Book Meme

Clark Bartram of Unintelligent Design has tagged me, with a very cool meme, I might add. I love books. I love stories. I love reading. I hadn't had time to read enough lately. My dear milk man, seeing my predicament, bought me a subscription to audible.com with an Ipod. I think this qualifies as just about the best gift I've ever been given.

1) One book that changed your life? Ender's Game. It isn't that the story radically altered my outlook, or that I love that story in particular (I enjoy Speaker for the Dead more) but what it brought into my life: an appreciation for the author that lead to several encounters that have changed my life. Sounds like I'm a fan chick, and on a level that's true. I mean, I helped found and continue to pay for a site in honor of Ender's Game. But I've seen a lot of people far more intense about Orson Scott Card than I, and who've read the book over 20 times.

No, what happened is that OSC told me two different things at two different times that made me yearn for the craft of writing. One: We need more voices that speak the truth. Two: I am a good writer. I'm going to have to admit to feeling scared about it, and sometimes thinking it makes me an arrogant little bit of cereal to even think I can aspire to what I want.

2) One book you have read more than once? Lord of the Rings. I never wanted to leave that place.

3) One book you would want on a desert island? Some big History of the World that is chock full of biographies.

4) One book that made you laugh? I haven't read many humorous books in my adulthood, not because I don't like to laugh. I enjoy comedies a lot. I don't know why. Anyway, I read Cheaper by the Dozen way back when I was a kid and loved it. So I was excited to see it come out, with none other than Steve Martin playing the inventor dad who is obsessed with making things more efficient not because he wants it done fast but because, at his core, he is lazy. Hmmm, I think I ended up marrying that guy... Unfortunately, the movie disappointed me a lot.

5) One book that made you cry? The Yearling. A lot of books have made me cry, but that is the definitive answer for me. It's the book that I immediately think of when I think of books that make me cry.

6) One book you wish had been written? If I tell you that, then someone will take my idea and write it before I get around to it. But this blog doesn't have much of an audience just now, does it? Okay. Imagine a girl raised by monsters, now out and about in the real world. There is some pretty cool magic involved, but I'll let you discover that someday yourself :)

7) One book you wish had never had been written? Nothing really came to mind as being so very awful that, as Clark said, free speech should be curtailed. But maybe it isn't the writing that should count. Maybe if Mien Kampf wasn't written, Hitler would have drowned in his own hell rather than make so many other people suffer.

8) One book you are currently reading? The Stand. This is not a second read, but the first time I've read it and it is the first book I've ever read by Stephen King. I got it after listening to his book, "On Writing" and gaining a lot of respect for the man and the stories he must write. I was never a fan of horror, and even his good movies didn't entice me enough to pick up the books. I did read Lawnmower Man and thought: wow, the movie has almost nothing to do with the short story and Hmmm, he is pretty good, if a bit gory. If he wasn't writing horror I might like him. But alas, he is a Best Seller and very popular and I don't want to be just another tag along reader. It wasn't a huge barrier. Just enough so that when I went into the bookstore I tended to pick up other authors. He's still gory, though.

9) One book you have been meaning to read? A whole lifetime of books, but Will in the World is next in my audiobook library. Scratch that, this post has taken so long that I'm listening to it now.

10) Now tag five people. My mom, my sisters MommaT and deafkik, Dr. Charles, and the Fine Art Doctor, Jordan Grummet  ¶ 9:36 PM