MEME: Booking Through Thursday: Recent Serious

What’s the most serious book you’ve read recently?(I figure it’s easier than asking your most serious boook ever, because, well, it’s recent!)




The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly is the most serious book I've read in a long time. It was very well done, and I couldn't put it down, but a prison in Myanmar with a political prisoner in jail for singing songs is pretty depressing. Yet, I was amazed at the power for good by the end of the book.

I would recommend this book and just let people know it was very serious and violent and disturbing, but also uplifting and demonstrates the beauty of the enlightened soul. Depravity can only be recognized along side good, for its difference.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday: Recent Funny

What’s the funniest book you’ve read recently?

Funny is tricky stuff, because what I find funny (Wipeout!) other people find horrifying. And nothing discourages me more than seeing on a cover - Laugh out loud funny! and then me not finding it funny at all. I'd almost rather not know a book is going to be funny and then be pleasantly surprised.

Most recently, Twenties Girl was a pretty amusing chick lit book, with a ghost who appears and is a little selfish, so she is pretty demanding, but only the main character can see and hear her, and ends up talking to her, or even yelling when no one else can understand what she's yelling about.

I have a book here that I know will be funny that I am planning to read: Vinyl Cafe Diaries by Stuart MacLean. If you haven't heard any stories about Dave and Morley, especially as read by MacLean, you need to investigate. Very funny stuff, and available free on podcasts from CBC radio.

For the year, the two funniest books I've read were Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris and Beat the Reaper by Josh Brazell. They might not be for everyone but I found them hilarious. Laugh out loud funny! But I don't want to ruin it for you.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: 15 Books

This can be a quick one. Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
   
2. The Stand - Stephen King
   
3. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
   
4. I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
   
5. A Good House - Bonnie Burnard
6. It - Stephen King
7. Evening Class - Maeve Binchy
8. I Want to Go Home - Gordon Korman
9. Forever - Judy Blume
10. Istanbul - Orhan Pamuk
11. Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
12. Never Let Me Go - Kazou Ishiguro
13. Life as We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
14. Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland
15. Einstein's Dreams - Alan Lightman

I tried not to read any one else's list before I wrote mine, so as not to be unduly swayed. This is what I came up with in 15 minutes. Did we have any in common?

ETA: ok. After seeing other lists, I wish I had added Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Fight Club by Chuck Palaniuk . I really wish I had remembered them because both have stayed with me, especially Fight Club.

BOOKING TRHOUGH THURSDAY: The Best?

It’s a week or two later than you’d expect, and it may be almost a trite question, but … what were your favorite books from 2008?
(It’s an oldie but a goodie question for a reason, after all … because, who can’t use good book suggestions from time to time?)

These are my top rated books from last year at librarything, so I liked them best, at least when I rated them! No, in retrospect, these were all great reads, for all different reasons. Enjoy!

Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

The Blinding Absense of Light by Ben Tahar Jalloun

MEME: Booking Through Thursday : New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year, everyone!
So … any Reading Resolutions? Say, specific books you plan to read? A plan to read more ____? Anything at all?
Name me at least ONE thing you’re looking forward to reading this year!
No real resolutions, aren't reading challenges enough of a plan? I think so. If anything, I'm going to read less books that are classic or only just to fit a challenge. It has to be a book I really want to read. For example, I thought I wanted to read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, but after seeing a few lukewarm reviews and remembering how much I was neutral to The Blind Assassin, I am not planning to read it. Plus it looks really long and weirdly dystopian.

• There are lots of books I am looking forward to, particularly:
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
• another book by Douglas Coupland, probably Girlfriend in a Coma
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
• one of John Green's books: An Abundance of Katherines or Looking for Alaska
• another Stewart O'Nan book: Last Night at the Lobster or Songs for the Missing
• plus all the books on my TBR Lite list
  
  

Hosted at its new home: Wendi's Book Corner

Today's question: Here is a list of the main areas of Library Thing:
1. Home (http://www.librarything.com/, before you log in)
2. Home (once you log in, contains Your Home, Your Profile, Connections, Recommendations, Reviews, Statistics, Clouds, Gallery, Memes)
3. Profile (Recent activity, tags, comments, members with your books)
4. Your Library
5. Your Tags
6. Add Books
7. Talk
8. Groups
9. Local
10. Search
11. Zeitgeist (Stats, Top Lists)
12. Tools (Widgets, Store)
13. Blog

What area are you most familiar with? Since I leave myself logged in, my home page- #2 is my most familiar place. It leads me to Groups- #8, and Search- #10, and My Library- #4.

