thefridayfive for August 25, 2006

[whysoserious]

1. What book or books were special to you in your childhood? Two come immediately to mind. There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, by Louis Sachar, and Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.

2. What was particularly special or memorable about those books? There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom is just an all-around great book; I love the way it's written

Comments

[misti_girl]

A certain someone sent me both those books to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. The biggest surprise for me--not being a sci fi fan--was how much I enjoyed Ender's Game. Incredible book.

[whysoserious]

So that's where my copy of There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom went...! :-P

If you liked Ender's Game, you should check out Ender's Shadow. It's the same story but told through the eyes of Bean, one of the other Battle School cadets. Really interesting!

[misti_girl]

And on a related note... you mentioned that you've re-read these books several times. I know lots of people who like to re-read their favorite books, and it makes sense to me. I watch my favorite movies over and over. But for some reason, I've never been the type to re-read a book. I'm an avid reader, and there are some books I've just totally connected with. But I've never had the desire to re-read them. I wonder if I'm in the minority on this one.

[whysoserious]

Often when I reread a book, I'll catch certain things that I missed before. Or, when you read it at a different point in your life you might look at things in a new light. It can be interesting, for sure! But it's more time-consuming than just rewatching a favorite movie, and I'm sure that's what some folks don't do it more often.

If it's been a while since I've read a book, I'll often have forgotten certain elements of the plot. Not good when reading a series like Harry Potter or The Dark Tower! With the Harry Potter books, there are sites out there that have chapter-by-chapter summaries. Those help out a lot; whenever a new book comes out, I read through them all. It's like Cliff's Notes! :-P The last three Dark Tower books came out one after another, so in that case I just reread the whole series before I started on the fifth book.

[misti_girl]

I listend to books on CD on my daily commute. I noticed in the library yesterday that they have the first Dark Tower book on CD. Worth a read/listen?

[whysoserious]

The first book is pretty good... It's also the shortest and not for everyone, though. It's much more a western than fantasy; IMO King didn't hit his stride until Book 3 (The Waste Lands, one of my all-time faves) and then sadly it was downhill from there. :-/

Do they have any of the others, or just Book 1?