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"Why Don't You Try W.H. Smith's?"
Jul. 18th, 2003 08:50 pmBook meme, gakked from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
snarkhunter
1. What books are your comfort reading -- the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
Heh. I don't have any right now, although Guy Gavriel Kay is always a joy to come back to, but in second year at Queen's my "comfort" books were Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, and The Gate to Women's Country, by Sherri S. Tepper. Pillars of the Earth, I still go back to, for the sheer joy of immersing myself in the Middle Ages - warts, bad teeth, and all. The Gate to Women's Country was perhaps not the best book to read over and over and memorize when I was going through a bad breakup and a generalized feeling of hostility towards men ;) It's still quite a beautifully well-crafted book, though.
2. What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Oh good lord, I don't know. The Narnia books, maybe. Or maybe Little House on the Prairie. I also went through a severe Nancy Drew phase. Oh - and the Prydain Chronicles, which I still re-read every few years.
3. What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
For some inexplicable reason, in between all the wonderful discoveries I made like George Orwell and John Wyndham (memorized The Chrysalids), I also latched on to Flowers in the Attic and all of its grim, sensationalistic, and gutwrenchingly badly written sequels. I tried to explain the plotlines (and genealogy lines) to Chris the other day, and... gah. I sounded like a lunatic. "So then the half-uncle and half-niece, who are actually also half-siblings but they don't know it, fall in love and have kids, and..."
I also loved Rite of Passage, by Alexei Panshin. Still do.
4. What is the most-unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf -- the books you've bought but just never got around to reading?
Just about everything my brother in law has ever bought me for Christmas. He's bought me books on motherhood, feminism, and a book by Terry Pratchett, and they all look fascinating, and they should be right up my alley, and it's incredibly touching that, for a person who sees me once every few years briefly for a few days, he knows me well enough to pick so well... and for some reason I haven't cracked the spine on a single one.
5. What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
See above. And Camille Paglia - I should read her, but never have.
6. What's the oddest book you ever read?
The Canterbury Tales. Lemme tell you, some of that stuff was racy as all get-out.
7. What book were you never able to get through, despite the recommendations of people you respect?
A Hundred Years of Solitude. I feel I'm a disgrace as a Latin American, that I just can't plod through it.
8. What's the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
Hm... either David Copperfield or Man of the House (the autobiography of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill).
9. What's your favorite short story... or do you even have one?
So Much Unfairness of Things. Some Poe shorts - The Two Bottles of Relish is cute :)
10. The desert island. Three books (and collected works don't count; if you want *Lord of the Rings* it'll cost you all three slots).
Pillars of the Earth
Tigana, or possibly A Song for Arbonne
The Chrysalids
Ask me next week, and it may be three different ones.
11. What is your favorite book of poetry?
Oh, god, I don't do poetry. Don't get it. Although I 'get' some Robert Frost. And some Shakespeare and biblical passages have a rhythm and cadence that make them poetry. Shylock's impassioned speech "Hath not a Jew..." is poetry, as is the 23rd Psalm.
12. What book do you hate most in the world, and why?
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It's a beautiful book, and some day I will probably subject my children to it, but it made me cry for hours when I first read it and still makes me angry at the sheer futility of it all.
snarkhunter1. What books are your comfort reading -- the ones you slink back to in times of stress?
Heh. I don't have any right now, although Guy Gavriel Kay is always a joy to come back to, but in second year at Queen's my "comfort" books were Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, and The Gate to Women's Country, by Sherri S. Tepper. Pillars of the Earth, I still go back to, for the sheer joy of immersing myself in the Middle Ages - warts, bad teeth, and all. The Gate to Women's Country was perhaps not the best book to read over and over and memorize when I was going through a bad breakup and a generalized feeling of hostility towards men ;) It's still quite a beautifully well-crafted book, though.
2. What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
Oh good lord, I don't know. The Narnia books, maybe. Or maybe Little House on the Prairie. I also went through a severe Nancy Drew phase. Oh - and the Prydain Chronicles, which I still re-read every few years.
3. What was your favorite book as an adolescent, and why?
For some inexplicable reason, in between all the wonderful discoveries I made like George Orwell and John Wyndham (memorized The Chrysalids), I also latched on to Flowers in the Attic and all of its grim, sensationalistic, and gutwrenchingly badly written sequels. I tried to explain the plotlines (and genealogy lines) to Chris the other day, and... gah. I sounded like a lunatic. "So then the half-uncle and half-niece, who are actually also half-siblings but they don't know it, fall in love and have kids, and..."
I also loved Rite of Passage, by Alexei Panshin. Still do.
4. What is the most-unread category of books gathering dust on your bookshelf -- the books you've bought but just never got around to reading?
Just about everything my brother in law has ever bought me for Christmas. He's bought me books on motherhood, feminism, and a book by Terry Pratchett, and they all look fascinating, and they should be right up my alley, and it's incredibly touching that, for a person who sees me once every few years briefly for a few days, he knows me well enough to pick so well... and for some reason I haven't cracked the spine on a single one.
5. What kind of books would you like to say you read, but never do?
See above. And Camille Paglia - I should read her, but never have.
6. What's the oddest book you ever read?
The Canterbury Tales. Lemme tell you, some of that stuff was racy as all get-out.
7. What book were you never able to get through, despite the recommendations of people you respect?
A Hundred Years of Solitude. I feel I'm a disgrace as a Latin American, that I just can't plod through it.
8. What's the book it took you a couple of tries to get into, but was as good as promised once you finally made it?
Hm... either David Copperfield or Man of the House (the autobiography of Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill).
9. What's your favorite short story... or do you even have one?
So Much Unfairness of Things. Some Poe shorts - The Two Bottles of Relish is cute :)
10. The desert island. Three books (and collected works don't count; if you want *Lord of the Rings* it'll cost you all three slots).
Pillars of the Earth
Tigana, or possibly A Song for Arbonne
The Chrysalids
Ask me next week, and it may be three different ones.
11. What is your favorite book of poetry?
Oh, god, I don't do poetry. Don't get it. Although I 'get' some Robert Frost. And some Shakespeare and biblical passages have a rhythm and cadence that make them poetry. Shylock's impassioned speech "Hath not a Jew..." is poetry, as is the 23rd Psalm.
12. What book do you hate most in the world, and why?
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It's a beautiful book, and some day I will probably subject my children to it, but it made me cry for hours when I first read it and still makes me angry at the sheer futility of it all.