What area is your favorite?
I am quite enjoying Groups these days, and participating in some groups, meeting some interesting people. Tags are amzing if you start to spend some time there and really utilize them.

What area are you curious about?
I think I've browsed around quite a bit, and investigated Tools, Blog, and Zeitgeist, which are all available on My Home.

Are there any that you have not really looked at? Not really.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday: 5 For Favorites

1. Do you have a favorite author? There are a few, but Maeve Binchy is one of my favorite.

2. Have you read everything he or she has written? I think so. There are a few short stories maybe, and I have her newest book, Heart and Soul here, ready and waiting to read. I've been saving it, and looking forward to it. I think I'll need a weekend, to be able to read without stopping.

3. Did you LIKE everything? Overall, yes. Some of her early novels weren't as strong, but still great story telling and characters.

4. How about a least favorite author?

This is like that Kit Kat commercial - How do you know you are taking a break if you weren't doing anything in the first place? How do I know they are my least favorite if I haven't' read them. I didn't enjoy Phillip Roth or Jack Kerouac or JM Coetzee very much.

5. An author you wanted to like, but didn’t? Oscar Wilde is an author I wanted to like more. I like the plot of his books but I find the reading to be very difficult. there are probably a lot more of those classics authors that I wish I liked reading more. I would almost put Jane Austen here, but I do like her stories, I just don't love them.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday : Presents

So, it’s my birthday today. (Please, no applause.) But it’s inspiring today’s question–
What, if any, memorable or special book have you ever gotten as a present? Birthday or otherwise. What made it so notable? The person who gave it? The book itself? The “gift aura?”

My only sister and I have birthdays that are just three weeks apart. For many years, we've done birthday presents as an event, getting the same thing for each other. For example, one year we saw a play together about Motherhood, each buying the other the ticket. We've shopped for clothes together, buying the same sweatshirt or exercise gear. Basically what happens is we go shopping and if I see something I like, she offers to buy it, but since she really likes it too, I buy it for her, maybe in a different color. On our Mediterranean cruise, we bought each other hand made flip flops on Capri. We picked the same color and style. As an aside, they are my favorite sandals, and if they wear out, I will have to go back to Capri to get another pair.

The best part of our tradition is that it can happen at any time we are out shopping together. Did we get birthday presents this year? Not yet? Here you go, Happy Birthday, I want mine in blue.

One year, we decided to buy books for each other. We planned to get four books in total, and we went to the bookstore together and picked out books, blind from the shelf. It took us a long time, which ended up being an event in itself. I can't remember all the books, but I know Memoirs of Geisha and Clan of the Cave Bear were two of the books.

For Christmas last year, we gave each other Ken Jennings' Brainiac. I laughed when I opened it, knowing I had given her the same book.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday: Coupling

Got this idea from Literary Feline during her recent contest:
“Name a favorite literary couple and tell me why they are a favorite. If you cannot choose just one, that is okay too. Name as many as you like–sometimes narrowing down a list can be extremely difficult and painful. Or maybe that’s just me.”

I thought this week's question looked familiar! I already answered this on literary feline's blog, and I won the contest. I won the book Out Stealing Horses, but more importantly, I had fun writing the post. I will link to it here: favorite literary couples

My update would say that Anne and Gilbert are by far, my favorite couple. I was pretty sure I'd think that after seeing the musical.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Best

What, in your opinion, is the best book that you haven’t liked? Mind you, I don’t mean your most-hated book–oh, no. I mean the most accomplished, skilled, well-written, impressive book that you just simply didn’t like.
Like, for movies–I can acknowledge that Citizen Kane is a tour de force and is all sorts of wonderful, cinematically speaking, but . . . I just don’t like it. I find it impressive and quite an accomplishment, but it’s not my cup of tea.
So . . . what book (or books) is your Citizen Kane?


Perhaps the whole Toni Morrison oeuvre? I don't like her stories, I don't connect with her writing, and yet she's won the Nobel prize for writing, and Oprah loves her novels. I remember watching an Oprah book club for Song of Solomon and the members were so moved, and profoundly affected, and I was just "Huh?"


Also, Lolita by Nabokov. I read the annotated edition, and the layers and allusions and parallels in that novel were enough to make a whole other novel. It was well written, in that every word was selected for a reason, and had an important function. I don't like to work that hard for my reading. I could never decide if I liked the book, because it was well written, but without all the notes, I would have missed so much, even pertinent plot points.


