(no subject)
I really enjoyed this meme. I don't really care if anyone else fills it out but I would be interested to see what some of the people on my freindslist answer to these questions.
1. What are your five most important books and why?
2. What is an important book you admit you haven’t read?
3. What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing upon rereading?
4. What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids…and if you don't have kids, what book would you want to share with the child of a friend or a sibling?
5. Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don’t like.
1. 1) Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins Of course a novel who's central theme is that redheads are of a superior race that were responsible for the greatest human acheivements of all time (particularly the pyramids) would be one of my favorite, most important books. The fact that it takes place on a pack of Camel cigarettes only adds to its greatness. The whole concept of "outlaws" and the princess and her family's exile and her own imprisonment to mirror that of her love is so hopelessly romantic despite some really fucked up tangents that Robbins takes to describe things were very compelling for me. It is also a book I bought while living in California and I remember reading it on the beach and that adds to the importance for me.
2) My Forbidden Face, Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman's Story by Latifa While the writing may not be the most sophisticated that I have read (by far) the story that she has to tell about how the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the oppression and devistation that followed is gut-wrenching. It is so terrifying to know what these people had to endure and still endure today. I think everyone should read this to help them gain some understanding that not everyone in those war-torn countries follow the Taliban, that they are actually the majority but they are being oppressed by such a cruel and evil force that their voices cannot be heard. Important for any American to know who exactly is the enemy and why we should "stick our noses in other people's business." Sometimes the people's who's business we are minding have no other way to defend themselves.
3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card I chose Ender's Game because it is, essentially, the first book in the Ender Wiggins saga. I know, Ender's Shadow technically takes place at the exact same time as Game but really, we all know which one is the original. This book is important because, besides being a really great and interesting story with one major plot twist at the end (which, really, you should see coming from a mile away but it gets every first-time reader I have ever known because it is so massive) but it is also a great testiment to human nature. As you continue the series, Card goes deeper into the human mind than any other fiction I have read. His characters are well formed and his ideas about the future seem so far-fetched that they are almost believable.
4) The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling Instead of pin-pointing one particular HP book, I decided to lump them all together. Think what you want about this series, I found them to be so brilliant that I will defend them 'til my dying day! Seriously, these books are pure genious. They are such good tales of good vs evil (although who you think is evil may not really be evil, even when that alleged evil person kills the ultimate good person you may find that in doing such they were really following the script created by the good guys and, in effect, helping rid the world of evil) with bright magical characters and crazy happenings that they make great bedtime stories for kids. As the adult reading the book to her kids, you get so much more out of the book. The allusions to the classics, the mythology that finds its way into the stories, the little subtilities that you may only catch after reading the book for the 3rd or 4th time. Really great books.
5) The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Ok, when a boy named Milo drives through a cardboard tollbooth and meets a watchdog named Tock, travels to Dictionopolis (a city of letters and words) and begins a journey to resuce Rhyme and Reason (princesses), meets people who grow down to the ground instead of up into the air, rescues the people of the Valley of Sound from utter quiet, swims through the Sea of Knowledge to get to Digitopolis where he meets the Mathematician who shows him how numbers are mined from the earth in the Numbers Mine, and finally rescues the princesses by climbing the Mountains of Ignorance to the Castle in the Air and finally returning to Dictionopolis on Tock's back (time does fly, you know), that's a good story. I read this book for the first time in the 3rd grade and LOVED it. I have since re-read it a few times over the years and it never gets old for me. It has been a little while since I've read it last and, I admit, I had to look up a few of the names of the places in the book, but the story sticks with me. I don't care how old you are, everyone should read this book.
Man, I didn't realize how much I liked Fantasy until I made this list.
2. The Tale of Two Cities and Crime and Punishment neither of which I have any intention of reading, tbh.
3. Good Night Moon This one was never really a favorite of mine. Really I always thought it was stupid. Anyone can write a book listing everything in a kid's room and telling it goodnight.
4. There are so many! Of course, The Phantom TollBooth, Harry Potter, and, eventually Ender's Game. Man, that one is probably the hardest. I have read so many great books over the years. I can't wait for Benjamin to start reading (really reading like I started in 3rd grade) so we can go spend hours in the library sharing books. I hope he is a reader. Both me and Tim love to read so I can't imagine it not being one of his favorite things to do too.
5. This question is the main reason I had to do this meme. I have to share with everyone how much I hated the book Confederacy of Dunces. OMFG that book made me sick to my stomach. Ignatius Riley is the most dispicable character in all of literature. The countless scenes of him masterbating made me want to vomit. I did not read this book in high school when it was on all of the summer reading lists. For the past few months people have been talking about it at work. There are a few girls who read almost as much as I do and we discuss and share books. One read it and everyone was gushing over how wonderful it is. How well Toole captured the essence of New Orleans and how spot-on the dialect of the characters was. I saw none of that. Maybe I have read enough books that take place in NOLA so the novelty of seeing "Tchoupitoulas" in a book has worn off but I didn't even think the way the characters spoke was really indicitave of how people in New Orleans speak. I hated this book and I am so upset that I will never get back the time I wasted on reading it.
