Book meme!
Thu, May. 29th, 2003 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterAnd now that I've just gotten back to college, the boy has left for Houston =(. And my throat still hurts, which prompts my mom to think I've got SARS! Argh. So I will do a book meme. Total non sequitor, yeah, but hey, that's how my mind works!
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rheanna27
1. What's your favorite book of all time? Why? Top ten favorites?
Obviously, tough question. The usual answer I give to this is Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game for the sheer number of times I've read it and the enormous emotional impact it has on me every time. But that's highly generalized.
A very rough top ten in no particular order would look like (with only one book/series per author):
1. Ender's Game (OSC) - see above. I read it first in seventh grade and just never got it out of my head.
2. His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman) - for epic imaginative scope in a non-Tolkien-derivative kind of way, and for sticking enormous themes of redemption and original sin in a book supposedly for young adults. And I say supposedly because there is no way adult people can scoff at this book at being juvenille. And for Lyra and Will, who are just awesome characters. And for Lyra's world and daemons. I want one.
3. Sandman (Neil Gaiman) - do I really need to explain this? And I count this as a book despite the comics format.
4. Deerskin (Robin McKinley) - I love all her books, actually, but this seems to be the one I reread the most often.
5. Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) - Funniest. Book. Ever. And it's co-written... so doesn't violate rules, uh huh.
6. Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay) - Still my favorite of his many books and what I think is the best Tokien-influenced high fantasy written. Beats Jordan and Brooks and all those people hands down.
7. Fairy Tale Series (edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow) - Not one book per se, but a series of anthologies (Ruby Slippers Golden Tears, Snow White Blood Red, etc.). Some I like better than others, but in general, the stories (all fairy tale retellings, obviously) are gorgeous.
8. Jackaroo (Cynthia Voight) - quiet prose and a strong heroine who isn't strong for the sake of expressing the author's opinions, but is so because of her own lifestyle.
9. Black Jewels trilogy (Anne Bishop) - sometimes too sappy or too romance-novel-like, but I love the darkness of the world, and I love Daemon. To itty-bitty pieces.
10. Sevenwaters trilogy (Juliet Marillier) - Celtic background, retelling of the Seven Swans fairy tale.. and romance. Heh. I am a sucker.
The funny thing is, this list isn't at all what I think are the best books out there. But these are the ones I reread with great frequency when I'm feeling down or homesick or just bored. These are my comfort books. And I would have included the Speaker for the Dead trilogy by OSC because I love it to death, but I figured Ender's Game kind of covered it already. The final three are also spur of the moment and not quite as time-tested as the others.
2. Is there any author who's been so consistently wonderful that you've devoured all of his or her work and actually enjoyed *all or most* of it?
Oh yeah. I will (and almost have) read everything Orson Scott Card has written. I love the way all his characters think about moral quandries. I admit, sometimes after reading too many, the style gets old, but after a little break it's all shiny and new and happy again. I will also (and have) read anything Robin McKinley's written. Ditto with Neil Gaiman. Those are my top three.
3. What book do you most often recommend to other people?
Ender's Game. I make everyone read it if they haven't, and so far, only one person has disliked it. And she didn't dislike it so much as think it was too intense. Other recommendations tend to be more personal.
4. What book should be turned into a movie? Should they even *do* that? Does it kill the book?
I think it's ok, as long as I've never read the book. Because there's never been one of those cases in which I liked the movie better. I've never had it actually kill a book for me, although sometimes I wish I never saw the Harry Potter movies, because none of the people in there look like the people in my head. Strangely, I adored LotR (although it may verge on hating if they don't do something nice with Faramir! sigh. Just reread parts and remembered how much I liked him in the books) and the shot of Eowyn in her white dress running out was beautiful. But I shudder at the thought of a Sandman movie, an Ender's Game one and a HDM one. I also don't think people should make books out of movies because movie/tv books almost invariably suck. Oh! But am still highly excited about Miyazaki doing DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle!!
5. What's your favorite biography? Am I the only one who likes those?
Er. I don't read them much at all... maybe James Joyce by Richard Ellmann? That's probably just because I had to use it to write my own critical biography on Joyce. Hee. Oyce writes about Joyce!
