award up to ten other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

Of course, a blog’s best friends (aside from its regular readers) are the people who take the time to comment on it and/or link to it. Thank you to all of you, and since I can only list 10, I’ll give the award to these Great Buddies:

Marilyn’s Royal Blog
Enchanted by Josephine
Reading Adventures
Scandalous Women
Sofia’s Royal Sweden (blog no longer available)
Tanzanite’s Shelf and Stuff
The Duchess of Devonshire’s Gossip Guide
The Raucous Royals
The Royal Representative
Women of History

I was tagged by Michael Lorenzen of American Presidents Blog for a blog meme! How cool. I’ve never been tagged before, as far as I know. Actually, it happened last month but I didn’t know about it until today, when I saw this: Book Meme Tagging

This is what it says I’m supposed to do:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

OK, that sounds easy enough. And the nearest book happens to be… “The Life and Times of Grigorii Rasputin” by Alex DeJonge. Not sure if I should count a partial sentence carried over from the previous page, so I won’t. So, with that said, the sixth, seventh, and eight sentences on page 123 are:

“Nicholas and Alexandra did not normally see members of the family with anything approaching such regularity.

“Anastasia Nicolaevna, who, it will be recalled, was married to the Duke of Leuchtenberg, grew increasingly close to Grand Duke Nicholas, a rapprochement both sensed and encouraged by Rasputin, who was an adept at providing his protectors with sayings that might encourage them in doing whatever they wanted to do. He observed that ‘the marriage of the brother and the sister will be the salvation of Russia’ — Militsa, it will be remembered, was married to the grand duke’s brother.”

Yes, that’s just three sentences. Whew!

And I will tag:

Marilyn’s Royal Blog
Reading, Raving, and Ranting
Tanzanite’s Shelf and Stuff
Tea at Trianon
Writer of Queens

Not sure who wants to participate in something like this, so, of course, if you’re not interested, just disregard it.