7 Sins Book Tag (Spoilers: Guilty of All)

Oh my god, I'm a deplorable blogger. Well, it's not like I have more than a few followers, but I like to make plans for the future, and I don't like it when I can't follow through, because of my own completely illogical mood swings. It's not even that I didn't have any inspiration for blogging - I had, I just didn't want to actually do it. A few amazing shows and films I watched, stuff like that. When the experience is new, I have so many thoughts and such difficulty to actually put it into coherent sentences. And later, I don't have the same emotional drive anymore - see my problem? (I am still planning to make that post, sometime in September, probably.) So I thought a simple pre-conceived book tag like this would work, to get me back into the mood.

(The picture is of Rostlaube Free University's Philology Library by Foster + Partners which is a building I like quite a lot.)

1. Greed - What is your cheapest book? And the most expensive?

My cheapest would be the ones I "stole" from my grandpa's - all under 50 forints (less than a quarter) - of course, now they would cost much more. Jokes aside, I actually sometimes shop in antique stores, so I guess those would be the cheapest - I found some pretty good first (Hungarian) edition Isaac Asimov books - the Foundation series, and a few Robotics books - about a year ago.

The most expensive ones are definitely the various pretty coffee table books, most of which I got at a competition or other when I was still in primary and a smart-ass. Other than that, I just skimmed through my collection - I guess it would be Murakami Haruki's IQ84 (all three books in one).

2. Wrath - Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

Oh, plenty of like/dislike relationships, but the most powerful would have to be Orson Scott Card. I adore Ender's Game even more than my average good sci-fi, but the author is a lowly homophobic, misogynistic  and otherwise highly unpleasant creature, so I guess it's fair to say I actually hate him. A lot.

3. Gluttony - Which book did you read over and over without remorse?

Too easy. All of the Harry Potter series. I'm pretty sure if I add up all the seven books, it would total more than a hundred. (I'm really not exaggerating; I read each one every summer since they've come out respectively, and I used to read them during the year too.) Although, to be honest, I read all my favourite books more than once. Or twice.

4. Sloth - Which book did you neglect out of laziness?

Ehh - I actually pride myself on always finishing books I start, even if I don't like them much. However, I have been reading One Hundred Years of Solitude since years, it's not bad, it's actually good, but subjectively I just don't like it. I am close to finishing though. And there's Milan Kundera's L'identité in French which I neglect for obvious reasons. It's also a decent book, and I plan to finish it. All in all, I am never too lazy to read, but I obviously favour some books over others. (I also only barely got started in Dostoevsky's Demons.) 

5. Pride - Which book do you talk about when you want to appear intellectual?

Bragging about intellectual books is the kind of elitism I hate. If someone reads for the pure escapism of it, or for fun, or honestly any reason, it should be fine. If someone is reading "intellectual" books because it interests them, I think that's the coolest. If someone reads the latter to brag - well, someone else needs to remind them to get off their high horse. Or alternatively, shout "Poser!" at them while giggling madly.
What I do brag about finishing is Les Misérables. Not because it makes me feel smart, but because man, what a feat that was. It's so damn long, and it has so many frankly boring passages, but I relentlessly read it all. Needless to say, I don't think I will be doing it for a second time.

6. Lust - Which traits do you find most attractive in a male/female character?

I guess since we are talking about characters here - hence, personalities - those traits would be the very same for characters of both sexes. So - intelligent, independent, strong-willed and consistent to their own inner standards. In real life I demand honesty and morals, but less so if it's only about attractiveness of a fictional character. (Think Loki.)((But still, strong morals don't hurt.)) The preferable sense of humour would be sarcastic, if anything at all. I don't mind cynicism and moodiness, but purposeful angst-fests make me uncomfortable. To be honest, with books, I don't think too much about whether a character is attractive or not. For all the qualities, the most important thing is the complexity and depth with which they were written with, which is something that depends on the author. In this sense of "attractive characters", my top pick would definitely be The Bartimaeus Trilogy - three protagonists, all very well-rounded and well-written. All my subjective quotas are filled as well - all three are intelligent and strong-willed, and fairly independent. Bartimaeus' sense of humour is half the writing, and while Kitty and Nathaniel aren't exactly joke mines, they do have a few sarcastic and sassy remarks.

7. Envy - Which books do you want to get as a gift?

I want a 10000+ piece private library, duh. But right now, those would be: The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan (I did read the pdf versions, but it would be nice to own it), Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (even though I don't really read poetry), The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (or Never Let Me Go, I just want to read a book of his), Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (I feel so bad that I haven't read this yet), The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (I've never read Heinlein, my status as a sci-fi fan is largely based on Lem and Asimov), The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion by Yuniya Kawamura (yeah, I know, doesn't quite fit in this list) or anything by Murakami I don't own yet (strictly in Hungarian, I find the translation somehow better than the English, I guess mostly because the differences in these languages and Japanese).

Jeez, this turned out to be way long. Not longer than what I expected, though. I was a child who got banned from reading as a way of punishment by my mom.