I have been veritably beaten up (as distinct from being smacked) by book-related memes. The first is from the divine Ms. Vanilla in which I'm supposed to recommend four essential reads. And the second is from Pete where I have to come up with seven random or weird book facts. Uuum right! Ok… yes…I'd better get on with it then.
First Vanilla's (as she tagged me first - it's only polite)
The rules are:
(a) Fiction book
(b) Autobiography
(c) Non-fiction book
(d) A fourth book of your choice from any genre.
Explain why the books are essential reads in no more than 30 words per book. (Clears throat…holds nose…jumps in…)
Fiction Book: We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. This gripping, moving and horrifying book takes the form of letters written by a woman to her estranged husband telling her story of a reluctant mother to a difficult son who is in jail for the murder of several schoolmates when he went on the rampage with a cross-bow. It is beautifully ambiguous so that how you feel about her and what has happened is down to your own feelings about motherhood and child rearing. It also asks if someone is born evil or are they a product of their upbringing. I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Ooops! Went way over on the 30 words there. Never mind - the next one is short.
Autobiography: None. I can't remember ever having read one - they simply don't appeal except for the photos. I've read a few biographies but nothing worth recommending.
Non-fiction Book: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I pretty much got over my self-help book addiction by the time I hit thirty but I saw Ellen Degeneres talking about this on her show and I bought it out of curiosity. It's such a positive upbeat way to look at life. It's a pity it concentrates so much on material gains but the message of optimism and gratitude has deepened everything I had come to understand about how to live a worthwhile life.
Bugger - that's gone right over 30 too. I'm not very succinct am I?
A fourth book of your choice from any genre: Well if you look at my bookshelves you will see that they are dominated by two authors: JK Rowling and Terry Pratchett. Everyone in the universe has read Ol' J.K. so I'm going to big up Terry. I just had a quick nip around the house and I counted 25 of his books. What I adore about him is his endless tangential good humour. He has a great humanitarian strand and in the loveliest, funniest way manages to slice and dice through the terminal BS of life. It is deeply sad that he has recetly been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease which he has wonderfully described as his embuggerment. Please click here to read his address to the Alzheimer's Research Trust Conference in the UK earlier this year, where he donated $1 million to aid Alzheimer's research. It is funny and determined and inspiring. His new book, Nation is on my Christmas list. From what I've heard of it, it's his best yet - and written after his diagnosis. If you've never read one I'd start with Wyrd Sisters which is I think one of the funniest.
As I completely ignored the word count rule there I'm going to flout the tagging rule too. So if you fancy doing this one then be my guest but do come back and tell me so I can check it out.
On to Pete's now: Seven random or weird book facts. Oh my - this is a tricky one. I may have to resort to making them up if I can't find seven.
1. Unlike everyone else in the world who fancies themselves a writer I was neither a voracious reader or writer as a child. I was utterly enthralled by stories though. I adored being read to and I watched so many movies I couldn't possibly count them. I loved reading myths and legends and I think that my entire library withdrawal at the age of 8-9 were about Cú Chulainn, Fionn MacCumhaill and the Táin. (There's a bit of Wiki-reading for ya).
2. Because I didn't read lot (I did read - just not a lot) I was a very slow reader. When I started in secondary school and we started reading novels for English, it took me hours to read the allotted pages for homework because, up to that point, I read in my head at the same speed and intonation as I would if I read aloud. I am not good at reading aloud however. Unless I'm reading for my kids I get nervous and I stammer a lot (I don't do this normally) which is why I've not joined in Robin's voice thingy. All my attempts were truly embarrassing. On the upside - I am a voracious reader now. I hit my stride at about 21 and have never looked back.
3. I love hardbacks. I know that they are a pain to read; you can't fold the pages back, they're hard to read lying in bed, they're heavy, expensive and are environmentally wasteful but I love them. If I'm waiting for a book to come out I do not want to have to wait for the paperback. I want it NOW! Books still feel like a treat to me and a hardback is like a present every time you open it. They keep better and the smell good. I'm a keeper of books so I like them to be well bound.
4. The first two books I ever withdrew from the Library were The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss and Miffy by Dick Bruna I loved them so much I took them out again and again. I remember my first trip to the library very well. It was pouring with rain and I was wearing my brand new pink plastic Mac and rainhat. I think it's why I like going walking in the rain so much.
