BOOKS!

[lettered]

Everybody's doing that book meme thing. I did it in my head but am lazy. Anyway instead I decided to do some reading lists. Oooh! And you can too! Since I already know the answers to all mine. You could try to make every answer to each question different. That'd be fun.

1. A favorite book!
2. A book that affected you in your YA years.
3. A favorite fantasy novel.
4. A favorite sci fi novel.
5. An awesome book (possibly a favorite) you think not many people around you have heard of/read.
6. A book you own more than one copy of.
7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy.
8. The worst book you've ever read.
9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like.
10. The most difficult book you've ever read.
11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read.

12. What have you read so far this year?

13. What are you reading now?

14. What are you reading next? (list! list! You know you want to)



MY ANSWERS
1. A favorite book! Beauty, by Robin McKinley
2. A book that affected you in your YA years. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
3. A favorite fantasy novel. Lions of Al-Rassan, by Guy Gaveril Kay
4. A favorite sci fi novel. Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K LeGuin
5. An awesome book you think not many people around you have heard of/read. They Loved To Laugh, by Kathyrn Worth
6. A book you own more than one copy of. Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy. mistful. Trufax, guys. When I fall I fall hard.
8. The worst book you've ever read. Dunno, but Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is amazing, people.
9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like. The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown
10. The most difficult book you've ever read. Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon
11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read. Bodice rippers! She likes those ones called things like, Devil's Bride and The Count's Daughter. There should be a book with a woman scantily clad and fainting into the arms of the Count on front, and inside he should say things like "ONE heaving bosom, AH AH AH", "THREE confines of his pants, AH AH AH", "TWO crystal gazes AHAHAH".

12. What have you read so far this year? OOOH.
italicized means unfinished!

Against The Day, Thomas Pynchon (1)
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (2)
The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman (3)
The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman (4)
Dog's Body, Diana Wynne Jones (5)
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones (6)
White As Snow, Tanith Lee (7)
Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell (8)
Twilight, Stephenie Meyer (9)
North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell (10)
Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler (11)
Physics of the Impossible, Michio Kaku (12)
Warrior's Apprentice, Lois McMaster Bujold (13)
New Moon, Stephenie Meyer (14)
The Drowned Maiden's Hair, Laura Amy Schiltz (15)
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson (16)
Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham (17)
American Gods, Neil Gaiman (18)
Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer (19)
Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyer (20)

13. What are you reading now? Shadow Of the Torturer, Gene Wolf (21)

14. What are you reading next?

Claw of the Conciliator, Gene Wolfe (22)
The Vor Game, Lois McMaster Bujold (23)
The Summing Up, Somerset Maugham (24)
Ceteganda, Lois McMaster Bujold (25)
Days of Disco (26)
Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones (27)
Ysabel, Guy Gaveril Kay (28)
Moby Dick, Hermann Melville (29)
Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog, Ysabeau S. Wilce (30)
A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Laurie R. King (31)
Georgette Heyer
Dorothy L. Sayers
Hexwood, Diana Wynne Jones (pending my_daroga's opinion) (27)
The Corrections, Johnathan Franzen (28)
Locksley, Nicholas Chase (29)
Mystery At The Opera House (30)
The Worthing Chronicle, Orson Scott Card (31)
Night Magic, Charlotte Vale Allen (32)
Empire of the Stars, Arthur I Miller (34)
The Great War for Civilization, Robert Fisk (35)
Godel, Escher, Bach, Douglas R Hofstader (36)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrill, Susanna Clark (37)
Anna Karenina, Tolstoy (40)
Horation Hornblower, C.S. Forester (41, 42, 43)
The Hours, Michael Cunningham (44)
Dune: House Atreides, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson (45)
She, H. Rider Haggard (46)
Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens (47)
Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (48)
Brave New World, Huxley (49)
Like Water For Chocolate (in Spanish!), Laura Esquivel (50)

Comments

[chrisleeoctaves.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh. I want to do this...but it will have to wait until I get back from Fredericton...where I am going to be doing more training in a bookstore! ::hee::

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

LOL, my husband went to high school with Jonathan Franzen.

[chrisleeoctaves.livejournal.com]

1. A favorite book!
- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenberger; Velocity by Kristin McCloy

2. A book that affected you in your YA years.
- That Was Then This is Now by S.E. Hinton. Loved that book. LOVED.

3. A favorite fantasy novel.
-don't read fantasy

4. A favorite sci fi novel.
-don't read sci fi

5. An awesome book (possibly a favorite) you think not many people around you have heard of/read.
-I am currently reccing Promise Not To Tell by Jennifer McMahon. It's terrific.

