Lori’s Book Nook

Stolen from casa az, who plundered it from alejna

Four childhood books

• Freddy the Pig — don’t really remember much about the books, but that I used to love them. (Animal Farm always sort of freaked me out, with my Freddy background.)
• The Donkey Rustlers by Gerald Durrell. Again, I don’t remember much about the story, but I do remember taking it out of the library again and again.
• Paddington Bear — of course. I think he is the root of my love of the absurd…how can you resist a world where people don’t think twice about talking to a bear in a coat carrying a suitcase full of marmalade sandwiches, with bacon hanging out of it and dogs following him?
• No fourth comes to mind…the Hobbit, the Narnia books — all begun in my childhood, and continued to be read and re-read in my teens, my young adulthood, my middle ages, my dotage…

Four authors I will read again and again

• Robertson Davies (I’m with az here)
• Lois McMaster Bujold
• JRR Tolkien
• Jasper Fforde
• [This is all really quite random...there are 100s (10s?) of authors I would re-read again and again, I could continue this list on to the next page...]

Four authors I will never read again

I blank out the unpleasant in my life. I’ve not much interest in ever reading Dan Brown, Terry Pratchett (sorry az for putting those two in the same sentence), or Stephen King. Authors I don’t like, I just don’t remember.

The first four books on my to-be-read list

• Ulysses by James Joyce (az, alejna and I are threatening to read this together)
• Dante’s Inferno
• Plus a cast of 100s! Too many to list. (Wow. I’m being rather lazy with this one.)

The four books I would take to a desert island

• LOTR
• The complete Shakespeare
• Norton Anthology of Poetry
• a big blank book, with some pens

The last lines of one of my favourite books

• I don’t have any. Sorry to disappoint. Although I may think on this one, and change this some random morning at 4 a.m. when a line pops into my head and won’t let me sleep until I’ve added it here.

Anyway — tag yourselves on this one!

Raincoaster was tagged for this meme (gads, I abhor how that word has been co-opted by the blogosphere!) by caveblogem, and she’s passed on the tag…sort of a tag-by-proxy.

Maybe she doesn’t read…?

So as caveblogem describes the rules:

It’s another book meme which lists books tagged as unread in Librarything. Bold what you have read, italicize your DNFs, strikethrough the ones you hated, and put *asterisks next to those you read more than once.

I want add a dimension — underline the books on your bookshelf (in your TBR pile).

Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: a novel
*The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
*Pride and Prejudice
*Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
*Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
*Brave new world
The Fountainhead
* Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
*Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
*Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
*Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
* Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
* Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
*The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
*Persuasion
*Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
* The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

So, now what? Oh, right. Tagging. I know better than that — I’ll tag all my readers, because I know you’re here because you’re booky, so you’ll be itching to try this one yourself. Please go ahead!

Enjoy!

How can I resist an //engtech contest?!? Especially one where I can talk about my other favourite thing — movies!

Okay — on to the list. Let’s assume that LOTR is in the list somewhere, but that it’s been over-blogged in the last couple of years. And when I say ‘memorable‘, I mean my memory!

No. 1

I Capture the Castle. The Dodie Smith book of the same name is a delight. It’s in diary form, written by 17-year-old Cassandra, who lives with her rather eccentric family in a broken down old castle. The strength of this rather quiet movie lies in Smith’s background as a playright (and writer of The One Hundred and One Dalmations) — I’ve never seen a movie capture the characters, plot, setting, and essence of a book so well. At no point does it slap you in the face and say “hey! I’m literary! Can’t you tell?” (Unlike the first Harry Potter film…which I watched, anticipating each scene: “Ho hum…now we’re going to get ___ scene.”)

