The third day of March Meme Madness
Mar. 20th, 2007 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
todayiamadaisyDay 3: Books
1. A book that changed your life.
I don't know that I would say it changed my life, but Red Shoes by Carmel Bird is a book that resonated very strongly with me. How obsessed am I with this book? Well... when I read another of Bird's novels that shares a minor character with this one, I knew without checking that she'd got his date of death wrong. In my fanciful moments, I like to imagine adapting it as a screenplay.
I'm not sure why I should have this reaction to it; perhaps there's something about Bird's style of writing, perhaps because the book is (very loosely) based on a news story I can remember as a child, and perhaps also because it's one of the very few Australian novels that have really made an impression on me. It's the story of a woman who becomes the leader of a religious cult, as told by her guardian angel (who may or may not be an hallucination). It's the only book on this list I couldn't find at Amazon, but there's an extract available at Bird's rather unattractive website.
2. A book you've read more than once.
As teenagers, my best friend and I would read Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery once a year. We would sometimes go on to either re-read the entire series, or watch the mini-series on video.
Something that has always puzzled me: my copy of the book in which Anne moves to Kingsport to teach at a girls' school is called Anne of Windy Willows, yet other copies are called Anne of Windy Poplars. Is this some sort of "Australian children won't know what poplars are" decision from the publishers?
3. A book you'd want on a desert island.
Raft Building for Dummies, perhaps? Or Coconut & Palm Frond Technology: The Complete Guide by the Professor from "Gilligan's Island"?
Or failing that, some sort of collected works of PG Wodehouse to keep my spirits up.
4. A book that made you giddy.
I picked up Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson one day in the library purely on a whim. It was nearly Christmas and I was stocking up on things to read over the holidays. I read it in an afternoon and fell in love. It's a delight.
My mother hated it.
5. A book you wish you'd written.
As a horse-and-fairy-tale obsessed little girl, I loved The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. I still do. It is perfect. I am envious that (1) I can't write like that and (2) even if I could, it's already been written.
6. A book that wracked you with sobs.
Oh, I'm such a sap. I tear up at anything. I'm reluctant to re-read Anna Sewell's Black Beauty for that very reason. Poor Ginger.
7. A book you wish had never been written.
Any book that gets far more attention than it warrants, just to spare us all the breathless reportage that goes with it. Yes, The Da Vinci Code, I'm talking about you. But I could also be talking about any of those scandal-mongering unauthorised biographies that were all the rage a few years back.
8. A book you are currently reading.
The Secret Life of Trees by Colin Tudge, which is about, well, trees. I'm enjoying it so far.
9. A book you've been meaning to read.
I've got a shelf of books waiting for me to read them. The one that I really should read is The Iliad. I did a semester of Ancient Greek at university and had to translate a few random passages of it for that, and I intend to read the rest.
One day.
In English.
10. Tag 10.
Well, I'm not going to do that. Do it if you want, or don't do it and have a cup of tea instead. Suit yourself.
1. A book that changed your life.
I don't know that I would say it changed my life, but Red Shoes by Carmel Bird is a book that resonated very strongly with me. How obsessed am I with this book? Well... when I read another of Bird's novels that shares a minor character with this one, I knew without checking that she'd got his date of death wrong. In my fanciful moments, I like to imagine adapting it as a screenplay.
I'm not sure why I should have this reaction to it; perhaps there's something about Bird's style of writing, perhaps because the book is (very loosely) based on a news story I can remember as a child, and perhaps also because it's one of the very few Australian novels that have really made an impression on me. It's the story of a woman who becomes the leader of a religious cult, as told by her guardian angel (who may or may not be an hallucination). It's the only book on this list I couldn't find at Amazon, but there's an extract available at Bird's rather unattractive website.
2. A book you've read more than once.
As teenagers, my best friend and I would read Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery once a year. We would sometimes go on to either re-read the entire series, or watch the mini-series on video.
Something that has always puzzled me: my copy of the book in which Anne moves to Kingsport to teach at a girls' school is called Anne of Windy Willows, yet other copies are called Anne of Windy Poplars. Is this some sort of "Australian children won't know what poplars are" decision from the publishers?
3. A book you'd want on a desert island.
Raft Building for Dummies, perhaps? Or Coconut & Palm Frond Technology: The Complete Guide by the Professor from "Gilligan's Island"?
Or failing that, some sort of collected works of PG Wodehouse to keep my spirits up.
4. A book that made you giddy.
I picked up Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson one day in the library purely on a whim. It was nearly Christmas and I was stocking up on things to read over the holidays. I read it in an afternoon and fell in love. It's a delight.
My mother hated it.
5. A book you wish you'd written.
As a horse-and-fairy-tale obsessed little girl, I loved The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. I still do. It is perfect. I am envious that (1) I can't write like that and (2) even if I could, it's already been written.
6. A book that wracked you with sobs.
Oh, I'm such a sap. I tear up at anything. I'm reluctant to re-read Anna Sewell's Black Beauty for that very reason. Poor Ginger.
7. A book you wish had never been written.
Any book that gets far more attention than it warrants, just to spare us all the breathless reportage that goes with it. Yes, The Da Vinci Code, I'm talking about you. But I could also be talking about any of those scandal-mongering unauthorised biographies that were all the rage a few years back.
8. A book you are currently reading.
The Secret Life of Trees by Colin Tudge, which is about, well, trees. I'm enjoying it so far.
9. A book you've been meaning to read.
I've got a shelf of books waiting for me to read them. The one that I really should read is The Iliad. I did a semester of Ancient Greek at university and had to translate a few random passages of it for that, and I intend to read the rest.
One day.
In English.
10. Tag 10.
Well, I'm not going to do that. Do it if you want, or don't do it and have a cup of tea instead. Suit yourself.