6. A book you own more than one copy of.
- I own more than one copy of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy.
- Carolyn Slaughter. I have most of them now, but much of her work is out of print, so it's hard to find. I would imagine I'll own everything by Ian McEwan, too because I admire the hell out of him.

8. The worst book you've ever read.
- New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I just finished it and it was complete and utter shite. (This might not be the worst book I've ever read, but it's the most recent.)

9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like.
- see above.

10. The most difficult book you've ever read.
- I found A.S. Byatt's Possession really difficult but I loved it. And when I say difficult I mean...over my head, but not impossible. I really struggled with Rushdie's novel Fury. And hated it in the end.

11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read.
- My mom always read really racy historical fiction by people like Rosemary Rogers and Jennifer Blake. Later in life she read mysteries.

12. What have you read so far this year?
- Here are the books I've read this year and my thoughts about them!

13. What are you reading now?
- Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay

14. What are you reading next? (list! list! You know you want to)
I am going to read Eclipse, but only because of a work-related event. As for the other books on my list...there are 150 titles on my to-read shelf...i.e. books I physically own, waiting to be read...you don't really want me to list them all do you? You can see them on my Chapters Indigo bookshelf

[stultiloquentia.livejournal.com]

Wow, are we ever on the same reading wavelength right now. I love Bronte and Kay and Le Guin, and I'm currently in the middle of my first Bujold book (took me freakin' long enough). I've been meaning to pick up Laurie King and Diana Wynne Jones, and Tolstoy, because I've been doggedly avoiding the Russians for 27 years and I suppose that's enough of that. OTOH, I'd fall over in shock if I caught my mother with a bodice ripper, and nobody I'm acquainted with will admit to liking Dan Brown. *g*

[imnotacommittee.livejournal.com]

So is the Twilight series good? I had to buy the first one because it hasn't been in the library for months now.

I thought of you when I learned what it was about.

And if you want to add more books to your list, I highly recommend Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder.

[late-heart.livejournal.com]

1. A favorite book!
- Bliss by Peter Carey

2. A book that affected you in your YA years.
- Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck.

3. A favorite fantasy novel.
- I dislike fantasy but I did read Mists of Avalon, if that counts.

4. A favorite sci fi novel.
- See #3

5. An awesome book (possibly a favorite) you think not many people around you have heard of/read.
- Havana, by Thomas McGuane. The night wrote a check the morning couldn't cash. An acquired taste, but delicious to me. Also: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Amazing.

6. A book you own more than one copy of.
- Drawing Down the Moon: The History of Pagans and Witches in America, by Margot Adler

7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy.
- Kurt Vonnegut. I own everything he's written.

8. The worst book you've ever read.
- Senseless by Stona Fitch. It's shit, bound. And anything ever written by James Patterson, especially that asshatery with the five balls.

9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like.
- Oh. I'm a brutal cynic, and I'm (not) sorry. DaVinci Code is unreadable pap.

10. The most difficult book you've ever read.
- The Great Gatsby, and I still fail to see its relevance in American Literature. It's shit wrapped in linen.

11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read.
- Hutchie loves medical mysteries, but has lately picked up on reading Dennis Lehane and Michael Connolly, which confuses and upsets me.

12. Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos. It's his pre-right wing period and completely captivating.

13. I'm not reading anything, but I want to revisit some Eudora Welty and Katherine Ann Porter before summer's over.

[my_daroga]

I love you so much! But my answers will probably not surprise you. Though lots of them are womens.

1. A favorite book! Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
2. A book that affected you in your YA years. Phantom by Susan Kay
3. A favorite fantasy novel. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
4. A favorite sci fi novel. The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
5. An awesome book (possibly a favorite) you think not many people around you have heard of/read. Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
6. A book you own more than one copy of. The Mists of Avalon. Also POTO and Les Mis for translation issues
7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy. Diana Wynne Jones
8. The worst book you've ever read. I know there's something worse than Twilight, it's just not coming to me. Oh, yeah, New Moon.
9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like.
10. The most difficult book you've ever read. Probably Pale Fire by Nabokov
11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read.
Non-fiction (politics, maybe?), and sometimes woo-woo new age shit.

