Reading is FUNdamental!

[trinityofone]

From mciac:

Prose or Poetry?
Prose.

Book(s) you're reading now:
1. Irish Girls About Town by Maeve Binchy and every other female Irish author ever.
2. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison which, even though I read it in 2000, is taking me forever to finish because the protagonist frustrates me.
3. Retrofitting Blade Runner, edited by Judith B. Kerman--for research purposes, but actually pretty interesting.

Last book you've read:
The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff--After reading this, Zach is still very much my Braff of choice.

Next book you're going to buy/read:
Am looking forward to reading The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Theroux or perhaps Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane.

Book you've read the most times:
Neverwhere, by far. And I'm looking forward to reading it again on the plane to London!

Longest book you've read:
Close race between The Stand by Stephen King (1168 pages) and London by Edward Rutherfurd (1124 pages). I enjoyed London more.

Book you've read in the shortest time (relative to the number of pages):
I read Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian (496 pages) in less than two days, but there's probably something else I'm not thinking of.

One book you wanted to read that disappointed you:
Tried twice but couldn't get through Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. The style is just so...dense. Am still mad at myself.

Have you read books in a language different from yours?
Have read bits of books in French (including a truly awful Neverwhere translation). Should try to do this more often.

Writer you've read the most books from:
My first impulse was to say Neil Gaiman, just because I've read his books so many times. But I guess the real answer is Patrick O'Brian. I read all 20 of the Aubrey/Maturin books last year.

Some books you like (not necessarily your faves):
Regeneration by Pat Barker
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson

3 books you don't like:
1. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Worst. Suicide Attempt. Ever.)
2. There Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (I'm sorry. I'm a bad person. But I HATE it.)
3. The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (A lo! And behold! It's really not that good!)

People are gonna be mad at me because of that last one. *eg*

And from everybody and their uncle: Guess the book!

1. The night before he went to London, [name] was not enjoying himself. -- tzeentch (That one's really a give away.)

2. "They made a silly mistake, though," the Professor of History said, and his smile, as [name] watched, gradually sank beneath the surface of his features at the memory. -- ilgattopardo

3. When [name] came out on the porch, the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake--not a very big one.

4. I exist!

5. It was not complicated, and, as my mother pointed out, not even personal: They had a hotel; they didn't want Jews; we were Jews.

6. The Salinas Valley is in Northern California. -- ilgattopardo

7. The warm monsoon blew gently from the east, wafting HMS Leopard into the bay of Pulo Batang. -- roz_mcclure

8. [Name] wakes up in Brezhnev's bed.

9. There was a boy called [full name], and he almost deserved it. -- emidala

10. "Yes, of course, if it's fine tomorrow," said [name]. -- ilgattopardo

At least one of these is really mean, but the rest are pretty easy. I know you can do it!

Comments

[emidala.livejournal.com]

9. the dawn treader - [eustace scrubb] - no? :)

[emidala.livejournal.com]

(could also be the silver chair - but I think it is the introduction of eustace in the dawn treader)

- and if I got this all wrong, the bookworlds gods will turn over in their celestial graves!!

[whiskeypants.livejournal.com]

that's the dawn treader, to be sure.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Eustace Clarence Scrubb, poor boy. *g*

::cuddles Eustace::

[kerrypolka.livejournal.com]

6. is Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

7. is O'Brian, but I'll be damned if I know which. :) Desolation Island? Fortune of War?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

6. Steinbeck, yes; Of Mice and Men, no.

7. Fortune of War. I'll give it to ya. ;-)

[kerrypolka.livejournal.com]

Then you have me stumped there. :P And hooray! The cricket scene is one of my favorite in the whole series. :)

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

But it is the best Steinbeck EVER! ::should change username to fandomofone::

What I love about Fortune of War is it shows how way badass Stephen is. A few weeks ago I told lordelessar, who I've got reading the books, that Stephen was a badass, and he didn't believe me. Then he finished Fortune of War and had to recant. *eg*

[kerrypolka.livejournal.com]

True dat! Fortune of War is pretty much all spyhat, all the time. :)

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

Ethan Frome? My dear girl, I beg to agree whole-heartedly. Despite it only being about 90 pages long, it took me forever to read, because every paragraph, my eyes would tear up to prevent my brain from taking in any more of the text. That was a poor summer as far as books went.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

God, yes. That was the longest 90 pages I ever had to get through. Gah.

Which summer did you guys have to read that for? I actually read it in Vermont.

