the dreaded brain-hurty book meme

[janne_d]

Drat that bonspiel! Right then,


1. How many books do you own?
In total, no idea. Currently in my house, 153.


2. Last book you bought?
I bought two today as it happens. "The War of the Flowers" by Tad Williams and "A Devil's Chaplain" by Richard Dawkins.

3. Last book you read?
Hmm, last book I finished was "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" by Michael Chabon, but the one I am almost finished is "Carter Beats the Devil" by Glen David Gold, a twisty thrilling tale of a 1920s illusionist, magic and mayhem.


4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

1. "The Jungle Book", 1 and 2, by Rudyard Kipling. My dad read me these as bedtime stories while I was in nursery school. Hence my utter boredom with the "the cat sat on the mat" type things they gave us to read in primary one. Puhlease. Give me wolf packs, poetry, death and bloody revenge any day. (Yknow, reading that over, it occurs to me my dad has a lot to answer for in terms of my character *grins* And for me watching the Disney version at a young age and being completely outraged at the ending because "that's not what happens in the book!" Stupid singing girl...)

2. "Little Women" and "Good Wives" by Louisa M. Alcott. Emotionally manipulative and ocassionally preachy, but they make me cry absolute buckets when I read them, even now, and sometimes that is just what I want. (sniff, sniff)

3. "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte. Probably the first "classic" novel I ever read and I love it. The nightmare relatives, the dreaded Mr Brocklehurst, gothic melodrama, tragedy, bizarre coincidence, the catharsis of the happy ending and, of course Mr Rochester, whose passion and love positively leaps off the page at you. What more could anyone want? Unforgettable. (And it kicks Wuthering Heights pathetic, OTT arse.)

4. "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien. I read "The Hobbit" at about seven because we had it on a bookcase (I read pretty much anything I could reach to get down) and got "The Lord of the Rings" for Christmas a few years later. Although I no longer think it is the best thing ever written and I can grow impatient with the early meandering and the lack of emotional connection to some of the characters, Tolkien (along with the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis) was responsible for forming a large part of my reading tastes. "The Hobbit" was my first real introduction to fantasy writing and it has definitely stuck.

5. Oooh, this is hard. But I'm going for Robin Hobb's series of books about FitzChivalry Farseer, because the last one of those is the most recent book to so completely absorb me that I finished it in one session and emerged blinking in surprise that I was still in my house and not in her world. In order, they are "Assassin's Apprentice", "Royal Assassin", "Assassin's Quest", "Fool's Errand", "The Golden Fool" and "Fool's Fate". However, I'm going to single out "Assassin's Quest", the last part of the first trilogy, because it blew me away when I read it. It is painful and triumphant and bittersweet, spinning all the build up and threads of story from the first two books into something achingly beautiful and completely satisfying. Just fabulous.


Darn it, 5 isn't enough. I wanted to mention the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Particularly "Memory", "Barrayar" and "A Civil Campaign". Character-driven science fiction, and my God, what characters. Miles Vorkosigan and his parents are fantastic, fascinating creations, who change and grow and make difficult, painful decisions and mistakes and the books are witty and interesting and heartwrenching... Man, that woman can write! And Terry Pratchett, and P.G. Wodehouse who can both make me laugh embarassingly loudly in public places. And "Drawing Blood" by Poppy Z. Brite which contained the first gay sex scene I ever read. And Lucy M. Boston's series about Green Knowe, a gorgeous and haunting set of children's books. And the books by Jasper Fforde, who is clearly insane, and...

OK, I'm stopping now.


5. Five people you want to see do this meme:
Well, girl_clone, buzzylittleb and bonspiel already have. So I am passing the buck on to kijikun and torakowalski

Comments

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

Hey, I passed the buck to Kiji too! 'Spose we'd better gang up on her.

Am I the only one with genuinely weird answers?

I mean to do Kavalier and Clay, I really do. *hangs head in shame*

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I don't think yours are particularly weird. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Werde sound interesting, and I seem to remember attempting to find "So You Want To Be A Wizard" by Diane Duane not that long ago and failing. That is the one that makes fun of all the normal Potteresque cliches, right?

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

It was written way before Potter, but seems to have taken off post Potter. Which is ironic as I know which is the better book.

I'll try and remeber the british titles for the Werde books.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Well, they were cliches long before he arrived weren't they? Have you read about how some cretinous simpletons accused Terry Pratchett of copying JK Rowling because he has a wizard university and once used the term "muggle" as an insult? And when he pointed out that wizard learning centres show up bloody everywhere and that, anyway, he wrote those books about 8 years before she came along, they got all aggro that he was accusing her of copying him... Sigh. Some people are just too stupid to live.

[buzzylittleb.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am hideously well-informed. plus the Terry one is very fond of that annecdote. I think I've heard it both times I've heard him speak (as in lecture not signing). His point is "generic"

You might as well go and say Witches Abroad and Lords And Ladies are cribbed off Werde. Same irrevence and subversion of fairy tale expectations and a very practical princess, totally different plots and written styles.

The first two books were Dragonspell and Dragonsearch over here, and the first book was Dealing With Dragons in the US. Huh, editors.

[bonspiel.livejournal.com]

*scribbles more on the to be read list*
I want to call Little Women a guilty pleasure read for me as well, although it's not really guilty as much as just button-pushing. And I agree, Jane Eyre is much better than Wuthering Heights :)

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Hoorah, someone else who doesn't think Wuthering Heights is the be all and end all of novels!

There was a vote a while back here on people's favourite books (unsurprisingly, LotR won, as it wins every book vote that has been had where the Bible doesn't qualify). Shortly after, I read an article about how there should be a poll for books that people really hate and, much to my joy, the journalist nominated Wuthering Heights as her choice. I was beginning to think I was the only one around who didn't like it. The basic gist of her comments was that the language was bad sixth form poetry in level and that all the characters were whiny and irritating and deserved a slap - which was so much what I thought I nearly cheered out loud!

Which is all so much pointless blether. (I just like it when someone else likes Jane Eyre better.)

Little Women definitely knows how to push buttons. I usually end up crying once in Little Women and at least twice in Good Wives (Beth gets me every time).

[torakowalski.livejournal.com]

Aww ... Little Women *g* Have you read Little Men? It's definitely my favourite of the four ...

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

Yup, read all four. I think the ones I mentioned are my favourites but I love them all really!

I was thinking about them in a set of books that were passed on from my mum - she had this great one called "Daddy Long Legs" that is all in the form of letters. I hadn't thought of it for ages but it is another one I really like. Reading it was also the first time I heard of Little Women, oddly, as the character writes about how she had missed out on the references but had bought a copy so that "the next time someone mentions pickled limes, I'll know what they are talking about". Which obviously confused the hell out of me!

[bonspiel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Daddy Long Legs! I fondly remember reading that as a kid. It or a similar book alerted me of the existence of fish aspic, and my life has never been the same since. ;)