Book meme!
May. 24th, 2005 01:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhOkay, now that not one, not two, but three people have tagged me on this, and since I've finally got more than three brain cells firing, here you go:
1) The number of books I own
See, most of them are in my parents' attic, because this apartment isn't that large, so I really have no idea whatsoever. I was a American History and Literature major in college and a Comm major in grad school, so you do the math. There are probably around 100 or so in this place, as I only have the one bookshelf.
2) The last book I bought
Well, really? Kare Kano 9 and Fruits Basket 8. But other than manga, the last books I bought were holiday gifts, including The Art of Eating by MFK Fisher which I bought for Josh. The last book I bought for myself might be the last thing that my friend Julie wrote. However, I know that the next book I buy for myself will be what my friend Holly wrote. The friend shelf, it grows!
3) The last book I read
Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey, lent to me by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calloocallay. LOVED it. I really do love a good mystery, and mysteries are my genre read of choice.
4) Five books that mean a lot to me
Anne of the Island, LM Montgomery.
Anne was a big heroine to me because she was from the country, she was very bright, and she was generally praised for it, which made me feel better about being a smart girl in a small town. In this book she's in college and despite the older setting it gave me the idea of college that I kept in my head well through my undergraduate career. By the end I did end up living with three close female friends, so there you go. Also, I really love the romantic storyline, and the way that Anne's ideals worked against her heart.
Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers.
Another book about a girl at school, only this time she's looking back on her school years. Much easier to understand what everyone was talking about after I'd finished my own degree as so much of the Oxford jargon was stolen by Harvard (eg, that the Senior Common Room is a group of people). Oh, and another fabulous romantic storyline (Lord Peter!). But mostly, another story about a woman finding herself, and when I was young and trying to figure out who I was, I naturally gravitated to those sorts of stories.
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald.
Amazing staying power with this one. I reread it last summer and it felt just as relevant now as it ever did. It gave me my dream of living in the big city (along with any number of 30s and 40s films) and the language is just gorgeous. True, it's doomed and usually I'm not so much about that, but my love for secondary characters? I have had a long, true, burning crush on Nick Carroway from the first sentence.
Persuasion, Jane Austen
P&P is more widely read, possibly a better book in some ways, and certainly more lively and more fascinating, particularly in its central romantic pair (though I do love the counterpoint of Jane and Bingley who are uncomplicated people who would have had an uncomplicated romance if not for the intervention of others), and I love it dearly. But Persuasion is closer to my heart. I read it when I was older and for me, the idea of a romance that is so close to not succeeding and yet does, is my true favorite form, as is a love that comes later in life, to grown-ups. At a time when one was supposed to settle down at the age of 17, to have a romance centering around a woman in her late twenties is magnificent. And again, again, again, there is a woman finding herself and coming into her own.
The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Volume I and Volume II
If I had to narrow it down, it would be to Spring and All, a book of poetry and prose that Williams published in 1923. I love the sense of art set within a life—Williams was a doctor in New Jersey. I can't even begin to explain how it influenced not just the way I write but the way that I think:
"Meanwhile, SPRING, which has been approaching for several pages, is at last here."
or
"The better work men do is always done under stress and at great personal cost."
or the poem that begins "By the road to the contagious hospital" or "Our orchestra/is the cat's nuts" or the one that ends, "I saw a girl with one leg/over the rail of a balcony" or:
XXII
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
5) Tag you're it! After checking who's done it already, and some who have also already been tagged, I think this list is good:
titanic_days
weatherby
folk
tea_and_toast
nothingbutfic
In other news, I only managed to get through about ten excruciating minutes of Tom Cruise on Oprah yammering about motorcycle rides on the beach with Katie Holmes. There's just something really stomach turning about this guy talking about his new "relationship" before an audience of middle-aged women going into hysterics. Like, yuck. The MTV Movie Awards promo/parody, though, rules me.
1) The number of books I own
See, most of them are in my parents' attic, because this apartment isn't that large, so I really have no idea whatsoever. I was a American History and Literature major in college and a Comm major in grad school, so you do the math. There are probably around 100 or so in this place, as I only have the one bookshelf.
2) The last book I bought
Well, really? Kare Kano 9 and Fruits Basket 8. But other than manga, the last books I bought were holiday gifts, including The Art of Eating by MFK Fisher which I bought for Josh. The last book I bought for myself might be the last thing that my friend Julie wrote. However, I know that the next book I buy for myself will be what my friend Holly wrote. The friend shelf, it grows!
3) The last book I read
Brat Farrar, by Josephine Tey, lent to me by
calloocallay. LOVED it. I really do love a good mystery, and mysteries are my genre read of choice. 4) Five books that mean a lot to me
Anne of the Island, LM Montgomery.
Anne was a big heroine to me because she was from the country, she was very bright, and she was generally praised for it, which made me feel better about being a smart girl in a small town. In this book she's in college and despite the older setting it gave me the idea of college that I kept in my head well through my undergraduate career. By the end I did end up living with three close female friends, so there you go. Also, I really love the romantic storyline, and the way that Anne's ideals worked against her heart.
Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers.
Another book about a girl at school, only this time she's looking back on her school years. Much easier to understand what everyone was talking about after I'd finished my own degree as so much of the Oxford jargon was stolen by Harvard (eg, that the Senior Common Room is a group of people). Oh, and another fabulous romantic storyline (Lord Peter!). But mostly, another story about a woman finding herself, and when I was young and trying to figure out who I was, I naturally gravitated to those sorts of stories.
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald.
Amazing staying power with this one. I reread it last summer and it felt just as relevant now as it ever did. It gave me my dream of living in the big city (along with any number of 30s and 40s films) and the language is just gorgeous. True, it's doomed and usually I'm not so much about that, but my love for secondary characters? I have had a long, true, burning crush on Nick Carroway from the first sentence.
Persuasion, Jane Austen
P&P is more widely read, possibly a better book in some ways, and certainly more lively and more fascinating, particularly in its central romantic pair (though I do love the counterpoint of Jane and Bingley who are uncomplicated people who would have had an uncomplicated romance if not for the intervention of others), and I love it dearly. But Persuasion is closer to my heart. I read it when I was older and for me, the idea of a romance that is so close to not succeeding and yet does, is my true favorite form, as is a love that comes later in life, to grown-ups. At a time when one was supposed to settle down at the age of 17, to have a romance centering around a woman in her late twenties is magnificent. And again, again, again, there is a woman finding herself and coming into her own.
The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, Volume I and Volume II
If I had to narrow it down, it would be to Spring and All, a book of poetry and prose that Williams published in 1923. I love the sense of art set within a life—Williams was a doctor in New Jersey. I can't even begin to explain how it influenced not just the way I write but the way that I think:
"Meanwhile, SPRING, which has been approaching for several pages, is at last here."
or
"The better work men do is always done under stress and at great personal cost."
or the poem that begins "By the road to the contagious hospital" or "Our orchestra/is the cat's nuts" or the one that ends, "I saw a girl with one leg/over the rail of a balcony" or:
XXII
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
5) Tag you're it! After checking who's done it already, and some who have also already been tagged, I think this list is good:
titanic_daysweatherbyfolktea_and_toastnothingbutficIn other news, I only managed to get through about ten excruciating minutes of Tom Cruise on Oprah yammering about motorcycle rides on the beach with Katie Holmes. There's just something really stomach turning about this guy talking about his new "relationship" before an audience of middle-aged women going into hysterics. Like, yuck. The MTV Movie Awards promo/parody, though, rules me.