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

Makes sense. That was the summer before junior year. Same year I read Invisible Man, another book I didn't particularly like, although it was less dense in suck.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I'm struggling through Invisible Man again right now. I understand the importance of the book, but it drives me nuts because Invisible Man is, as my professor said today, such a doofus. I want to smack the narrator around, which does not lend itself to an enjoyable learning experience.

[sonofzeal.livejournal.com]

I don't see the importance, to tell you the truth. I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings the same summer, and that seemed far more important. Maybe it was just me, and my reading quickly so as to get through it, but Invisible Man seemed like the story of some guy who doesn't like white people.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Well, in IM's defense, there's some interesting stuff going on about what society makes us and wearing "masks" and about identity in general. But yeah, I'd take I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings over that any day.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Er, I meant "reading experience." Though I guess the other works, too.

[darling-effect.livejournal.com]

I hated "Ethan Frome" with intense passion too! Oh my god, it took all my restraint not to rip the book to shreds in front of my professor. "It's unmitigated CRAP!"
But I restrained myself and merely snarked away in the margins.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Margin snark in the balm of the soul. My favorite instance (and I don't actually remember doing this, but the evidence is there) is what I wrote on the inside front cover of my used copy of To the Lighthouse:

Anna Kaufman
read this 12/7/02
All other comments written by the book's
previous owner, who, in my opinion,
was a moron.

(And (s)he was. On the title page, (s)he circled Virgina Woolf's name and wrote "BISEXUAL!")

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Bingo. That's my favorite opening line ever ever ever.

I exist!

[ilgattopardo.livejournal.com]

Hi, Formerly-Known-As-Girl! (Sorry, but my mind's been poisoned by The Matrix, and I can't call you Trinity)

Been meaning to write to you for ages with warmest congratulations (not to mention Squees) on your getting the place at TCD. You will have a fabulous time. Anyway, I can only procrastinate for so long, here, so I'll cut to the quiz:

10) To The Lighthouse, aka Best. Book. Ever. (How can this not have been crossed off the list yet?)

6) is bugging me. East of Eden? Gotta be Steinbeck, shurely?

5) Is also bugging me. So if it sounds familiar, then it probably isn't Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, right? Cos I haven't read that one.

2) Is really bugging me. It seems horribly familiar, but I can't place it. Of course, perhaps it's actually from something I've never heard of (like Neverwhere. What that?).

Finally, Kudos for dissing Return of the King! I re-read the whole trilogy (for the first time in a decade) before the movies came out, and was struck by what I had overlooked as a teenager: a) The Fellowship of the Ring is really very good; and b) The Return of the King is really very bad.

Re: I exist!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Hey! I've been meaning to drop you a note and say, "Guess where I'm going!" but I've been caught in the inescapable cogs of the end-of-the-semester machine. So thanks for jerking me out of it! And thanks for the congrats (and the squees, definitely). I'm really, really excited.

And double yay, you bring answers for the book meme!

10. Absolutely. I was surprised no one had got that yet, either.

6. Indeed. My favorite Steinbeck. God, I love that book. Especially Lee. ::snuggles him::

5. Not Philip Roth. Probably not something you've read, actually. (Hint: this is as close as I ever get to the dangerous minefield of chick lit.)

2. This I'd be willing to bet you've read. C'mon: classic comedy, academic hijinks...

BUT...what is Neverwhere, you ask? Only the greatest book ever! Okay, probably not. But it's a personal favorite of mine, by my dear Neil Gaiman. You should read it! Spread the love!

And finally, Return of the King. Yes, I'm aware that Tolkien is a great storyteller, but he is not a great writer, and for RotK he for some reason decided that it'd be a good idea to announce every important event with an "And lo!" or a "And behold!" I was frothing at the mouth before I was halfway through. I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one.

I can't call me Trinity either. ::pouts::

Re: I exist!

[ilgattopardo.livejournal.com]

Hm, I'd been wondering if (2) was either something by David Lodge, or Lucky Jim. I'll go for the latter: academic hijinks, for sure, and isn't Welch Professor of History?

I'll e-mail you one of these weeks, since I'd love to gush about Dublin. Happy end of semester, in the meantime.

Re: I exist!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Lucky Jim it is! ::waves pom poms::

I would love some Dublin gush. And if you have an recommendations of good Irish or Dublin-based literature, I'd love that, too. I've been burning my way through Irish chick lit, but I don't think that's exactly what I'm looking for...