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| Tuesday, May 31, 2005 |
| Book MEME |
I've been tagged! Meegan over at Advice for Ladies tagged me with this MEME, so here goes:
1. Total Number of Books I've Owned:
There is absolutely no way to count. Some women dream of entire rooms filled with shoes? I dream of having a library in my apartment one day. I've got two overflowing bookcases in my apartment, plus all the books I've left back home in Rhode Island, I think it would be safe to say there are HUNDREDS of books in my possession at the moment.
2. Last Book I Bought:
Hmmm. Good question. It's been a while since I actually bought a book. I am a member of "Young People in Publishing" and am on an advanced reading list, so I get a lot of books for free in the mail. Some worth reading some not, but it definitely cuts down on my actually purchasing books.
3. Last Book I Read:
I finally read The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I've been trying lately to read all those books that everyone's read but I haven't. Next up, Crime and Punishment!
4. Five Books That Mean A Lot to Me:
The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker. I absolutely adore this book. It's an interesting read and definitely not for everyone. Half of the story takes place in the footnotes (the narrator footnotes himself as opposed to speaking in a strictly stream of consciousness style). I've read this book at least twenty times now. The entire thing basically takes place in the time it takes the narrator to get from the bottom of the escalator to the mezzanine of his office building. Very little real plot, but I still can't get enough of this book.
The Malibu Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh. A very postmodern work consisting entirely of the narrators thoughts as he floats in a coma. Welsh's physical presentation is as impressive as the writing itself. As the narrator comes close to consciousness, the writing actually lifts UP the page.
Letters to a Young Poet Rainer Maria Rilke. This is such a cop out book for anyone aspiring to be a writer, but I love this book. It's simply the collection of Rilke's correspondence with a young man about his writing, but it's the one book that when I am down about my writing, or am blocked, or am just lost in a sea of those "what do I think I am pretending at" thoughts, I can just pick up an instantly be calmed.
The Inferno by Dante. A classic, clearly. The imagery in this one is really what gets me every time I read it. That and the fact that the social commentary included in each of the levels is still applicable today.
My signed copy of Property Of by Alice Hoffman. By all accounts (including mine) not the most highbrow literature ever, but I was obsessed with her writing in high school, and to get the chance to meet her in college and hear her speak, and sign my copy, propelled me even further into the love affair I've had with reading and writing than I already was.
5. Tag Five People for this Quiz:
Five, huh? Well, don't know how many of them will do it, but here goes.
Jack over at The Mind of BlackJack
Macca of That's Incredicrap!
And since she's a new reader (and one of the very few who have actually left a comment) Amy from Red Sox Bat Girl
And for the last two let's just say: anyone who reads because of RSN.net if you don't have a blog of your own, post a comment with your answers. |
posted by FINY @ Tuesday, May 31, 2005   |
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| 3 Comments: |
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Nice post! I figured you'd have a lot to say on this topic.
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Ah ha! Great topic! I will be participating, but it's going to have to wait until after work as I'm trying (failing right now) to actually do work today.
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1. Total Number of Books I've Owned:Personally owned? Somewhere around 100. I have one 6 foot tall bookcase filled, and I have a three foot bookcase filled with some spillover onto the floor.
2. Last Book I Bought:
I bought a group of books recently all at the same time.
The Great Influenza -- Story of the 1918 Flu Pandemic
Moneyball -- Exploiting Market Ineffiencies in Baseball (not just OBP)
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality -- From the Author of Elegant Universe which was about SuperString theory.
The Complete Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. -- Have always been meaning to read this and the movie finally kickstarted me into reading it.
3. Last Book I Read:
Finished: MoneyBall
Currently Reading: The Complete Hitchikers and The Great Influenza
4. Five Books That Mean A Lot to Me: Hmmm... Five books that mean a lot to me? Not sure what this means, but here are five of my favorites. They've all caused me in some way to re-examine my life so I guess they are important in that regard, but I also enjoy reading them.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I've never really been able to explain it, but I see a lot of parallels in the collection of stories to things that happen on Earth and how people think. The favorite being the 3 Astronauts that land on Mars expecting to be treated as heroes and have parades in their honor because they came all the way from Earth, but they really end up bugging a lot of martians that are just trying ot lead normal lives. The kicker being they end up in an insane aslyum because none of the martians believe them. The stories taught me at a young age to think differently than people my own age and differently from a lot of "normal" people. Not sure if it was Bradbury's style of writing awakening the capacity that already existed in me or the book creating that capacity in me because you see it a lot in his other stories too.
The Count of Monte Cristo By Alexandre Dumbass (or Dumas if you didn't see that film). With this one I'm not sure why it's important to me, but I always find myself re-reading it. I actually haven't read this in awhile. It might be time for me to tackle this one again.
1984 by Orwell -- Doesn't need much explaining.
Daughter of the Empire and Servant of the Empire (Mistress of the Empire but it pales in comparison to the others). Again this is a series of books that deal with someone that lives in a society where everything is looked at being one way, and it's always been that way. No one has ever really questioned why it's that way. It's a feudal type fantasy setting on another world where Lords rule absolutely on their own land, and people are borne in to rigid caste systems that can only be risen above through good deeds and reincarnation. It's also a land where if one absorbs the forms wholesale murder, extortion, etc are applauded so long as one can't be publicly tied to it. Thrust into it is a 17 year old headstrong girl that's father and brother are killed in such a plot, and she has to learn quickly to play the Game in order to survive, and she begins to question why is it like this.
Technically that's more than five so I'll stop there.
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Nice post! I figured you'd have a lot to say on this topic.