Book Meme from Lori
01 - Best book you read last year: Maus, Art Speigelman02 - A book that you’ve read more than 3 times: The Giver, by Lois Lowry
03 - Your favorite series: toss up between American Girl series or, of course, Harry Potter
04 - Favorite book of your favorite series: for American Girl: Happy Birthday, Molly! (yes I'm lame) For HP: Harry and the Half-Blood Prince
05 - A book that makes you happy: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
06 - A book that makes you sad: The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman
07 - Most underrated book: You know, I mostly read "critically acclaimed" books, so it's hard to say, since most of the books I read are either overrated or worthwhile. I think Curtis Sittenfield should be taken a little more seriously by academia. She's pretty regarded in the NYT crowd though.
08 - Most overrated book: way too many, but the most recent one I've read would be The Emperor's Children, by Claire Messud. Seriously, way overly critically acclaimed.
09 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving: White Noise by Don Delillo.
10 - Favorite classic book: What counts as a classic? I guess I'll say Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.
11 - A book you hated: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens. That goes for the rest of Dickens, too.
12 - A book you used to love but don't anymore: The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston. I'm just over the style.
13 - Your favorite writer: That's a hard one. For pure pleasure reading, I really like Curtis Sittenfield.
14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer: Prep.
15 - Favorite male character: Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird.
16 - Favorite female character: Scout Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird.
17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book: Ok, so this is long, but it's from To Kill A Mockingbird. Scout is the "I":
"She's gettin' fat," I said.
"I should think so. She eats all the leftover fingers and ears from the hospital."
"Aw, that's a damn story," I said.
"I beg your pardon?"
Atticus said, "Don't pay any attention to her, Jack. She's trying you out. Cal says she's been cussing fluently for a week, now."
Uncle Jack raised his eyebrows and said nothing. I was proceeding on the dim theory, aside from the innate attractiveness of such words, that if Atticus discovered I had picked them up at school he wouldn't make me go.
But at supper that evening when I asked him to pass the damn ham, please, Uncle Jack pointed at me. "See me afterwards, young lady," he said.
When supper was over, Uncle Jack went to the livingroom and sat down. He slapped his thighs for me to come sit on his lap. I liked to smell him: he was like a bottle of alcohol and something pleasantly sweet. He pushed back my bangs and looked at me. "You're more like Atticus than your mother," he said. "You're also growing out of your pants a little."
"I reckon they fit all right."
"You like words like damn and hell now, don't you?"
I said I reckoned so.
"Well I don't," said Uncle Jack, "not unless there's extreme provocation connected with 'em. I'll be here a week, and I don't want to hear any words like that while I'm here. Scout, you'll get in trouble if you go around saying things like that. You want to grow up to be a lady, don't you?"
I said not particularly.
18 - A book that disappointed you: The Shack. I thought it was going to reveal some deep theological meaning, but it was pretty shallow.
19 - Favorite book turned into a movie: Fantastic Mr. Fox.
20 - Favorite romance book: I don't know. I don't think I like romances in print form.
21 - Favorite book from your childhood: Come Play with Me. It's about a girl who chases after bunnies and other wood creatures to play with them, but they run away from her. But when she sits very quietly, they come to her. I think it's a good lesson in patience that I need to remember more often.
22 - Favorite book you own: I like my signed copy of Hillary Clinton's It Takes a Village.
23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't: Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison. But it will be read by the end of the year!
24 - A book that you wish more people would’ve read: Maus, by Art Spiegelman. It's just really really good.
25 - A character who you can relate to the most: I really relate to Lee Curtis, from Prep. I also really relate to Scout Finch, but she's probably way better of a person than me.
26 - A book that changed your opinion about something: Nickel and Dimed made me more feverently believe in a "living wage" than I had before.
27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending: As I Lay Dying had a pretty brutal ending.
28 - Favorite title: I guess I'll be boring with this one, but Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
29 - A book everyone hated but you liked: Man of my Dreams, by Curtis Sittenfield.
30 - Your favorite book of all time: if you haven't figured it out yet: To Kill A Mockingbird.