10 books that have stayed with you
My friend R. tagged me on Facebook to answer the meme about 10 books that have stayed with you. I cannot resist a meme! But I don't like writing too much about myself on Facebook, unless it can be boiled down to a cheap gag: LJ is the proper place for this kind of thing!
1. Enid Blyton - The Rockingdown Mystery
I borrowed this from the library and was annoyed that my favourite character was not the hero of the book, so I doctored the front cover with Tippex and felt tips to change the hair colours of the characters, in order to portray my favourite being adventurous and daring. Every time I went to the library after that, the defaced cover of the book would be peering out at me from one rack or another. I still feel quite ashamed of my vandalism.
2. Guiness Book of Hit Singles (1988 edition)
The hours I spent reading this, studying chart positions and lists of number one singles and ticking everything I'd heard, were ideal preparation for my current career as Data Monkey at Indiejob.
3. Ernie Ball - How To Play Guitar Book 1
The only guitar book I've ever made any progress with, thanks to its cheery pictures of an eagle encouraging you in your struggles to switch from one chord to another, and the mind-blowing central pages that listed about 100 songs you could play right now as soon as you'd learnt three chords. Most of them were American country songs I'd never heard of, so not quite a punk rock revolution, but still, the possibilities! I haven't finished book 2 yet.
4. Colloquial Swedish
A cracking read, following the adventures of Rebecca the exchange student (who wards off flirtatious Swedes while learning to cook local delicacies), Bill the travelling salesman (who takes an afternoon off from selling suitcase handles to go to a funfair) and a family whose names I forgot with a truculent teenage son (who argues with his parents about putting pop posters on his bedroom wall), with handy pronunciation tips and grammar exercises along the way!
5. Praktisk dansk
Even dearer to my heart than Colloquial Swedish; it was written by my Danish teachers at Odense University, who happily poked fun at the misadventures of their hapless exchange student pupils. They get confused when trying to catch the bus! They have to spurn lovelorn Danes by admitting they have a boyfriend back home! There is also a two-page spread on swearing, which shocked my Danish friends - "They shouldn't be teaching you this!".
6. Colloquial Icelandic
This doesn't have such a compelling plot as the aforementioned textbooks, but the grammar exercises are very, very soothing when you are trying to get your head around noun declension, vowel mutation and the like, and I met two of my BFFs while studying this book on dark Thursday mornings. Unfortunately the book has not stayed with me - I can't find it anywhere, and I need to revise some Icelandic before I go there in November! Where can it be? Bah!
7. Frøken Jensens Bagebog
This book comes with me to my parents' house every Christmas Eve, as it has a recipe for risalamande (Danish Christmas rice pudding with almonds) clipped out of a packet and tucked into the back cover. I have never made any of the recipes in the book.
8. European wildlife book
I'll have to look up the proper title of this book when I get home, but it was a gift for my 21st birthday from pink_weasel and littlebun, where they had helpfully annotated the pictures and descriptions of European birds and animals with speech bubbles and comments in pink and purple biro. It's an immensely cheering read.
9. AA Street by Street London
If I met you in London somewhere I hadn't been before or came round to your house between 2002 and about 2008, chances are I've written the address down in the back of this street map or drawn a circle on one of the pages. I still find it more useful than looking at maps on my phone, though it's getting a bit out of date now - Stratford is mostly a blank white space! The first couple of pages have fallen off, so I can't go to the City of London any more!
10. Michael Palin - Diaries 1969-1979
This is such a boring book that until last week I'd completely forgotten its part in saving my life, when I locked myself in my bathroom in Hackney and had to get out by smashing the window and climbing through. Michael Palin's diaries, which I'd bought hoping for exciting insider stories about Monty Python and left to languish when they turned out to contain a lot of descriptions of his lunch, were on hand atop the bathroom cabinet, and saved the day! This book has stayed with me in case I ever need to stun a burglar or hammer in some tent pegs.
I tag, oh, anyone who can be bothered really.
1. Enid Blyton - The Rockingdown Mystery
I borrowed this from the library and was annoyed that my favourite character was not the hero of the book, so I doctored the front cover with Tippex and felt tips to change the hair colours of the characters, in order to portray my favourite being adventurous and daring. Every time I went to the library after that, the defaced cover of the book would be peering out at me from one rack or another. I still feel quite ashamed of my vandalism.
2. Guiness Book of Hit Singles (1988 edition)
The hours I spent reading this, studying chart positions and lists of number one singles and ticking everything I'd heard, were ideal preparation for my current career as Data Monkey at Indiejob.
3. Ernie Ball - How To Play Guitar Book 1
The only guitar book I've ever made any progress with, thanks to its cheery pictures of an eagle encouraging you in your struggles to switch from one chord to another, and the mind-blowing central pages that listed about 100 songs you could play right now as soon as you'd learnt three chords. Most of them were American country songs I'd never heard of, so not quite a punk rock revolution, but still, the possibilities! I haven't finished book 2 yet.
4. Colloquial Swedish
A cracking read, following the adventures of Rebecca the exchange student (who wards off flirtatious Swedes while learning to cook local delicacies), Bill the travelling salesman (who takes an afternoon off from selling suitcase handles to go to a funfair) and a family whose names I forgot with a truculent teenage son (who argues with his parents about putting pop posters on his bedroom wall), with handy pronunciation tips and grammar exercises along the way!
5. Praktisk dansk
Even dearer to my heart than Colloquial Swedish; it was written by my Danish teachers at Odense University, who happily poked fun at the misadventures of their hapless exchange student pupils. They get confused when trying to catch the bus! They have to spurn lovelorn Danes by admitting they have a boyfriend back home! There is also a two-page spread on swearing, which shocked my Danish friends - "They shouldn't be teaching you this!".
6. Colloquial Icelandic
This doesn't have such a compelling plot as the aforementioned textbooks, but the grammar exercises are very, very soothing when you are trying to get your head around noun declension, vowel mutation and the like, and I met two of my BFFs while studying this book on dark Thursday mornings. Unfortunately the book has not stayed with me - I can't find it anywhere, and I need to revise some Icelandic before I go there in November! Where can it be? Bah!
7. Frøken Jensens Bagebog
This book comes with me to my parents' house every Christmas Eve, as it has a recipe for risalamande (Danish Christmas rice pudding with almonds) clipped out of a packet and tucked into the back cover. I have never made any of the recipes in the book.
8. European wildlife book
I'll have to look up the proper title of this book when I get home, but it was a gift for my 21st birthday from pink_weasel and littlebun, where they had helpfully annotated the pictures and descriptions of European birds and animals with speech bubbles and comments in pink and purple biro. It's an immensely cheering read.
9. AA Street by Street London
If I met you in London somewhere I hadn't been before or came round to your house between 2002 and about 2008, chances are I've written the address down in the back of this street map or drawn a circle on one of the pages. I still find it more useful than looking at maps on my phone, though it's getting a bit out of date now - Stratford is mostly a blank white space! The first couple of pages have fallen off, so I can't go to the City of London any more!
10. Michael Palin - Diaries 1969-1979
This is such a boring book that until last week I'd completely forgotten its part in saving my life, when I locked myself in my bathroom in Hackney and had to get out by smashing the window and climbing through. Michael Palin's diaries, which I'd bought hoping for exciting insider stories about Monty Python and left to languish when they turned out to contain a lot of descriptions of his lunch, were on hand atop the bathroom cabinet, and saved the day! This book has stayed with me in case I ever need to stun a burglar or hammer in some tent pegs.
I tag, oh, anyone who can be bothered really.