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March 28, 2005
I've been tagged!!
Alrighty THEN (aw geez and I don't even like Jim Carey but suddenly I'm channeling him).... I'm up for this challenge courtesy of Jeff (??I need to post MORE?? hmmmm!). I actually love the questions so HERE GOES (please play along)
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Heck, if Jeff gets to cheat, so do I. There are two books on my shelf that I probably read at least once a year. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. My parents let me read just about anything I could and they had a ton of books. Louis L'Amour westerns, detective stories. When I was about 11, "Valley of the Dolls" appeared in the house and I was stunned it was the first book my mom decided not to let me read. So I settled for the dense looking paperback The Fountainhead. I was so intrigued because I had never read anything like it. I later went to the library to find other books by Ayn Rand, read Atlas Shrugged fell in love with the book. It was in high school I discovered Robert Heinlein as two particular books were making the rounds of popular reading among us students the Hobbit and Stranger in a Strange Land. I was bored to tears and never finished the Hobbit but after reading Stranger proceeded to hunt down every Heinlein book I could.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Back to my books again, it would be Hank Reardon from Atlas Shrugged. Rand is always accused of having cardboard characters and some of them are since they really are more symbolic than just people. However, Hank is one of the most well-rounded of her main characters ... he's flawed, he doubts, he loves fiercely and he is capable of great anger and sorrow.
Course, I've had a crush on the rogue Lazarus Long, too. Bad boys can be quite attractive! heh
The last book you bought is:
Strangely, it was a book for Siobhan's AP English class -- White Noise. Weird book. Well written but leaves you with a vague uneasiness when you're finished with it.
The last book you read:
Wicked:The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West This is such a delightful read on so many levels. Dark at times and occassionally uneven in the pacing, the journey of green Elphaba in an OZ unlike any one you've ever known before is more than just a gimmick. Recommended by my eldest daughter, Jennifer, I was happy to discover a new writer to read.
What are you currently reading?
Actually, I'm in between books. It's kind of hard for me to be in the process of reading because I consume any book in huge chunks. Heck, I needed to catch up on the Harry Potter series after reading only the first one, so I spent one weekend and read books 2-5. Yep, one weekend and four books.
Anyone have anything to recommend? Just one thing... I don't do romance genre. [shudder]
Five books you would take to a deserted island
Well, definitely Time Enough for Love not just for the stories but for the practical advice of how to live off the land. The Complete Sherlock Holmes because I love stories that contrast the oh-so-civilized English public person with the savagery lurking just under the surface. And speaking of English, I'd also pack my well flagged Norton Anthology of English Literature. Did you know I had gone back to college to be a high school English teacher before falling in love with computers? Almost 2,000 pages of poetry (Browning, Shelley, Keats, et al) and Short stories (Conrad, Woolf, DH Lawrence, et al). Guilty pleasure book -- It by Stephen King .. because, if you can totally forget the really awful tv movie made from it, it's one of the scariest books King has written. And he also writes "kid" better than just anything else. The book still grabs me fresh whenever I read it. And last, one non-fiction...my well thumbed Think a Second Time by Dennis Prager..cause the guy really knows how to cut to the quick of an issue and his clear thinking does make me stop and examine my premises.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Let's see...Michele because she's been mostly about the music lately and I'm curious how her reading habits coincide or contradict her taste in music. Jeff Goldstein because I'm curious to see how many porn related books make his list and Roger L Simon because just who/what does a writer of novels read himself? Inquiring minds and all that!
Thank you, Jeff, this has been fun, and the tagging moves on from here. I haven't broken the chain!
Posted by Darleen at March 28, 2005 09:03 PM
Comments
Aw, son of a gun. I should have mentioned Starship Troopers at some point. Dang.
Thanks for reminding me of Heinlein, Dar.
How do you feel about the Dark Tower books? I've gotta put "The Gunslinger" down as one of my favorite guilty pleasures. Not high enough to make the desert-island list, but pretty far up there.
Posted by: Jeff Harrell at March 28, 2005 11:05 PM
If I could I'd take all the Heinlein books. But I figured I was already pushing the limit with my anthology.
I've only read one of the Dark Tower books. I know I should go back and try the series again, but it didn't really impress me the first time around.
I loved the Green Mile.
Posted by: Darleen at March 28, 2005 11:21 PM
I'm puzzled. In Farenheit 451 they burned books, no? Aren't you supposed to specify which books you'd like to see burned?
Posted by: oldowan at March 29, 2005 06:12 AM
Oldowan
Yes, in F451 books were burned..that's why there was an underground society where people became their favorite book, so it would live on until a time it could be written down again.
Posted by: Darleen at March 29, 2005 06:57 AM