No. 2

A Little Princess (the 1995 version). From the book by Frances Hodges Burnett. Okay, so they added a little dramatic ‘hanging-from-the-eaves’ scene — I don’t mind. At that point in the movie, you’re really in the mood for it. The Miss Minchin character is wonderfully done by the great actor Eleanor Brun. You feel for her and hate her at the same time — brilliant! The story-telling, the ‘magic’, and the relationship between all the girls is beautifully represented. And the colours…each scene is shot with either a dark, earthy green that menaces, or a sunny golden glow that, well, glows.

No. 3

The Power of One. Is this a great movie? No. It’s got some brilliant moments, but overall, I wish it had been more…meaty. Gutsy. Longer. The treatment of the material was sketchy — it’s obvious that Bryce Courtney’s greatest book needs to be made into a BBC mini-series (a la Dune or Gormenghast), not relegated to a shortish Hollywood film. But, they manage to get some of the best bits right in this one — it definitely captures the feel of the book, even though they totally botched the story.

No. 4

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. Is this movie based on the biography Dorothy Parker: Oh What Fresh Hell Is This? by Marion Meade? [ooo...a triple whammy. A movie based on a biography of a famous writer!] It doesn’t say that the movie’s writers used the book, but it is the most common biography on Parker, and many of the anecdotes from the book are reproduced verbatim in the movie. (Of course, that means nothing, as all of her friends were literary, everyone in that crowd wrote everything down…) Anyway, it’s a great film, representing the life and times of a great if tragic woman, played with utter perfection by the indomitable Jennifer Jason Leigh!

No. 5

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Okay, I’m cheating on this one. In a sense, the movie came first. But, the author of the movie (and the supposed file cabinets full of material on this character), Earl Mac Rauch wrote a ‘novelization’ of the movie, like no other I’ve ever seen! Usually, a book-from-a-movie is a scene-by-scene rehash of the action. Cheesy. Badly written. Who reads them??? (Okay, I admit, the first book I read in Portuguese when I was living in Brasil was the novelization of ET…and I highly recommend them to language learners because of their screen-to-print regularity.) But this one is different — written from the point of view of one of the main characters, it’s his version of events. And, it’s as wonderful as the film. (If I have to convince you, you’re really not a geek.)

What are your movies?

I found this link ages ago, put it in my blogworthy list, and there it has sat, to wait for a day, like today, when I should be outside, enjoying the sun.

[Living life to the fullest. Thinking new thoughts, maybe even writing some poetry, instead of rehashing other people's ideas. It's Easter Sunday...if nothing else, for this atheist, a day to signal the true beginning of Spring. So, a quick blog post, and then I'm outta here!]

Ginsberg’s Celestial Homework — Your site of the day…essentially a:

Specialized Reading List for “Literary History of the Beat Generation,”
a course taught by Allen Ginsberg at Naropa Institute during the summer of 1977.

This “celestial homework” is the reading list that Ginsberg handed out on the first day of his course as “suggestions for a quick check-out & taste of antient scriveners whose works were reflected in Beat literary style as well as specific beat pages to dig into.”

This is a very great list…with some rather nepotistic choices — many of his contemporaries, like Neal Cassady’s autobiography The First Third. (Cassady had died almost 10 years before, tragically young, so I’m not really surprised by Ginsberg’s choice.)

I think I’m going to grab some poetry and a beer, and sit on the grass to read aloud.

TTFN

Inspired by a comment left yesterday by Sulz, over at Bloggerdybooks — to go with the dark chocolate hopefully someone gave you on Valentine’s Day.

Also continuing in the list-genre to annoy engtech for his lovely little contest.

Only 1 rule: No fair citing books that are supposed to be erotic.

• The first really substantial sex scene I ever encountered in a book was a Harold Robbins, when I was about 13. (Oh, he died in 1997!) Anyway, I think it was “The Pirate”…wow. Poppers and threesomes. Yippee!
• I then moved on to bodice-rippers, or as the neighbour I babysat for called them (the 30-something woman who lent my impressionable teen self the books) , HHRs (Horny Historical Romances). Whowee!
• Roots had some eye-opening moments, to my 11-year-old eyes.
• Of course, Wifey, by Judy Bloom.
• I must admit, Anne Rice’s vampire books have their incredibly sensual moments.

