Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Me(me) is a rather bookish sort


Ok, I have been handed a Me(me) mission by my favorite Curmudgeon in the world and I choose to accept it. Actually, I am rather flattered and books are something I love with a passion, so here goes...

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
Well, I would have to say I would want to memorize an easy book, because I have a tendency to be lazy. Hey, at least I am willing. But, if I had to pick a book (or series of books) to preserve for the future it would be all of (but not limited to) the following:

  • The Wizard of Oz -- by L. Frank Baum – because if speaks so much about human behavior.
  • A Wrinkle in Time -- by Madeleine L'Engle – because it always intrigued me as a little girl, and helped me to love science.
  • The Ancestress Hypothesis -- by Kathryn Coe– because it speaks about the importance of things as far as mothers are concerned, and my mother wrote it.
  • Sonnets from the Portuguese : A Celebration Of Love by Elizabeth Barrett Browning– because it is some of the only poetry I can tolerate.
  • The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats -- by William Butler Yeats - might also be good and is equally tolerable, but the curmudgeons brother gave me my first book of his works and I therefore have a love hate relationship with Yeats… sad how something like that can color ones relationship with a body of work…
  • Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle -- by Moritz Thomsen(aka Meat Is For Special Days) (though I would love to be able to preserve all his works, he was a curious old man).
  • Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, though I would love to preserve all his work too.
  • As for the The Holy Bible: King James Version– I would chose the book of Genesis because it has always fascinated me.
  • I would also like to preserve the sacred text from other religions as I believe that they have something equally important to offer to humanity.

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
I had a crush on the character Calvin O’Keefe from The A Wrinkle In Time series, mainly because he seemed to love Meg for who she was (a geek IMHO)… I thought that a rather romantic notion when I was 9 and read it for the first time.

3. The last book you bought was...?
Oh dear, I buy so many I am not quite sure… I know I am leaving some out but the last group of books I bought are:

OK, I feel the need to say that in general I only buy books that cost less than five dollars... so everything was on sale... there are a few exceptions though... but that involves anything involving Modesty Blaise, Harry Potter and a random assortment of other children's books...

4. The last book you read was...? The ones that I finished this past week are:

Baudolino was good, and I thought it was interesting in light of the war and the new Pope. City of Ember was a great children's story my cousin lent me (he is 12)... I can't wait to read the rest in the series and The Sparrow was an interesting look at colonization of populated lands in a Sci-Fi way.

5. What are you currently reading?

I am enjoying the Thief Lord, though it is going slow for me and that is interesting because I usually read children's stories much faster... Kant is tough, but I am trying to understand what he means when he says morals, because it just doesn't feel right to me (as far as what I think he is saying). Baby 411, was a gift and an easy to use resource guide with online components.

The Dark Hills Divide (mentioned in #3) is the next to pick up, probably tonight... I need something light when I am also reading Kant. Oh, and I should probably note here that I often read all this out loud to the Squink too (he isn't all that fond of Kant either).

6. Five books you would take to a desert island...

  1. Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy -- by Jostein Gaarder
  2. SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea -- by John 'Lofty' Wiseman
  3. The World's Wisdom: Sacred Texts of the World's Religions by Philip Novak
  4. Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner by Wallace Stegner
  5. The collected works about Modesty Blaise (she is my alter ego after all)
  6. And because I always break the rules just a little bit I would also take these.

7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why?

My oh my... All of you readers out there, but since Jordana chose three, I will chose three, no make that four... I would love to know what Mistress Tootie Belle (aka Nettie) would do and read though school is over so it might be a bunch of college texts (which don't count Nettie!), and I am intrigued by what Curious Hamster would have to say as well... A Tiramisu Lover might get a kick out of this and perhaps my Favorite Frying Pan would do so...

So to them (and anyone else who is interested, I hope this is not cheating) I pass the reading light...

Ready, steady, GO!!!

* I fixed those pesky links that were not working, not sure what I did...

6 comments:

Blair said...

’?
I have no idea what happened with those...

Jordana said...

I knew you'd squeeze Modesty Blaize in there somewhere. :)

Anonymous said...

Moritz was a curmudgeon. Wallace Stegner, who was a kind gentleman, was his friend. I don't see how you ever answered these questions, they are tough.

Jennifer Swanepoel said...

Hi Blair! Found you through Mistress Tootie Belle. :) I love your pics of Squink!! I'm a photo junkie myself. I'd have pics all over MY blog if I had a digital camera...or actually learned how to use the new scanner...sigh. One of these days, I'll get to it! :)

I look forward to coming back and reading more!

Garry said...

Oh my! This will take some thought. Thanks for the stick, although I'm not sure how intriguing my answers will be. I'd be embarressed to admit how many of your answers made me go "who?". Anyway, enough about my ignorance, to work!

Nettie said...

I'm still working on the meme. I wanted to put some thought into it, but I'll have it up soon :)