Yay, it’s Booking Through Thursday! Here’s this week’s meme, complete with my insightful, life-changing responses:

Q: What was the last book you bought?

The last book I bought would be Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. But the last book I received would be Thank You For All Things by Sandra Kring.

Q. Name a book you have read MORE than once:

The Great Gatsby, though that was mostly for school. A book I’ve read more than once by choice is Sarah Dessen’s The Truth About Forever.

Q. Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life?
If yes, what was it?

Several books have taught me a lot about life, but I don’t know that any of them have fundamentally changed the way I see life as a whole. That’s probably bad. But books that really, really inspired me are Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; Philip Roth’s American Pastoral; and Marisa de los Santos’ Belong To Me.

Q. How do you choose a book? eg. by cover design and summary, recommendations or reviews?

I usually look for recommendations from friends and co-workers first, come up with a list of their favorites and then look at them on LibraryThing or Amazon. If I’m at the bookstore, I definitely look at cover designs! And summary is important, too. But honestly, I probably do most of my book searching on the Internet.

Q. Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction?

Definitely fiction, though I branch out every now and then.

Q. What’s more important in a novel — beautiful writing or a gripping plot?

Definitely a gripping plot. Most of us can name a beautifully written novel that just left us cold! (cough) Atonement . . .

Q. Most loved/memorable character (character/book)

That’s tough! One of my most loved characters would have to be Mia Thermopolis from Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series. And, of course, I can’t go without mentioning Harry Potter or quintessential teenage vampire sex god Edward Cullen from the Twilight series.

Q. Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment?

Yikes! Tons. Right now I have The Jane Austen Book Club, American Girls About Town, Thank You For All Things, Certain Girls, A Northern Light and Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander.

Q. What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it?

I’m in the middle of Lesley Kagen’s Land of A Hundred Wonders, and I was up trying to finish it last night. I was defeated by sleep.

Q. Have you ever given up on a book half way in?

Yes, several times — most recently with Laurie Notaro’s There’s a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell. I absolutely love Notaro, but this one is just a swing and a miss.