Saturday, April 26, 2008

A nice book meme to start the day/week

The folks at The Collective have had a pretty amazing week of book blogging (I'm catching up! And now can post a comment! Yay!), and I thought I'd play along. Feel free to play too.

1) What book are you reading right now? I am reading about 4 different things right now, but the one closest to me is Helping Your Kids Cope with Divorce the Sandcastles Way. (It's a long story.)

2) What is the fourth sentence on page 133 of that book? "Observant parents can glean a great deal about what their children are thinking and feeling by observing the products of their imaginiation: the artwork, stories, and essays they write for school or for entertainment (see Chapter 2)."

3) What is one book that changed your life? It by Stephen King. I read it when I was 10, going on 11. The main characters of the book (at the beginning) are all in the summer of their 11th year. They were just normal kids, scared shitless by some demonic thing that lived in their town. But they beat it (spoiler alert). Those kids had power and that summer? I had it too. There are others, but that one, that made me see how awesome words and stories really could be.

4) What is one book that you read again and again? I read a lot of books over and over. My room looks like a library. Seriously. I re-read my Nora Roberts books regularly: they're my comfort reads. My next re-read needs to be the last Harry Potter book, though, because I was too upset by the whole end.finality.over-ness of it the first time to actually absorb all the little things.

5) What three books would you want on a desert island? This book turns into a raft; What to do on a raft while you are waiting for rescue and Good Poems for Every Day by Garrison Kellior (well, he put it together anyways... thankfully they are not his poems: I do not get him.)

6) What is the funniest book you've ever read? The funniest? Oh crap, that'd depend on my mood, but the one I remember laughing at most, at least in recent years is America: the Book by Jon Stewart.

7) What book made you cry the most? I also cry pretty easily, but I would say that I bawled the most when I opened up whatever book was next in the Little House series and read the words "Mary was blind." Mary may have been blind, but I was blindsided - She was perfectly fine when I left her 5 minutes ago at the end of the other book!!! Are you kidding me?? What the hell is scarlet fever? And couldn't you have broken the news a little more gently??? I cried so hard my mom came in from the other room and made me calm down before I threw up. I was probably 7 years old.

8. What book do you wish had been written? Exactly what is wrong with NTE and how we fixed it so easily circa 1995.

9) What would be the title of your autobiography? Well I suppose it would have to be the sequel to number 8, but I'm not sure what the title would be yet.

10) What book do you keep meaning to read? The Painted Bird I told someone I had read this, and then sat there nodding along as they talked about plot points, because I realized about 3 seconds into the conversation that I had NOT in fact read that book. (I had read something with a similar title.) And I felt so stupid that I immediately got the book... but I haven't read it yet.

11) What five books should everyone be required to read?
Escaping into the Open by Elizabeth Berg
Harry Potter and... pick your favorite title by J.K. Rowling
All in my Head by Paula Kamen
Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts
How to Get Your Child to Love Reading by Esma Raji Codel

12) What book was the biggest waste of your time? There's a lot of sucky books out there, but I'd have to say the one I would've thrown against the wall, if it had been an option, was Ethan Frome. Oh my sweet lord, this was a depressing book: my entire impression of the book is this (even after an entire semester spend studying Edith Wharton and her cronies) - It is cold. And snowing. And sad. And bleak. I have a limp. Now I walk in the snow some more, where it will be cold. The end.

13) What was your favorite book as a child? I'm going to go with the first book I remember being a favorite, and that is The Monster at the End of this Book by I have no idea, but staring lovable, furry old Grover. I thought this book was hysterical (and it's a big hit now with my nephews and niece), and it was the first book I remember reading all by myself.

14) What book have you read the most? Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I have that down pat... If it were the time of Alice in Wonderland, I would have a recitation ready to go, at a moment's notice. As it is, my brother will literally call me and say "Read her the book" which I will then do, free of charge.

15) Is there any book's ending that you would like to rewrite? Hmm... I know there have been books that have totally pissed me off, but I can't remember them right now.

1 comment:

Crazed Nitwit said...

I felt exactly the same about Ethan Frome!!! Big huge depressed YAWN! Then they made a movie of it. I thought what will the actors do, stand around and look sad and frozen? Liam Neeson did look sad and frozen. Hehehehe. Why did they make us read Edith Wharton?

A much better book was Madame Bovary. Oooooo la. la. At least it did not put me to sleep.

I get the phone thing. No problem.

I've been thinking of you and all the, um, inventive tests and procedures your doc wants you to have. Nasal scraping? Hellz NOOO! That sounds bad. Have they tested you for a fungal versus a bacterial infection for your sinus infections? Just a thought from the girl who reads micro textbooks for entertainment. I'd rather have a test than a scraping. It gives me the chills just thinking about it. There are some places no man needs to see, ya know? :P