ILIKEBOOKSMORETHANILIKEPEOPLE!
There, I said it!
Don't get me wrong. I like people A WHOLE LOT. But books are so great. And so are the folks who write them. Really.
Ahem.
In any case, Shirley, recognizing me for the book groupie that I am (a bookie to some...grook to others...I don't enjoy being called a grook, by the way...or a dirty hooker, for that matter. so stop it. Just FYI), asked me to answer a few questions. I suspect this might have something to do with homeland security, but who am I to ask questions? I just answer them.
1) One book that changed your life?
As I Lay Dying by W. Faulkner
2. One book you have read more than once?
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (cliché, I know, but I find myself returning to the Holden Caulfield per annum)
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Leaves of Grass by W. Whitman (because books of poems best count in this questionnaire; and because Walt knows a thing or two about life, loafing, grass and such things)
4. One book that made you laugh?
Good Omens by N. Gaiman and T. Pratchett (so, so, so funny)
5. One book that made you cry?
Wuthering Heights by E. Bronte (I cried BUCKETS of tears that night. BUCKETS)
6. One book you stayed up all night to finish?
All of the Harry Potters. That series is just pure sorcery, I tell ya.
7. One book that took you too long to read?
Crime and Punishment by F. Dostoevsky--I was reading way too many other books/manuscripts at the same time. But I enjoyed the F. Dostoevsky thoroughly.
8. One book you are currently reading?
Among the dozens of books/manuscripts I subject myself to at any given moment, this moment's shining star is The Ruins by S. Smith. Yes, I'M STILL reading it.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Gravity's Rainbow by T. Pynchon (I swear I'll read it some day, RR)
10. Now tag five people.
I have no idea whether or not these people actually read, but here goes:
Adventures in Anonymity
Rich, the Thespian
The Hipster Douchebag
Mist
Puntabulous
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18 comments:
hopefully i can get around to reading at least one...
What do you do for a living?
thank GOD you enjoy the harry potter series as well...
when i can't handle my world, I get lost in Harry's.
*goes to get a potter book*
Yay! I love Terry Pratchett too!!
Zee: I hope so, too. All you have to do is learn to enjoy spending some of your Friday nights curled up with a book.
Anonymous: I work in publishing.
Sasha: I concur.
Shirley: What about poor N. Gaiman?
I'm so bad at identifying single things responsible for big changes...
1. Animal Farm, George Orwell
2. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
3. The Forgetting Room, Nick Bantock
4. Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut
5. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
6. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
7. The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
8. Blue Shoe, Anne Lamott
9. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami
I stumbled by this blog not too long ago and its quickly become one of my favorites. I'll tag myself for this one:
1. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
2. Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler
3. Lord of the Flies, William Golding
4. Immortality, Milan Kundera
5. We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, Philip Gourevitch
6. The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
7. Beloved, Toni Morrison
8. The First Man, Albert Camus
9. The Bald Soprano, Eugene Ionescu
I unashamedly admit that I like some books better than some people. Books are seldom prone to unfathomable mood swings
Well said, Anusha.
Gotta add this blog to my list. I'm always entertained whenever I'm here.
Pay my blog a visit for my responses ... I'm actually a little surprised at them myself.
"God of Small Things" will be on my list. My list will include mostly east Asian writers (I'm Cuban) yours has mostly English writers...hmmm... I wonder what our taste in books says about us?
I've been tagged by Shirley because (like the lame ass I am) I asked her to. I'll submit a list later in the week. Stay tuned!
Mist: Very impressive list. I love the Marukami, Hosseini, Roy, Gladwell, Vonnegut, Orwell and Bradbury.
Anonymous: Another very impressive list. I've always meant to read Kundera. I have to add that to my list of books to read this year.
Anusha: I concur. Books are so dependable.
Anonymous #2: Thanks!
Maritza: God of Small Things is definitely on my list of favorite books. Roy writes so much like Faulkner in that book. I've long been a fan of American and British Literature, especially works written during the two World Wars. I need to catch up on my (especially South) Asian Literature.
If you've never read Kundera, I think you're in for a treat. He often pontificates in a rambling didactic way, and he does have a habit of resorting to certain literary puzzles and/or tricks in his character protrayals and plot development (somewhat reminiscent of Nabakov), but he does so with a certain lightness of touch and high-minded sense of humor that makes it in part charming, and, when he's on, genuinely insightful. I really think it all came together in Immortality (moreso than this other works), as his mediations on the loss of love and causeless rebellion almost feel transcendent. (Either that or he's just a good writer). That book, along with the Master and Margarita (Bulgakov) and Flaubert's Parrot (Julian Barnes) are among my favorites of the past few years.
Anonymous: Do I know you?
SabilaK: Sadly, we don't actually know each other - I quite literally stumbled across your blog a week or so ago while doing a general "parasailing" search on Blogger (don't ask) and I quickly became engrossed in that series of seemingly random and yet engagingly episodic events that you, I'm sure, experience as "your life." But perhaps moreover, I’m an avid reader, I especially enjoyed your entries on cummings and Faulkner (tragically, I've never read “As I Lay Dying”) and I couldn’t help but add my two cents when I saw this thread on grooks. In any event - great blog! And one last comment (now doing my best SabilaK impression): For Effs sake! When was the last Effin time you introduced us to a new Effin’ Nerd-of-the-Effin’-Day? More Effin’ Nerd Days!!! Ahem.
Great impersonation! I hope my blog helped you with parasailing...
Interestingly enough, many, many people find my blog through searches for "dirty madlibs," which makes me very happy since I fancy myself the inventor of the game.
We DO need more nerds of the day (NODs, as I like to call them). I'll send out a call to NODs later today.
I am wholly regretful that I did not actually discover your blog through my own personal search for "dirty madlibs" as I suspect I would be a "dirty madlibbin' fool" if I knew what a "dirty madlib" actually was. Perhaps you should organize a free-form "dirty-madlib-off" on this blog for all the nerds out there to compete for the coveted NOD status.
(I'm glab the NODs are coming back, BTW)
- The Dirty Madlibbin' Parasailer
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