Okay, this was harder than I thought. I found I had to dredge my teen (and pre-teen) memory for titles. I think now, as an adult, I’m turned off books whose sex scenes don’t fit into the narrative flow, and I don’t really remember scenes in books where they do.

Hmm.

Okay folks — what about you? You don’t have to think of 5 if you can’t…(except Sulz!)

Taking part in engtech’s promising 5 things contest…But also, if any book-minded people want to add their own books to the list, please do.

Here I go:

1. Anything by Dan Brown. Any person who had read a book before they picked up the DaVinci Code has claimed that it is badly written. Plus, from what I hear, it’s utterly derivative. Umberto Eco already wrote that story line, in Foucault’s Pendulum.
2. Anything with “Oprah Book Club” on the cover. Pretentious of me, I know. She’s done wonderful things for reading in the United States, and yes, if she ran for President, I would make moves to get a green card to be able to vote for her. But I try not to let famous people choose my reading material
3. LOTR, post-movies. Love the books*, love the movies, but I’m in the class of geeks that 1) refer to them as “LOTR”, 2) read the books every year since I was 13, and thus hate the idea of anyone thinking I’d just discovered them. [*I use the plural -s only because of the convention, started by Allen & Unwin, to divide the story into 3 physical volumes.]
4. Ulysses. While I intend to read this book one day, I would try to read it privately. I’ve seen too many pretentious asses, or people I’ve assumed to be pretentious asses, read this book in cafes and on buses. I’m already plagued enough by my own pretentiousness, I don’t need to add to it.
5. Any self-help book. Need I explain?

So, who’s next?

Ah, yet another meme. Many are silly, but this one lets me talk about books. And more importantly, books I like! So, tagged by Archie, here I go:

Hardback or paperback? I’ve never had much of a thing for hardbacks, I’ve more of a passion for tradepaper. Although, I do have a weakness for a really beautiful hardbound book — like the Folio books, when I can afford them (definitely not often!).

Amazon or brick and mortar? While Amazon is a great resource, I’d much prefer to buy a book in a real bookstore.

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Being Canadian, the question is what? Chapters/Coles or some locally-owned bookstore. In Vancouver, I’d say Duthies, every time.

Bookmark or dog-ear? I bookmark most books with random slips of paper. Now that I think about it, I haven’t dogeared in ages. Very last resort. My husband always lays them flat, open. Drives me crazy.

Alphabetize by author, alphabetize by title or random? Lightly categorized for the non-fiction, grouped by author, but no effort at alphabetical order.

Keep, throw away, or sell? If I must part with a book, I give it away or sell it. I have to be careful, because I have found myself re-buying the books I’ve sold — no, I mean the exact same copies! “Oh, I used to have this book!” And I did.

Keep dust jacket or toss it? Don’t buy too many hardcovers, but of course keep it.

Read with dust jacket or remove it? The flaps make good impromptu bookmarks (NO, I don’t rip them off!)

Short story or novel? Novels, mostly. But, as I’ve noted at this blog, I do like short stories, when done well.

Collection (by same author) or anthology (by different authors)? Oh, both. For different reasons of course — one to learn of new writers, the other to get more deeply into one author.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Neither, really. I’ve not read Lemony Snicket books (but the movie was amusing), and I’ve read the HP books just to be up on pop culture. Fun, but not meaningful in any way.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? At chapter breaks if convenient, but usually it’s not important (or I can’t keep my eyes open any longer).

‘It was a dark and stormy night’ or ‘Once upon a time’? Silly question. Why limit the openers?

