(no subject)
Oh, fun meme! About books. I haven't done it; thanks to pippins_babies for the chance.
Total number of books owned:
I think around 2000. The last meaningful estimate was several years ago when I moved in here and the guesstimate was 1000+. I've got rid of some of those since then; others still live in boxes. In inverse proportion to laundry-lost socks, they multiply. Except, during the night, when no-one's looking.
Last book bought:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Script Book, Season 2 vol 1
Joss!
Did I mention I sacrifice chickens daily to this man?
Last book read:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and
Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, recced by childofatlantis. It was fab. (Thank you!)
Five books that mean a lot to you:
Tough one!
Not in any order that would denote merit:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
JKR won't better this. A fantastic story and it introduces two of my all-time favourite characters in a passionate, highly charged scene. What more could I want?
Plus, it's here as a representative of all 6 HP books. Which is probably cheating, but.
Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino.
Joy printed up into 100-odd pages. I so envy people who have still to read this book. It's a manifesto for humanity.
And moving on from Pseuds' Corner...
At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
Among the most stunning writing I've ever read. The Ireland of my grandparents' childhood. Life as Art.
Shit, I'm back in Pseuds' Corner again.
Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson
I love, love RLS. He's one of my historical boyfriends.
He can tell stories; he can draw characters; he can capture the duality of the fucked-up Scottish psyche effortlessly; he can do it all.
This is probably the single most enjoyable book I'll ever read. Not a single word is wasted. And he has the most bastarding of all bastards as the hero's father. Ever.
The one drawback is that, like the archetypal WiP, it stops, forever unfinished.
Collected Essays, Papers and Journalism by George Orwell
Orwell is my political guru. He should be everyone's. Plus, he was a shit-hot journalist. His novels were crap (I had to read them in school; I experienced the pain) but I've yet to come across a commentator who can speak as directly through the human experience as articulately as he can.
‘As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them...’
And how can you not love someone who not only experiences but can articulate for the world what it's like to be expected to shoot an enemy soldier who's just had a crap behind a bush then goes running back to his post with his trousers round his ankles?
I seem to have got more verbose as I've gone on. Sorry 'bout that.
Oh, and I'm not obliged to mention five songs I've been playing on a loop, but here's four, anyway.
Franz Ferdinand : Do You Want To
Manic Street Preachers: Kevin Carter
Firefly theme (is there anything this man can't do?)
The Corries: Wild Mountain Thyme (I love the inconstancy.)
I won't tag anyone for this, although I would love to see anyone on my flist do this meme.
Including you, airinshaw.
Total number of books owned:
I think around 2000. The last meaningful estimate was several years ago when I moved in here and the guesstimate was 1000+. I've got rid of some of those since then; others still live in boxes. In inverse proportion to laundry-lost socks, they multiply. Except, during the night, when no-one's looking.
Last book bought:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Script Book, Season 2 vol 1
Joss!
Did I mention I sacrifice chickens daily to this man?
Last book read:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and
Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, recced by childofatlantis. It was fab. (Thank you!)
Five books that mean a lot to you:
Tough one!
Not in any order that would denote merit:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
JKR won't better this. A fantastic story and it introduces two of my all-time favourite characters in a passionate, highly charged scene. What more could I want?
Plus, it's here as a representative of all 6 HP books. Which is probably cheating, but.
Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino.
Joy printed up into 100-odd pages. I so envy people who have still to read this book. It's a manifesto for humanity.
And moving on from Pseuds' Corner...
At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill
Among the most stunning writing I've ever read. The Ireland of my grandparents' childhood. Life as Art.
Shit, I'm back in Pseuds' Corner again.
Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson
I love, love RLS. He's one of my historical boyfriends.
He can tell stories; he can draw characters; he can capture the duality of the fucked-up Scottish psyche effortlessly; he can do it all.
This is probably the single most enjoyable book I'll ever read. Not a single word is wasted. And he has the most bastarding of all bastards as the hero's father. Ever.
The one drawback is that, like the archetypal WiP, it stops, forever unfinished.
Collected Essays, Papers and Journalism by George Orwell
Orwell is my political guru. He should be everyone's. Plus, he was a shit-hot journalist. His novels were crap (I had to read them in school; I experienced the pain) but I've yet to come across a commentator who can speak as directly through the human experience as articulately as he can.
‘As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them...’
And how can you not love someone who not only experiences but can articulate for the world what it's like to be expected to shoot an enemy soldier who's just had a crap behind a bush then goes running back to his post with his trousers round his ankles?
I seem to have got more verbose as I've gone on. Sorry 'bout that.
Oh, and I'm not obliged to mention five songs I've been playing on a loop, but here's four, anyway.
Franz Ferdinand : Do You Want To
Manic Street Preachers: Kevin Carter
Firefly theme (is there anything this man can't do?)
The Corries: Wild Mountain Thyme (I love the inconstancy.)
I won't tag anyone for this, although I would love to see anyone on my flist do this meme.
Including you, airinshaw.