Some writers, the ones that readers connect with, write the way that matches their brain, the way their brain thinks. I think of Nick Hornby and Ken Jennings for example, as writers that I just nod the whole time I am reading. Others maybe don't like or connect with their reading, but it just matches the way my brain processes information. Writers I don't get must have their brain wired differently than mine or vice versa. That's why other readers will like them - their wiring matches.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Well That Was Different

What was the most unusual (for you) book you ever read? Either because the book itself was completely from out in left field somewhere, or was a genre you never read, or was the only book available on a long flight… whatever? What (not counting school textbooks, though literature read for classes counts) was furthest outside your usual comfort zone/familiar territory?
And, did you like it? Did it stretch your boundaries? Did you shut it with a shudder the instant you were done? Did it make you think? Have nightmares? Kick off a new obsession?

Outside my comfort zone in a good way: The Eyre Affair. Such a hoot and it was a new kind of fantasy/science fiction that was new to me. I've done the Harry Potter books, but it's not my usual type of books. Until The Eyre Affair, go read it!
I've been surprised that I've enjoyed graphic novels as much as I have. And Ender's Game introduced me to some sci-fi that wasn't so bad, so much so that I read the sequel.

Outside my comfort zone in a bad way: Pedro Paramo and my introduction to magical realism. I didn't understand a single thing about this book. I did learn there is a type of writing called magical realism and I'm not interested in reading more. There was a little bit in The Bone People but it was small and made sense in that story.
Also, books which wax philosophical in an abstract way without enough plot, like Elizabeth Costello, and The Picture of Dorian Grey do not appeal to me.
A book that surprised me recently was Running With Scissors. I thought it would be funny from the general descriptions, but I found it uncomfortable and inappropriate.

MEME: Booking Through Thursday: Beginnings

Suggested by: Nithin

Here’s another idea about memorable first lines from books.
What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

Can't think of any off hand, but this sounds like a good time for a quiz! I googled a bit and found the following. I didn't try all of them, so I can't say you won't get pop-ups at some of them, but here is a start for some time wasters to see how many famous first lines you know:


Famous Opening Lines from MSN

Stephen King Quizzes

BBC News Quiz How Well Read Are You?

Famous First Lines Quiz Help Not a quiz, just a list of famous first lines for trivia nuts to study

UKTV Famous First Lines Quiz

Fiction Writing First Line Quiz

Bibliofemmes Book Quizzes includes a first line quiz, among others.

How well do you know your famouos first lines?

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Clubbing

A combo of two suggestions by: Heidi and by litlove
Have you ever been a member of a book club? How did your group choose (or, if you haven’t been, what do you think is the best way to choose) the next book and who would lead discussion?
Do you feel more or less likely to appreciate books if you are obliged to read them for book groups rather than choosing them of your own free will? Does knowing they are going to be read as part of a group affect the reading experience?

I haven't been in a real face to face book club, except ...

My mother, and my eight year old daughter and I have started a little book club. We pick a book that all of us can read - so far it's been Heidi and Tale of Despereaux, and coming up next will be a Geronimo Stilton. About once a month we get together and have a little snack and discuss the book. We are having fun so far, and have even been the impetus for another three generational book club.

A group of girls from high school (almost twenty five years ago!) have an informal book club. Well, it started being a book club, but we never actually discussed the books. Every few months or so we get together at a restaurant. Originally, there was a book to discuss, but the gossip got the better of us, and it has evolved into a 'book exchange' club. We come with a bag of books and recommend and share. Some of the girls might read only one book between dinners, but a couple of us are more voracious, and it's a great source of books. Mostly, it's the dinner out away from the children and the company of old friends that don't see each other between meetings.


I've been involved in a few online book clubs - a few at Yahoo that I mostly lurk, but occasionally add in. There's a new one at lj that is getting going and is just the right amount of discussion with books I am interested in reading. It started off with a vote each month on the book selection, but I suggested we pick the top three and use them for the next three months so people can get a hold of the books to read. So far it's going well.

I like reading as part of a group, which is really what a lot of the reading challenges become. If the books are part of a theme, like the RIP for example, there are many common books being read, and reviewed and commented on at the same time. It's that feeling of community that I like, without having to read the exact same book. Often, we connect with other bloggers who read a lot of the same books, so while it may not be simultaneous, within a few months the same books are read. Challenge blogs also provide a way for discussions about common books.

I think it would be great to get into a book club in real life with people of the same mind and reading habits, but it seems to be difficult to find that perfect match. It would be hard with friends, because there would be too much other stuff to talk about! Finding strangers that would click perfectly is probably even harder. I like my blogger friends and the 'book club' that I feel a part of. It's easier time-wise, and like-minded wise.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Mayday!

