Book Meme
Everyone's doing it, the meme from Tales From the Reading Room that is.
- First book to leave a lasting impression? Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. My third grade teacher read it to the class and I loved it so much I had to have a copy of my own. I managed not to cry in class when Charlotte died, but at home, reading in the privacy of my room, I sobbed uncontrollably. With this book I began to understand the power of words.
- Which author would you most like to be? I think it would be really cool to be Gertrude Stein. I'd get to live in Paris and have famous artists and writers jostling to see me and come to my salon. Plus I'd have Alice to do everything for me
- Name the book that has most made you want to visit a place? 84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff. My Bookman and I read the letters aloud. I read Helene's letters and he read the Frank Doel's letters. We actually did make it to London about 5 years ago and eagerly went to 84 Charring Cross Road. We knew the original bookshop would not be there, but were so disappointed to find a plaque on the wall of a very modern, hip cafe. Nonetheless, we have a picture of ourselves standing next to the plaque in the rain.
- Which contemporary author will still be read in 100 years time? Margaret Atwood. She's a genius.
- Which book would you recommend to a teenager reluctant to try ‘literature’? This is a tough one since I don't know any teenagers, or rather, the ones I do know like to read. Um, I'd say Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein or maybe Poe's short stories.
- Name your best recent literary discovery? Another difficult one because I've read a few "new" authors in the last couple of months, but I'm going to say Kelly Link followed closely by David Mitchell.
- Which author’s fictional world would you most like to live in? Jane Austen's if I could get someone like Mr. Darcy or Colonel Brandon. With my luck though I end up with Mr. Collins.
- Name your favourite poet? Adrienne Rich. I also really like Muriel Rukeyser, Emily Dickinson, and Wislawa Szymborska.
- What’s the best non-fiction title you’ve read this year? Is saying Virginia Woolf's essay On Being Ill cheating? If so, then definitely How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel Wilson. Potentially one of the most useful books I've ever read.
- Which author do you think is much better than his/her reputation? My mind has gone blank and for some reason I am finding this one difficult. How about John Steinbeck? He seems to have a reputation of being only for high school English class and otherwise irrelevant, but I find his work quite moving.
