"book meme"
I'm up and on mania so I might as well:
One book that changed your life: Well, that's just not fair. All books change me. Whenever I read something it's assimilated into me, the concepts, the moods, the memories, so really that's all I am, a loose conglomeration of literary oddities.
One book that you’ve read more than once: Er.... I actually don't reread books much - I'm always reading new ones, all the time. I reread Finnegans Wake (James Joyce)a few times in a somewhat futile effort to understand it, and... well, I've got the gist of it and some passages really starting sinking their teeth in, so I know I'm doing something right with understanding it, even if the particulars are really intended to be subjective. Asides from that... well, I reread some of Joyce's other works recently as well. I've done the Bible a few times too - but what Christian hasn't? You got to Church and it gets conditioned into you every Mass and there's you group and... well, you get the picture there. However, asides from Joyce (who just plain demands that kind of treatment) I'm generally just reading new things.
One book you’d want on a desert island: Finnegans Wake, James Joyce. The more I read it, the more I get out of it. I figure that it will last me however long it takes for the authorities to bang their heads together enough times to figure out where I am. Or rather, the authorities ought to make sure that I get enough time to go through it enough times.
One book that made you laugh: Mleh. I usually don't read to get a laugh. Pratchett makes me grin sometimes, and Douglas Adams. I giggled a few times through The Sandman and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because of the plain nutty red herrings they slip in, but those are graphic novels and probably not what you intend. So... I'll go for Fforde's Thursday Next books, though I'm not through them all quite yet.
One book that made you cry: There's been a fair few, though I'd like to think I don't cry much. Let's see... I'll go for A Picture of Dorian Gray here, by Oscar Wilde. I didn't cry while reading it, but after, when it... really caught in my head, the inevitability of it all. I'm not a hedonist, but the nihilistic qualities are... startling.
One book that you wish had been written: A book about everything - everything. Finnegans Wake comes close, and maybe it's that I simply can't... comprehend it yet, but something that captures it all, not just the humanistic qualities but everything, everything, the things that are really not human at all when even though really, they are, a book that's not about everyone but everyone, even the ones who aren't quite... human.
One book that you wish had never been written: None. If there were no bad books, or wrong books, or unfair books, or any books that bring about our disdain, then literature would not be literature. They present a side to it all that is otherwise forgotten: in some cases, sheer human stupidity, and in others, a terrible disgrace, but they ought to be there nonetheless as a reminder.
(If this is meant to mean, books I don't like, then I have to say that theological bull that CS Lewis comes up with. He assumes that everyone has the same reasons for being an atheist that he does, and then takes this consequentialist view on it that... urgh. It bothers me immensely, especially when people throw those same arguments into my face for subscribing to a nihilistic atheism.)
One book you’re currently reading: Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde. They're... funny, but there's not much to them besides a string of puns and concepts. But ah well.
One book you’ve been meaning to read: I've always wanted to read the notes and letters of William Blake, which should be fascinating. I've also been itching to get my hands on a... particular R.D. Laing book that, for some bizarre reason, is not something that Barnes & Noble or Borders or Schulers keeps in stock, nor is it in the local public library system, nor is it in three of the local university libraries.
Tagged by Linwenilid.
I tag:
the humble mosquito
gussiki
the white lily
blue yeti
the black knight
One book that changed your life: Well, that's just not fair. All books change me. Whenever I read something it's assimilated into me, the concepts, the moods, the memories, so really that's all I am, a loose conglomeration of literary oddities.
One book that you’ve read more than once: Er.... I actually don't reread books much - I'm always reading new ones, all the time. I reread Finnegans Wake (James Joyce)a few times in a somewhat futile effort to understand it, and... well, I've got the gist of it and some passages really starting sinking their teeth in, so I know I'm doing something right with understanding it, even if the particulars are really intended to be subjective. Asides from that... well, I reread some of Joyce's other works recently as well. I've done the Bible a few times too - but what Christian hasn't? You got to Church and it gets conditioned into you every Mass and there's you group and... well, you get the picture there. However, asides from Joyce (who just plain demands that kind of treatment) I'm generally just reading new things.
One book you’d want on a desert island: Finnegans Wake, James Joyce. The more I read it, the more I get out of it. I figure that it will last me however long it takes for the authorities to bang their heads together enough times to figure out where I am. Or rather, the authorities ought to make sure that I get enough time to go through it enough times.
One book that made you laugh: Mleh. I usually don't read to get a laugh. Pratchett makes me grin sometimes, and Douglas Adams. I giggled a few times through The Sandman and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because of the plain nutty red herrings they slip in, but those are graphic novels and probably not what you intend. So... I'll go for Fforde's Thursday Next books, though I'm not through them all quite yet.
One book that made you cry: There's been a fair few, though I'd like to think I don't cry much. Let's see... I'll go for A Picture of Dorian Gray here, by Oscar Wilde. I didn't cry while reading it, but after, when it... really caught in my head, the inevitability of it all. I'm not a hedonist, but the nihilistic qualities are... startling.
One book that you wish had been written: A book about everything - everything. Finnegans Wake comes close, and maybe it's that I simply can't... comprehend it yet, but something that captures it all, not just the humanistic qualities but everything, everything, the things that are really not human at all when even though really, they are, a book that's not about everyone but everyone, even the ones who aren't quite... human.
One book that you wish had never been written: None. If there were no bad books, or wrong books, or unfair books, or any books that bring about our disdain, then literature would not be literature. They present a side to it all that is otherwise forgotten: in some cases, sheer human stupidity, and in others, a terrible disgrace, but they ought to be there nonetheless as a reminder.
(If this is meant to mean, books I don't like, then I have to say that theological bull that CS Lewis comes up with. He assumes that everyone has the same reasons for being an atheist that he does, and then takes this consequentialist view on it that... urgh. It bothers me immensely, especially when people throw those same arguments into my face for subscribing to a nihilistic atheism.)
One book you’re currently reading: Thursday Next series, by Jasper Fforde. They're... funny, but there's not much to them besides a string of puns and concepts. But ah well.
One book you’ve been meaning to read: I've always wanted to read the notes and letters of William Blake, which should be fascinating. I've also been itching to get my hands on a... particular R.D. Laing book that, for some bizarre reason, is not something that Barnes & Noble or Borders or Schulers keeps in stock, nor is it in the local public library system, nor is it in three of the local university libraries.
Tagged by Linwenilid.
I tag:
the humble mosquito
gussiki
the white lily
blue yeti
the black knight