Here's a transferred post from my history blog, Aug 2006The magnificent Margo tagged this book meme to my marvelous Mum, and she has tagged me, so I am it! I rarely do memes, but here's one of substance just for you, Dear Reader! Here goes... (if you search, you might even find some cemetery-related book-age going on here!)
1.
One book that changed your life: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It had been recommended to me by a favorite English teacher, and I was very much captivated by the passion and power of the writing. It turned me on to a great deal of Harlem Renaissance fiction. I was captivated by Ellison's ability to write about music in his stories, and have the words themselves be musical and evoke jazz. It was the first time I came to understand that I myself think musically, and that others did too.
2.
One book that you've read more than once: While I have been known to devour hefty obscure intellectual tomes, the sort of books I tend to read over and over with zest are typically novels by Stephen King. His
Dark Tower series I have reread many times, often in anticipation of the next book (although he just finished the last book recently.. I do hate to lose characters I know and love!) I love mystery, suspense, odd characters and a good scare (not so much gore, however.. I much prefer scary books to scary movies). And Stephen King also makes me laugh. Check out his
website sometime, and read his blog messages! Although I do not reread his books immediately... I must give a horror novel enough time for me to get hazy on the details and surprises, so that it is more enjoyable of a reread.
3.
One book you'd want on a desert island: Ok, so I just Googled this because I figured there had to be a book about surviving on a desert island. "
SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea" shows how to make fires, what plants to eat, and comes with easy to interpret diagrams! I am a big fan of diagrams in How-To books. But if the desert island in question was part of a vacation destination, then I'd just want some trashy magazines (
Cosmo?) to read by the ocean. Although even then I probably wouldnt get a tan.. I can dream, though!
4.
One book that made you laugh: I absolutely adore Terry Pratchett, a British humorist. Matt had almost the entire
Discworld series, and once I became hooked too, we finished them off.. and eagerly await each new book! (Too hard to wait for them to come out in paperback!) Of note: when Matt proposed to me, I had been reading through Pratchett's "
Art of Discworld".
5.
One book that made you cry: One of my favorite poets,
Walt Whitman, has numerous printed versions of his "Leaves of Grass" and other poems. I have a collection of some of his works, and during my freshman year of college I was debating whether or not to attend a midnight session of the Dead Poets Society at Brown under the Marcus Aurelius statue.
The entrance requirement is to read aloud a poem, and I had sent several emails back and forth to Nannie debating which poem to choose. She wrote that one of her favorite poems of his is "Youth, Day, Old Age and Night":
Youth, large, lusty, loving--youth full of grace, force, fascination,
Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace,
force, fascination?
Day full-blown and splendid-day of the immense sun, action,
ambition, laughter,
The Night follows close with millions of suns, and sleep and
restoring darkness. That was her last email to me before she passed away. I cried rereading it in the collection, but love and appreciate it all the more.
6.
One book that you wish you had written: Perhaps "
Here Be Dragons" by Sharon Kay Penman. I love historical fiction, and always admire scholars or authors who have the ability to take documents and myths of historical figures and can turn those into engaging stories that can bring to life people and places from long ago.
7.
One book that you wish had never been written: Hard to say. At work I am archiving a great deal of hate-literature from various groups, which certainly has spawned many hateful and harmful opinions and actions over the years. While such thoughts and actions certainly exist without the written word, there is substantial power that is given to thoughts when they are put down on paper. Great words can inspire greatness, just as horrible words can inspire horror.
8.
One book you're currently reading: So many!! I just received all of my birthday presents from Matt this past weekend, of which there were tons of books: a
medieval mystery series and "
Sunne in Splendour"(by Sharon Kay Penman), "
A Midwife's Tale" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, some
Christopher Moore books (a new humor-writer we have been reading.. found him in Borders because of his bright cover colors!), the
first three years of the comic strip "
For Better or For Worse" (that I am sharing with Mom!), and "
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco, a long-time favorite author of mine. So there are many to be read... just as I am about to purchase my graduate textbooks! We'll see how they are prioritized =)
9.
One book you've been meaning to read: My friend Jojo who is working down at
Colonial Williamsburg recently sent me "
Pox Americana", a book about smallpox in the Revolutionary War. I had written a paper about smallpox cemeteries in New England, so she sent this to me as a fun gift. I had mailed her a book and labeled it to her with "Master Seamstress" sandwiched between her first and last name because she is creating old-fashioned costumes in Williamsburg, so when she mailed me this book, it came labeled to me with the phrase "Smallpox is Cool" sandwiched between my name! I am surprised the post office didnt have a heart attack! So beyond it's fun packaging, the book looks great too!
Tag: I tag Holly. Now its your turn!
