I've decided to start a new feature that will appear every Monday
I think the first question is an easy one, though I've found in the past that some people
And the question is
What is your all-time favorite book?
It can be your favorite childhood book, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, cookbook, coffee table book. Remember Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables on Seinfeld? It could even be that book.
As a highbrow English major, my Numero Uno favorite book is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, with A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce a close second and The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner an even closer third.
Fitzgerald is so clean and perfect. Gatsby does not have a single wasted word, and the style if lyrical.
I also love everything Jane Austen wrote, some contemporary fiction, and lots of non-fiction that helps me learn my history. My favorite poets are Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath.
Now I hope you'll answer the question, too, or "Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I'm through."
Infinities of love,
Lola
I spent enough time ranking movies when I was a small-time film critic. You're getting my top two or three or four or more books, unranked, and you're gonna like it, or "Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I'm through!" ;)
ReplyDeleteFor those playing the home game, this is a question for me to answer on my blog later, and the first time I will answer a question from someone on another blog.
Momentousness. It's not even my middle name.
"...And Ladies of the Club" by Helen Hooven Santmyer. I've lost count of how many times I read it. It's a book you CAN put down, and should, so you can wallow in it for days at a time. It follows the life of a young woman in post-Civil War Ohio, through three generations.
ReplyDelete"Isaac's Storm" by Erik Larson, and "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean are also on my short list.
I grew up loving the Anne of Green Gables series. Not the movies. The books, and I still love them. It is one of the few series I re-read. Simple, funny and heartwarming. Then again I love older books. As odd as it sounds they are refreshingly and honestly written. Just the authors personality showing through.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully I'm more of a "watch the movie" kind of guy. With my 1000's of movies, that isn't hard to do..haha
ReplyDeleteThis is an easy question. Nancy Drew and The Secret of Red Gate Farm. Just took me to a place in the country that I fell in love with and still have that image in my mind 40+ years later.
ReplyDeleteFor classics, I love Faulkner. And I enjoyed Austen, Dickens, and all the other classic authors we read as English majors.
ReplyDeleteThen I changed majors (Psychology and Religous Studies) and started reading more modern fiction instead. Some of my favorites are "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, and "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver.
As a kid, I loved books like "I am the Cheese" and "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier; "The World According to Garp" by John Irving; and just about anything by Stephen King.
As for non-fiction, I can't say I "enjoyed" the book, as it was very depressing, but I am so very glad I read "All But My Life" by Gerda Weissman Klein. It is a fascinating and educational autobiography of a holocaust survivor.
I am looking for some new "good reads," so I will definitely enjoy reading all the comments here!
Rory, I look forward to reading that post, and I feel extremely important because you're going to answer my little question on your blog.
ReplyDeleteSuz, I have not read those books. They sound very interesting and will probably be read by moi in the future.
Craziness, Love the first Anne book, but couldn't get interested in the rest. Really loved the Little House books but hated the TV series.
Pat, can't you choose even one little book? Do you ever read the books on which your movies are based? The books are always better.
Barb, What a great answer. A lot of us grew up with Nancy. Favorite Young Man read Hardy Boys books like they were going out of style.
My LegalEagle, what great choices. LOVE The Poisonwood Bible. Didn't feel as if I really understood The Life of Pi. Have you tried Anne Tyler? Baltimore is practically another character in her books. Dinner At the Homesick Restaurant is her masterpiece, but The Accidental Tourist is my favorite because it's so touching and hilarious and I can so relate to Macon Leary. You might like The Housekeeper and The Professor.
Suz, thank you for the recommendation of "...And Ladies of the Club." I looked it up on Amazon, and I need to order it now. It's been a few weeks since I've been totally absorbed in a book, too long to my mind.
ReplyDeleteLola, it's not a little question at all. And I couldn't write about only two or three or four of my all-time favorite books. Impossible. And it won't be only one entry. Only because I just finished writing it now, and it's very long, and it's reaching the evening (I've got a LOT of TV to watch tonight), this is the link to part 1. I'll write part 2 either tomorrow or the next day:
http://scrapsofliteracy.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-all-time-favorite-book-nope-my-all.html
I thought that the "a" HTML function I saw would create the link. Copy and paste, then. :)
ReplyDeleteRory, I know to some of us it isn't a little question at all. Books, books, books galore. How I do adore them. I'm concerned you watch too much TV. You should be reading.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Lola
Books, books, books galore. How I do adore them. I'm concerned you watch too much TV. You should be reading.
ReplyDeleteFor me, watching TV is dictated by what's on. "Jeopardy!" is a must in my household, and "Wheel of Fortune" is my mom's preference, but I like solving the puzzles anyway.
And with the start of the new TV season this week, I have to watch that much TV. And then I winnow down all the shows I watched to what I want to continue watching. It's reduced drastically by then anyway. And I'm still reading during all of it.
Rory, I hope you like it! I grab used copies of it whenever I see them, to share with friends who are interested. I don't know anybody who didn't like it. *Warning: the first 60 or so pages are a little poky and aimless. If you're one of those readers who gives a book 50 pages before giving up, give it a few more.
ReplyDelete:)
I just thought of one of my favorites from my youth. The Secret Garden, it was one of my mom's favorites and she gave it to me.
ReplyDeleteI also read a million of the Grimes (?) fairly tales.
Warning: the first 60 or so pages are a little poky and aimless. If you're one of those readers who gives a book 50 pages before giving up, give it a few more.
ReplyDeleteI read the first page on Amazon and I can handle it. I've read books that have had aim from the first page that were badly written. I like to wander in a book, just as I have in downtown Ventura, San Juan Capistrano, and downtown Palm Springs, and this book sounds like good wandering space.
'We Were Soldiers Once - And Young' by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway. I am a constant reader and read every kind of book, but other than the Bible (surprise you, huh?,) this is the only book I have read more than once (3 times).
ReplyDeleteMrs. Tuna, Secret Garden is a great choice.
ReplyDeleteCoffeypot, I'm not surprised. Have you read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (I think that's his name).
Suz, Look at what a hit you are.
Rory, I guess I should stop asking you to marry me if you live with your parents and watch your mom's choices on TV. On the other hand, I guess I'd always be in charge of the remote . . .
Love,
Lola
Rory, I guess I should stop asking you to marry me if you live with your parents and watch your mom's choices on TV. On the other hand, I guess I'd always be in charge of the remote . . .
ReplyDeleteIt's a decent arrangement. No basement involved. And once we move to Henderson, Nevada, I know exactly what kind of job I want to seek, I'll contribute more to household expenses, and see where life takes me on my own. But since I feel so at home in Henderson, and since this is the final move for Mom and Dad, we'll always be close in some way. This is just the most obvious way for now.
Rory, I'd totally keep you in the basement if I had one. Handcuffed, but with the fluffy pink handcuffs. Ah, it's o.k. I won't take you away from your mom and dad -- yet. Oh God, you're not jail bait, are you? Will the police show up at my door any minute now searching for child you know what?
ReplyDeleteLove,
Lola
Rory, I'd totally keep you in the basement if I had one. Handcuffed, but with the fluffy pink handcuffs.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a major problem. I like to use my hands for reading. I will never get a Kindle. I don't like it.
Oh God, you're not jail bait, are you? Will the police show up at my door any minute now searching for child you know what?
You don't have to worry. I'm 27.