5. I won a reading and writing competition run by the Limerick Public library on two separate occasions when I was in school. You had to read a book, write about it and submit a piece of artwork inspired by the book. I got book tokens as a prize presented by the Mayor and I was on the News (although blink and you'd have missed me). The first time I was 9 and although I don't remember the book, I know it was about a snail and a salamander. I drew a picture of a snail and made a stuffed one from old stockings for my artistic submission. The second time I was 11 and the book was Flight of The Doves by Walter Macken and I submitted a pencil drawing of Finn Dove which, if I say so myself, was bloody good. With the book tokens I bought a series of books about Sue Barton and her various nursing adventures.
6. I love reference books and encyclopedias. When a neighbour, who was a nurse, emigrated, she left behind a load of medical books. I adored them. By the time I was 10 I had a very good idea of how to perform an appendectomy, deliver a baby, do an emergency tracheotomy and diagnose most childhood diseases from the various rashes. I also had an amazingly large medical vocabulary.
7. I often read the end of the book way before I get to the end. I do this at the point in the book when the plot starts to get interesting - just to see if I've guessed right. Sometimes it's because I want to see if it's worth my while continuing but mostly it's because I'm so competitive I want to see whether the author's ending is the same/ better or not quite as good as the one I'd have come up with. I know - that's pretty sad. Still my end-jumping has never ruined a book for me - so I'm just gonna keep doing it!
Surprisingly that wasn't nearly as hard as I though it'd be. Please feel free to consider yourself tagged if you'd like to do this.
A cuppa is in order now I think.
20 comments:
Oh yes, Terry Pratchett. I agree with everything you've written about him. I've got nearly all of his books, many of them in hardback (which I hate) because I couldn't wait for the paperback to come out.
I remember Sue Barton well. For some reason these books were on my mind lately and I got one from the library. It was an odd and slightly disappointing experience. I hadn't remembered how very romantic they were.
Oh FH Sue Barton seemed very grown up to me when I was 11. I was the gushiest of romantic types back then - whatever happened to me??
I can completely understand your reluctance to read autobiographies!
As for The Secret, sorry... I've got the DVD and have never managed to watch more than half an hour of it which is about when I think it's all hype and good marketing, since the concepts have been around forever - and in many instances have been better presented by other people.
And I'm glad I'm not the only one who reads the end of a book! ;-)
You snuck in there Vanilla - the thing about autobiographies is that they are generally factually screwy. Even with the help of diaries the human mind has a tendency to revise history. I have enjoyed reading the odd memoir where a raconteur tells humorous stories about well known people but if I want to read about a real person I'd rather it was written by a journalist with a proven record for journalistic integrity.
I agree with some of what you say about The Secret actually - the whole thing is a marketing coup with old ideas cleverly packaged and the video was rather annoying. I went through a lot of books of this nature and came to the same conclusions but for me it was a coming together of ideas that made it appealing. That and the book is very pretty. (See I'm a sucker for the pretty).
ITA with We Need to Talk About Kevin. There is a point in the book where you don't realize the significance until the end... and then, wham! It hits you right in the gut. And I couldn't stop thinking about it... the images... I had trouble sleeping for a week after finishing this book.
Hi Jill - thanks for visiting. Lovely to cyber-meet you. We Need To Talk About Kevin had the same effect on me. I thought about for weeks after. You can take everything the narrator says at face value if you want but when you get to understand how vain and self-centred she is you start to see the other side of the story. It was recommended to me that I go back and read it again with the perspective gained from the first read but I leant the book to someone in my book club and she never gave it back. That drives me crazy. As I mentioned - I'm a book keeper!
I've found the story of the Tain fascinating ever since I was first introduced to it through a song of the same name by the Decemberists. It's over 18 minutes long, but absolutely fantastic to see played live. I'm not sure what your musical tastes are, but I highly recommend anything by this band.
I've added We Need to Talk About Kevin to my Christmas wish list. Thanks!
Janey,
Yeah, I'd like to read it again, but I might need to take some time to recuperate! I originally read it because I'm writing my thesis on teen violence in YA books and I'm really interested in the portrayal of school shootings. But that book freaked me out.
