Finally an LJ quiz/test I can get in to
So I haven't updated in a while, but I loved the idea for this quiz, and the bottle of wine I've had this evening hasn't hurt either. So here it goes:
Rules:
1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph
Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater. "I think," she said, " that you should prepare to leave at once." "We want to know what you plan to do about your mother." "Oh honey, did you make that yourself?" "Don't get too close, please."
My paragraph wasn't as interesting as Danny's, but just for fun I figured I would do it. I've included the list of books I pulled from at the end of this post. Interestingly enough, while I probably own more non-fiction works than I do fiction ones, the list I put together here has only fiction works. I guess there must be something subconscious going on here I am not yet ready to deal with. ;) Many of them are actually quite goo, so I've included short opinions about each after each novel. Don't judge them by the awful paragraph they created.
2: "The World According to Garp," by John Irving. One of the best films I have seen. While I don't always agree with Irving's politics, he has one of the most unflinching, and yet un-condemning, eyes of any currently producing Western writer. Of course, he's also done a lot of shlock. This and "The Cider House Rules" are his two masterpieces.
3: "Queen of the Realm," by Jean Plaidy. I am a sucker for Historical fiction, especially when done about periods that are my areas of research and study. So when it's about Elizabeth I it doesn't matter the quality of the work, I will love it no matter what.
4: "An Honorable Profession," by John L'Heureux. I only bought this novel today, but it looks very interesting. Post-modern realism is hard to do, but I have high-hopes for L'Heureux. Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post liked it, and he never likes anything.
5: "Bird by Bird," by Anne Lamott. I must say that I never finished this novel. It was good enough, but I got distracted by another book, which I cannot remember now, and I never finished this one. I guess that's not a very wringing endorsement, but it's the truth.
6: "The Museum Guard," by Howard Norman. This book is the follow-up to my favorite novel of all time, "The Bird Artist," also by Howard Norman. Norman, who teaches writing at the University of Maryland, is the greatest unsung writer of American fiction during the last century. I cannot speak more highly of his stark prose and sentimental eye. This novel is a very solid follow-up to an amazing work. I recommend it more highly than almost any other novel in my collection.
So that is my first post in probably 18 months. Congrats go out to Daniel Devlin for coaxing me back in. Now I totally expect people to post this same contest in their LJs as well. ;)
Rules:
1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph
Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater. "I think," she said, " that you should prepare to leave at once." "We want to know what you plan to do about your mother." "Oh honey, did you make that yourself?" "Don't get too close, please."
My paragraph wasn't as interesting as Danny's, but just for fun I figured I would do it. I've included the list of books I pulled from at the end of this post. Interestingly enough, while I probably own more non-fiction works than I do fiction ones, the list I put together here has only fiction works. I guess there must be something subconscious going on here I am not yet ready to deal with. ;) Many of them are actually quite goo, so I've included short opinions about each after each novel. Don't judge them by the awful paragraph they created.
2: "The World According to Garp," by John Irving. One of the best films I have seen. While I don't always agree with Irving's politics, he has one of the most unflinching, and yet un-condemning, eyes of any currently producing Western writer. Of course, he's also done a lot of shlock. This and "The Cider House Rules" are his two masterpieces.
3: "Queen of the Realm," by Jean Plaidy. I am a sucker for Historical fiction, especially when done about periods that are my areas of research and study. So when it's about Elizabeth I it doesn't matter the quality of the work, I will love it no matter what.
4: "An Honorable Profession," by John L'Heureux. I only bought this novel today, but it looks very interesting. Post-modern realism is hard to do, but I have high-hopes for L'Heureux. Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post liked it, and he never likes anything.
5: "Bird by Bird," by Anne Lamott. I must say that I never finished this novel. It was good enough, but I got distracted by another book, which I cannot remember now, and I never finished this one. I guess that's not a very wringing endorsement, but it's the truth.
6: "The Museum Guard," by Howard Norman. This book is the follow-up to my favorite novel of all time, "The Bird Artist," also by Howard Norman. Norman, who teaches writing at the University of Maryland, is the greatest unsung writer of American fiction during the last century. I cannot speak more highly of his stark prose and sentimental eye. This novel is a very solid follow-up to an amazing work. I recommend it more highly than almost any other novel in my collection.
So that is my first post in probably 18 months. Congrats go out to Daniel Devlin for coaxing me back in. Now I totally expect people to post this same contest in their LJs as well. ;)