1. What are your five most important books and why?
2. What is an important book you admit you haven’t read?
3. What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing upon rereading?
4. What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids…and if you don't have kids, what book would you want to share with the child of a friend or a sibling?
5. Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don’t like.
1. 1) Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins Of course a novel who's central theme is that redheads are of a superior race that were responsible for the greatest human acheivements of all time (particularly the pyramids) would be one of my favorite, most important books. The fact that it takes place on a pack of Camel cigarettes only adds to its greatness. The whole concept of "outlaws" and the princess and her family's exile and her own imprisonment to mirror that of her love is so hopelessly romantic despite some really fucked up tangents that Robbins takes to describe things were very compelling for me. It is also a book I bought while living in California and I remember reading it on the beach and that adds to the importance for me.
2) My Forbidden Face, Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman's Story by Latifa While the writing may not be the most sophisticated that I have read (by far) the story that she has to tell about how the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the oppression and devistation that followed is gut-wrenching. It is so terrifying to know what these people had to endure and still endure today. I think everyone should read this to help them gain some understanding that not everyone in those war-torn countries follow the Taliban, that they are actually the majority but they are being oppressed by such a cruel and evil force that their voices cannot be heard. Important for any American to know who exactly is the enemy and why we should "stick our noses in other people's business." Sometimes the people's who's business we are minding have no other way to defend themselves.
3) Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card I chose Ender's Game because it is, essentially, the first book in the Ender Wiggins saga. I know, Ender's Shadow technically takes place at the exact same time as Game but really, we all know which one is the original. This book is important because, besides being a really great and interesting story with one major plot twist at the end (which, really, you should see coming from a mile away but it gets every first-time reader I have ever known because it is so massive) but it is also a great testiment to human nature. As you continue the series, Card goes deeper into the human mind than any other fiction I have read. His characters are well formed and his ideas about the future seem so far-fetched that they are almost believable.
4) The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling Instead of pin-pointing one particular HP book, I decided to lump them all together. Think what you want about this series, I found them to be so brilliant that I will defend them 'til my dying day! Seriously, these books are pure genious. They are such good tales of good vs evil (although who you think is evil may not really be evil, even when that alleged evil person kills the ultimate good person you may find that in doing such they were really following the script created by the good guys and, in effect, helping rid the world of evil) with bright magical characters and crazy happenings that they make great bedtime stories for kids. As the adult reading the book to her kids, you get so much more out of the book. The allusions to the classics, the mythology that finds its way into the stories, the little subtilities that you may only catch after reading the book for the 3rd or 4th time. Really great books.
5) The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster Ok, when a boy named Milo drives through a cardboard tollbooth and meets a watchdog named Tock, travels to Dictionopolis (a city of letters and words) and begins a journey to resuce Rhyme and Reason (princesses), meets people who grow down to the ground instead of up into the air, rescues the people of the Valley of Sound from utter quiet, swims through the Sea of Knowledge to get to Digitopolis where he meets the Mathematician who shows him how numbers are mined from the earth in the Numbers Mine, and finally rescues the princesses by climbing the Mountains of Ignorance to the Castle in the Air and finally returning to Dictionopolis on Tock's back (time does fly, you know), that's a good story. I read this book for the first time in the 3rd grade and LOVED it. I have since re-read it a few times over the years and it never gets old for me. It has been a little while since I've read it last and, I admit, I had to look up a few of the names of the places in the book, but the story sticks with me. I don't care how old you are, everyone should read this book.
Man, I didn't realize how much I liked Fantasy until I made this list.
2. The Tale of Two Cities and Crime and Punishment neither of which I have any intention of reading, tbh.
3. Good Night Moon This one was never really a favorite of mine. Really I always thought it was stupid. Anyone can write a book listing everything in a kid's room and telling it goodnight.
4. There are so many! Of course, The Phantom TollBooth, Harry Potter, and, eventually Ender's Game. Man, that one is probably the hardest. I have read so many great books over the years. I can't wait for Benjamin to start reading (really reading like I started in 3rd grade) so we can go spend hours in the library sharing books. I hope he is a reader. Both me and Tim love to read so I can't imagine it not being one of his favorite things to do too.
5. This question is the main reason I had to do this meme. I have to share with everyone how much I hated the book Confederacy of Dunces. OMFG that book made me sick to my stomach. Ignatius Riley is the most dispicable character in all of literature. The countless scenes of him masterbating made me want to vomit. I did not read this book in high school when it was on all of the summer reading lists. For the past few months people have been talking about it at work. There are a few girls who read almost as much as I do and we discuss and share books. One read it and everyone was gushing over how wonderful it is. How well Toole captured the essence of New Orleans and how spot-on the dialect of the characters was. I saw none of that. Maybe I have read enough books that take place in NOLA so the novelty of seeing "Tchoupitoulas" in a book has worn off but I didn't even think the way the characters spoke was really indicitave of how people in New Orleans speak. I hated this book and I am so upset that I will never get back the time I wasted on reading it.