Christian Bale in Terminator? Oh, my! I'm excited! He is H O T!
James Did you get NaNo done? It must be December in Tas now! As for The Decemberists - I looked them up on YouTube but my computer was taking such a long time loading I had to abandon the pursuit having only heard that they were from Portland Oregon before it locked up. I have to say though - Portland is on my list of places to visit.
Hope you enjoy Kevin. Do feed back your thoughts.
Jill your thesis sounds fascinating. Have you any conclusions? The gym scene in Kevin was horrifying but it was what happened at home that really shook me up. I wouldn't have it in me to think up a plot like that.
And Christian Bale - you won't get any argument from me.
'We need to know about Kevin' - love that book.
Nursing readers, how about Monica Dickens 'One pair of feet'? I loved that as a teenager and it still stands up well now.
I love that you remember your very first trip to the library. I remember the library when I was little, and I remember getting my first library card at the "big" library uptown (not the branch near our house). But I don't remember my first trip or the first books I checked out. Amazing that you do.
I, too, have a strange affection for reference books. I've never delved into one subject like you did with medicine, though. And there's no way I would sneak the end of a story before working my way through the middle. If it's worth knowing the ending, then it's worth waiting through the middle. If the middle is not worth reading, then I don't care about the ending.
McK I haven't read Monica Dickens I'm afraid. I don't even remember much about Sue Barton actually (except the covers). I do still love a good medical mystery but these days I focus on Hugh Laurie being belligerent. God I love House! (which incidentally was based on Sherlock Holmes - Holmes/House get it?)
It was a fun Meme to do Pete. I love that I can remember my first trip to the library too but, if I'm honest, I think that the memory is so clear because of my brand new pink plastic macintosh and hat. But Cat in the Hat and Miffy are also very clear - I obviously liked a bit of rhyming verse as a kiddy.
And the whole reading the back thing - I know! How could I? Of course if it ruined the book for me I wouldn't do it. In the best books I find the ending makes no sense if read out of context anyway - it's a good gauge! I don't recommend starting sneaky peeks. As McK pointed out - it's only for people who don't care about surprise.
For the longest time here in the States it was difficult to find very many of Pratchett's books on bookstore shelves. Thankfully that's not the case anymore. However, I went to Borders the day Nation was released and I couldn't find it anywhere. I even had them check that silly computer system, but they had no record of it. Finally, I made the guy look in the back and there they were. Boxes and boxes of them. Apparently Nicholas Sparks was taking up all the floor space.
Oh, and Nation is one of his best.
BT Christmas isn't Christmas here without shelves of Pratchett hardbacks on display. I read my first one on the boat over to England in January 1989. It was Mort and I have been a faithful fan ever since. I am looking forward to reading Nation. I don't drop hints for Hubby - I just say "Here's my list. Did I mention I love you?" That's how he learned to not buy me recipe books.
Mort was my first Pratchett too.
In my family we all have gift lists at Christmas and this year all of mine is on amazon. I didn't include Nation though, so I'd better let my husband know.
We don't do subtle hints. It's like the way I always remind him about our wedding anniversary and don't expect him to remember. One year when I forgot, we both forgot. (After 20 odd years I think we're allowed.)
FH Hubby and I broke the back of the Christmas shopping on Amazon yesterday but then we saved it all for later remembering the 2.5% decrease in VAT today. We'll press send tonight. I agree - lists are the only way to avoid disappointment a waste. That said we both do try to get something small for each other that is unexpected! Forgetting your anniversary is one way of introducing surprise I suppose!
At least we both forgot it. The trouble comes when one remembers and one doesn't.
I love Terry Pratchett. Damn disease.
As for autobiographies, I rpefer the ones that are fictionalized. Much more interesting, but harder to find.
Sorry I haven't been able to keep up with you daily blogging.
Have you read Pratchett's Magic Kingdom series?
I've come to this a bit late, but what I really love about books (and other forms of good writing) is that they are always fresh to the reader, right?
I feel that I've been derelict in avoiding Terry Pratchett. Actually, he sounds perfect for my husband -- who has an entrancing male giggle (perhaps it is a chortle).
I especially liked your eccentric touches -- childhood memories and medical textbook reading and such. What people are reading is always of interest to bookish types.
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