Buy or Borrow? Buy…mostly. Depends on the book. Nowadays, if it’s fiction, I’ll get it from the library. But non-fiction I like to own, for future reference.
New or used? Used, as much as possible.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? Oh, tough one. Sometimes by book review, mostly by recommendation…but my best surprises have been through a good browse. I would never have realized I loved reading about architecture and urban planning if not for a good 2ndhand browse. Nor would I have discovered a passion for cultural histories.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? Define cliffhanger. A la Anne Rice in The Witching Hour — spare me. 800 pages and you leave me with a cliffhanger?!? No resolution at all? Get stuffed. Never read any more of her books after that. But give me the original movie The Matrix, with its partial resolution and grand, wonderful ending premise? Perfection. (Do not waste my time defending the 2 add-ons. Money-making garbage.) I like a slice o’ life kind of story, without all of the little threads tidied up.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? I’ll just quote Archie: “yes”

Standalone or series? Either, but save me from the series that never ends, with little resolution in any given book in the series. I gave up reading the Robert Jordan books when I realized I was reading 800 pages for nothing to happen.

Favourite series? Anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. Robertson Davies‘ trilogies. Need I mention LOTR? Leslie Charteris’ Saint books. (Archie, let’s talk Saint. I’ve got a huge collection….)

Who wants a tag? Az has already done it. How about David?

Here’s an interesting list…the 100 Best First Lines of Novels

No. 47 is one of my favourites:

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

(Quick! Name the book!)

It would make a great quiz.

Some are just intriguing:

No. 49:

It was the day my grandmother exploded.

Hello?! Why haven’t I read this one? Iain M. Banks, The Crow Road.

I could go on.

Let me know your favourites in the comments.

Every once in awhile, there’s a truly new, beautiful thing on the Internet. Years ago, I was introduced to the Visual Thesaurus. I would go there periodically to just play, and watch the gorgeous flow of words. Now, you can type one word in, then ya gotta pay! Ah well, everyone needs to make a living. (Would I actually want my own copy on the desktop? Not sure. I have a thesaurus already. I think the visual beauty of the thing would distract me from its intended use…)

Now, the creator of Gnod, an experiment in AI, has a Literature-Map…type in an author, and see a map of his/her connections. Seems to be along the lines of ‘if you like X, you’ll like Y’. Seems to work. I checked out Orson Scott Card, and I like the authors closest to him.

Found this concept on Chelsea’s Blog on Vox. I’ve never really thought about this, but here are some of her faves:

7. Mercutio, from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Although Romeo has become synonymous with romantic lovers, he never did much for me. Far from being loyal, he actually strikes me as inconstant; if it hadn’t been for the forbidden nature of his and Juliet’s relationship, they would have been over each other within two weeks, tops. But Mercutio- there’s loyalty. He’s well aware of the stupidity of the feud but remains loyal to the Montagues nevertheless, ultimately laying down his life. The cynical bitterness of the character is also intriguing, as is his obvious intelligence and his sharp sense of humor.

6. Rhett Butler, from Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Rhett Butler is the only traditional romantic hero to appear on this list; he’s pretty much the prototypical rakehell that’s starred in every Harlequin or Mills & Boone romance since then. Scarlett was absolutely crazy not to recognize what she had; Rhett may not be perfect but he was perfect for her. Like he said, they were both “scoundrels.” His devotion to his daughter was also charming; his brokenness after the death of Bonnie Blue remains one of the most heart wrenching things I’ve ever read.

5. Inigo Montoya, from The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern abridged by William Goldman. Westley is nice, I suppose, but at his core he’s pretty dull, and why he loves Buttercup (who may be beautiful but is as dumb as a box of hair) is beyond me. Give me the tortured soul of Inigo Montoya, seeking to avenge his father by killing the six-fingered man. Inigo’s athleticism, skill, and dedication are all worthy attributes.

I don’t think I’ve ever crushed on a literary character. I have favourite heros, of course. Samwise Gamgee, Zorro,  Miles Vorkosigan, and Friti Tailchaser to name a few.  But I am curious about who other people have had crushes on. Share them with me.