Quick Questions with a Cannonballer: narfna

A herd of busy Cannonballers has been hot on badkittyuno’s tail, hitting their goal of 52 books and continuing on like it ain’t no thang. Narfna is up to 78 now, but kindly took time out of her busy reading schedule to answer some questions. Take it away, narf!

How many times have you participated in CBR?

This is my fourth year! I was basically dared to do it by baxlala, who bailed pretty quickly (THANKS JENNIE). But she is pretty much the best person ever, and I have really loved being part of this community, so there is nothing to forgive. Plus she’s back this year, so yay! Anyway, I was freaked out that first year, and I didn’t think I could write a review for every book I wrote, and it made me all panic sweaty. But everything turned out fine. We’re all fine here. How are you?

Has being a participant changed the way you read? If so, how?

Hmmm, I’m not sure. I definitely read more now (like, I’m talking over double what I used to), but that might also be an effect of being so active on Goodreads, and also that I started making monthly to-read lists about three years ago that I feel pressured to keep up with. And also I’m not in grad school anymore? Wow, there are a lot of factors here and I don’t have an answer for you. As for the quality, I don’t think knowing that I have to write a review hinders my enjoyment in reading, although sometimes I will catch myself thinking of some clever line, or a good way to open a review without even having finished the book, so review writing is definitely in my head now. And even in my most pleasuriest of pleasure reads, I do think I’m a more critical reader. It’s easier now to identify why I don’t like a book. I’m sure if I stopped writing reviews, I would notice a difference in the way I read, but that’s not something I plan on doing anytime soon. Or probably ever.

Oh, and also, in the last four years I’ve definitely read books I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise simply because somebody here was eloquent or funny about it in a review and I then decided to ignore my disinterest in it, or a personal bias. It’s so much fun reading as a community. It adds an extra dimension to the whole thing. Plus you have a built in group of people who won’t think you are a weirdo if you go off on some tangent about a book.

What’s the first book you recommend to new friends?

I will always and forever recommend Harry Potter and then use that as a measuring stick to judge them by. I will tell them I won’t do that, but I will. But when I give book recs otherwise, I try to personalize it by asking them a lot of annoying questions. I actually really like doing this. It’s fun when you get it right, and your friends are happy because they’re reading good books.

What’s your favorite book-based movie?

This question is evil so I’m just going to go with the first one that popped into my head and say The Two Towers. (I also love all the Hunger Games adaptations.) There aren’t many book to movie adaptations on my favorites list, for obvious reasons. Oh shit, I also have to mention Sense & Sensibility.
You know what’s weird? When movies are better than books. Silver Linings Playbook. Fight Club. V for Vendetta (COME AT ME).

What’s ‘narfna’ mean, anyway?

It means nothing; that is its charm. It’s a nonsense word made up by my childhood friend Stephanie (we are still friends). We were in summer school PE the summer before eighth grade, and I wanted a new screenname for AOL because my dad picked my first one and that was unbearable, so she made it up on the spot and it stuck. Mostly because it is not a word in any language on Earth, so it’s always available when I sign up for things online.

Snack food: salty or sweet?

BOTH! YOU DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE! See: chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter M&Ms, hard cheese and apples. Popcorn washed down with soda. It is a beautiful life.