A Book Meme, just for fun
Ever wanted to know a little bit more about what makes me tick? Here is a list of 10 books that have stayed with me over the years. The trick is to do the list quickly, without looking anything up or perusing your shelves! LOL
You may look at this list and say...those aren't classics, they aren't deep philosophical works, etc. I say, read them and think about it again. I learned something important from each of these.
1. Phule's Company by Robert Aspirin. First book I ever finished and immediately turned to the first page and read again.
2. Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs I bought a bunch of these and gave them out as thank you gifts after I chaired the Orycon she was my guest at.
3. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold. If you have ever played Wall, you'll get it. All of her books are excellent, but that one...yeah.
4. Starman Jones by Heinlein. It isn't my favorite of his, but it is the first I ever read. That lingers! There is just something about protagonists thrown in over their heads and fighting to save not only themselves, but the people with them that I've never tired of.
5. Trixie Belden series She solved mysteries like Nancy Drew, but she had to babysit and got flack from her brothers and made mistakes. As a young teen, these spoke deeply to me.
6. The Odyssey by Homer. Hey, look, a classic! But it was Odysseus's son who I empathized with...I wrote so many papers on this book in college. LOL. One of the best was comparing the journeys in the Odyssey with those in Huckleberry Finn. Would you believe that I never read this book until college? I'd read a lot of the stories from it, but not the whole thing.
7. The collected works of William Shakespeare. What? Is that a cop-out? LOL...to be honest though, I adore the English language and the wild and crazy things you can do with it...evoke love, hate, passion, apathy...and the Bard was one of my earliest influences in this. He made words dance.
8. Okay, I have to put Tolkein here as well. I read the Hobbit when I was little (for those of you who think this impressive, I have friends who make me look like a slow starter! LOL) He created a world that I still enjoy visiting to this day. Okay, mostly for the elves, but let's face it, they have more time and make the Truly Epic mistakes
9. The Monster At the End of the Book. The one with Grover. Classic example of building suspense and pitting your reader against your protagonist What?
I'm sure that tomorrow I'm going to wake up and mentally smack myself, saying why didn't I pick that one?? (Because my memory sucks and trying to do this quickly with a 101 degree fever really taxes me! LOL) So, now, for number ten...
10. Okay...I'm going with Beastmaster by Andre Norton. It is a wonderful story of post-war PTSD set on another planet...the main protag is Native American and has animals he can speak to. Unlike the movie of the same name, this is definitely Science Fiction! ...and much, much better! Andre Norton's books...that woman could write!
You may look at this list and say...those aren't classics, they aren't deep philosophical works, etc. I say, read them and think about it again. I learned something important from each of these.
1. Phule's Company by Robert Aspirin. First book I ever finished and immediately turned to the first page and read again.
2. Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs I bought a bunch of these and gave them out as thank you gifts after I chaired the Orycon she was my guest at.
3. Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold. If you have ever played Wall, you'll get it. All of her books are excellent, but that one...yeah.
4. Starman Jones by Heinlein. It isn't my favorite of his, but it is the first I ever read. That lingers! There is just something about protagonists thrown in over their heads and fighting to save not only themselves, but the people with them that I've never tired of.
5. Trixie Belden series She solved mysteries like Nancy Drew, but she had to babysit and got flack from her brothers and made mistakes. As a young teen, these spoke deeply to me.
6. The Odyssey by Homer. Hey, look, a classic! But it was Odysseus's son who I empathized with...I wrote so many papers on this book in college. LOL. One of the best was comparing the journeys in the Odyssey with those in Huckleberry Finn. Would you believe that I never read this book until college? I'd read a lot of the stories from it, but not the whole thing.
7. The collected works of William Shakespeare. What? Is that a cop-out? LOL...to be honest though, I adore the English language and the wild and crazy things you can do with it...evoke love, hate, passion, apathy...and the Bard was one of my earliest influences in this. He made words dance.
8. Okay, I have to put Tolkein here as well. I read the Hobbit when I was little (for those of you who think this impressive, I have friends who make me look like a slow starter! LOL) He created a world that I still enjoy visiting to this day. Okay, mostly for the elves, but let's face it, they have more time and make the Truly Epic mistakes
9. The Monster At the End of the Book. The one with Grover. Classic example of building suspense and pitting your reader against your protagonist What?
I'm sure that tomorrow I'm going to wake up and mentally smack myself, saying why didn't I pick that one?? (Because my memory sucks and trying to do this quickly with a 101 degree fever really taxes me! LOL) So, now, for number ten...
10. Okay...I'm going with Beastmaster by Andre Norton. It is a wonderful story of post-war PTSD set on another planet...the main protag is Native American and has animals he can speak to. Unlike the movie of the same name, this is definitely Science Fiction! ...and much, much better! Andre Norton's books...that woman could write!