12. What have you read so far this year?
I... really need to keep a list. I don't even know.
13. What are you reading now?
Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones
Freak Show by [someone] Brogan
Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia
14. What are you reading next? (list! list! You know you want to)
I have a list. Somewhere. Several, in fact. And lots of unread stuff on my shelves. I'm no fun.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

This was more fun than that other book meme!

My answers are here.

[kaydee23.livejournal.com]

I was checking your journal to see if you'd reviewed Breaking Dawn yet. :grins: I can't wait to hear the breathless reviews from my 6th and 7th grade students. They love those books. That's how I came to read them. So silly.

I found a really cool, I mean really really cool book called Dream Hunter by Elizabeth Knox. It's a YA, but it's fairly sophisticated, in my opinion. It's about a world, quite similar to ours, where some people have the ability to go into this area of land and *capture* dreams. Then, they come back and people go to dream houses and sleep, and the dreamhunter shares the dream with the sleeping audience as he or she sleeps on the stage. It's very weird. Freaky weird.

Also, did you know that Cassandra Clare has a young adult series? The first one is City of Bones, followed by City of Ashes. I've read them both and really enjoyed them, of course with an eye to what my middle schoolers would think about them. I'm really looking forward to City of Glass. I never read her, but she wrote Harry Potter fanfiction, I think, and she's much reviled by the fandom, as far as I've been able to determine. I don't know why, but there's a lot of hate out there for her. Anyway, they're much better books than the Twilight series, but that's not saying a whole whole lot. She does have an incest angle to them, so I can't overtly recommend them to my students, but when I give them the list of the books I read this summer, and I always do, hers will be on there. I'm sure I read those *classic* books Flowers in the Attic and If There be Thorns in seventh or eighth grade. Ha ha. And I survived.

Lovely, lovely books!

[zibbycomix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love lists! Okay, here I go:
1) A favorite book- "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis
2) A book that affected me in my YA years- "Alanna: the First Adventure" by Tamora Pierce.
3) A favorite fantasy novel- "Harry Potter" by J. K. Rowling (the 5th book is my favorite one in the series)
4) A favorite sci fi novel- "The Color of Magic" by Terry Pratchett
5) A great book that people may not know about- "The Enchanted Castle" by E. Nesbit
6) A book that you own more than one copy of- "Harry Potter" by J. K. Rowling
7) An author whose every single book that I will buy- Gail Carson Levine and Robin McKinley
8) The worst book that I have ever read- "The Mill on the Floss" by George Eliot (I had to read it for a class in college)
9) A book that I dislike that other people like- Well, I don't like romance novels in general
10) The most difficult book I've ever read- "Ulysses" by James Joyce (again, had to read it for a class in college- and I actually got through the whole thing!)
11) What kind of books my mom reads- Actually, my mom doesn't read very often, but recently she liked reading "Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life" by Steve Martin
12) What I have read so far this year- "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diane Wynne Jones, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick, and way too many picture books to mention here
13) What I am reading now- "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
14) What I am reading next- I have no idea; my list is so long! I hope to read "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer at some point, though.

[zibbycomix.livejournal.com]

I haven't bought Robin McKinley's "Dragonhaven" yet, either, but I'd like to.
About your icon- I meant to tell you that I LOVE it! Is it from Robin McKiney's book "Deerskin"?
I was probably the one that made the comment that mistful is like Gail Carson Levine. I think that you should read "The Princess Tales," and if those don't remind you of mistful (especially her newest short story), I'll pay you $5! Also, I highly recommend Gail Carson Levine's "Ella Enchanted," which is one of my all-time favorite books.
About Mill on the Floss- sorry to discourage you from reading it. I usually like that kind of flowery language and description (hence my love of L. M. Montgomery), but I just couldn't get into Mill on the Floss. There are a bunch of books that I read in class (both high school and college) that I didn't care for, like "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing. But almost every book that I've chose to read for myself, I've liked or at least thought was decent. So that's a good thing, at least.
Howl's Moving Castle is AMAZING. If you like Draco from Drop Dead Gorgeous, you'll love Howl. Trust me. My BFF got me to read both of these stories, and I love both of them. I think mistful was definitely influenced by Diane Wynne Jones.
I've never read any of Steve Martin's writing, but I like his movies. That's got to count for something, right? =)
You know, it's funny- I've heard such different things about Twilight. I've heard both that it has "excellent writing" and that it's "written like fanfiction." So yeah. I still want to read it though- to see if I like it, and to see why everyone else liked it. I suspect that Edward Cullen is the new Draco Malfoy, and that's why everyone likes it so much. =)