Gacked from
rheanna271. What's your favorite book of all time? Why? Top ten favorites?
Obviously, tough question. The usual answer I give to this is Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game for the sheer number of times I've read it and the enormous emotional impact it has on me every time. But that's highly generalized.
A very rough top ten in no particular order would look like (with only one book/series per author):
1. Ender's Game (OSC) - see above. I read it first in seventh grade and just never got it out of my head.
2. His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman) - for epic imaginative scope in a non-Tolkien-derivative kind of way, and for sticking enormous themes of redemption and original sin in a book supposedly for young adults. And I say supposedly because there is no way adult people can scoff at this book at being juvenille. And for Lyra and Will, who are just awesome characters. And for Lyra's world and daemons. I want one.
3. Sandman (Neil Gaiman) - do I really need to explain this? And I count this as a book despite the comics format.
4. Deerskin (Robin McKinley) - I love all her books, actually, but this seems to be the one I reread the most often.
5. Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) - Funniest. Book. Ever. And it's co-written... so doesn't violate rules, uh huh.
6. Fionavar Tapestry (Guy Gavriel Kay) - Still my favorite of his many books and what I think is the best Tokien-influenced high fantasy written. Beats Jordan and Brooks and all those people hands down.
7. Fairy Tale Series (edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow) - Not one book per se, but a series of anthologies (Ruby Slippers Golden Tears, Snow White Blood Red, etc.). Some I like better than others, but in general, the stories (all fairy tale retellings, obviously) are gorgeous.
8. Jackaroo (Cynthia Voight) - quiet prose and a strong heroine who isn't strong for the sake of expressing the author's opinions, but is so because of her own lifestyle.
9. Black Jewels trilogy (Anne Bishop) - sometimes too sappy or too romance-novel-like, but I love the darkness of the world, and I love Daemon. To itty-bitty pieces.
10. Sevenwaters trilogy (Juliet Marillier) - Celtic background, retelling of the Seven Swans fairy tale.. and romance. Heh. I am a sucker.
The funny thing is, this list isn't at all what I think are the best books out there. But these are the ones I reread with great frequency when I'm feeling down or homesick or just bored. These are my comfort books. And I would have included the Speaker for the Dead trilogy by OSC because I love it to death, but I figured Ender's Game kind of covered it already. The final three are also spur of the moment and not quite as time-tested as the others.
2. Is there any author who's been so consistently wonderful that you've devoured all of his or her work and actually enjoyed *all or most* of it?
Oh yeah. I will (and almost have) read everything Orson Scott Card has written. I love the way all his characters think about moral quandries. I admit, sometimes after reading too many, the style gets old, but after a little break it's all shiny and new and happy again. I will also (and have) read anything Robin McKinley's written. Ditto with Neil Gaiman. Those are my top three.
3. What book do you most often recommend to other people?
Ender's Game. I make everyone read it if they haven't, and so far, only one person has disliked it. And she didn't dislike it so much as think it was too intense. Other recommendations tend to be more personal.
4. What book should be turned into a movie? Should they even *do* that? Does it kill the book?
I think it's ok, as long as I've never read the book. Because there's never been one of those cases in which I liked the movie better. I've never had it actually kill a book for me, although sometimes I wish I never saw the Harry Potter movies, because none of the people in there look like the people in my head. Strangely, I adored LotR (although it may verge on hating if they don't do something nice with Faramir! sigh. Just reread parts and remembered how much I liked him in the books) and the shot of Eowyn in her white dress running out was beautiful. But I shudder at the thought of a Sandman movie, an Ender's Game one and a HDM one. I also don't think people should make books out of movies because movie/tv books almost invariably suck. Oh! But am still highly excited about Miyazaki doing DWJ's Howl's Moving Castle!!
5. What's your favorite biography? Am I the only one who likes those?
Er. I don't read them much at all... maybe James Joyce by Richard Ellmann? That's probably just because I had to use it to write my own critical biography on Joyce. Hee. Oyce writes about Joyce!
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Fri, May. 30th, 2003 09:49 pm (UTC)