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??
And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….
Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

I'd buy a book at the airport bookstore. Or I'd read the airplane magazine, or the directions for safety procedures, or the ingredients on the cracker wrapper or.....

I'd still read, somehow.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Springing

Well, here where I live, Spring is sprung–weeks early, even. Our lilac bush looks like it will have flowers by this time next week instead of in the middle of May as usual. The dogwood trees, the magnolia trees–all the flowering trees are flowering. The daffodils and crocuses are, if anything, starting to fade. It may only be April 24th but it is very definitely Spring and, allergies notwithstanding, I’m happy to welcome the change of season. What I want to know, is:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?
Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

Don't talk to me about spring today! We had snow today. Big wet sloppy snow that has covered the ground and the cars and the little bit of grass that was trying to turn green. Two nights ago we were all outside, enjoying the light and a bit of warmth. My daughter asked if she could bring a deck chair to the front yard to 'watch the street'. She tried to entice me by stating that I could bring my book and sit with her.

Spring is the hardest time to get reading done, as school winds down, and soccer most nights, and just enjoying the glorious warm evenings. June and final exams get even worse. And we teachers save most of our socializing of the year for June, so most nights are busy. I don't change the books I read, but this is the second year to do the Nonfiction Challenge starting in May and the Once Upon a Time Challenge runs til Summer Solstice, so my reading does change a little bit, due to challenges. Hey, these challenges are becoming annual traditions now.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Vocabulary

Suggested by Nithin:
I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget about the word?

I just keep going. Very seldom would a word I didn't know stop me in my tracks. I usually have a sense of what the word means, and it usually makes sense in the sentence. The author whose vocabulary stumps me most is Elizabeth George and the Inspector Lynley detective series. I notice words I don't recognize in those books, many in each book.

The only word I've looked up recently was in The Tale of Despereaux, as the author said the reader needed to look up the word 'perfidy', so I did.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Writing Challenge

Pick up the nearest book. (I’m sure you must have one nearby.)
Turn to page 123.
What is the first sentence on the page?
The last sentence on the page?
Now . . . connect them together….(And no, you may not transcribe the entire page of the book–that’s cheating!)

I just got a new book in the mail today: The Sister by Poppy Adams. Thanks Trish! So while I haven't read it yet, here's what I found on page 123:

God, I think I might have to go and live in Spain. I can't take this cold weather any more. The snow has been falling and falling and while I love skiing downhill to work every morning, the walk up the mountain at the end of the day is terrible. There are advantages, of course, to a mountain, and the fresh air, and wholesome food grown here make it feel healthy. The climate change has caused the weather to extend the winters, however, and the flooding in the spring can be dangerous. Wait! What was that rumbling? We haven't had an avalanche yet this winter. All at once the house, and everything in it, felt extremely precarious.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: The End

You’ve just reached the end of a book . . . what do you do now? Savor and muse over the book? Dive right into the next one? Go take the dog for a walk, the kids to the park, before even thinking about the next book you’re going to read? What?
(Obviously, there can be more than one answer, here–a book with a cliff-hanger is going to engender different reactions than a serene, stand-alone, but you get the idea!)

When I used to do most of my reading in bed, I would fall asleep after finishing a book. Now that I am reading more places, and writing book reviews for your enjoyment and mine, I don't like finishing a book in bed because:

1. I'm too keyed up after finishing a book. When I read and fall asleep, it's relaxing. When I'm just about finished a book, I'm awake, and racing to the end. That was always a problem. I've discovered I prefer finishing a book in the daylight because...

2. I go right to the computer to write my review as soon as I finish the book so I can...

3. Start another book right away. The excitement of deciding what my next adventure will be, where I will go next, is a great feeling.

4. I very seldom read the next book in a series immediately after a book. Even a book I really enjoy, I need a break from, to build up the anticipation of the next in the series.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Playing Editor

Suggested by John :


How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:
__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.

I am trying to think of a book I haven't liked, or that could have been better. This question sort of goes with dewey's meme, that I am thinking about answers for. It's hard, because I can usually recognize why I don't like a book, and maybe the changes I would suggest would change the book too much. The author made their creative decision for a reason, and other people may have liked the book for exactly that reason.

I've thought of one:
On the Road would have been a much better book if Jack Kerouac hadn't been completely stoned when he wrote it. At least I assume he was stoned, it's the only thing that can explain the ramblings.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Hero

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why?

I did see that coming! So I was already thinking . . .

Ed Kennedy from I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, for his faith, and belief in himself and in doing the right thing no matter how difficult.

Jamie Fraser from Outlander for being a strong, hunk of man who treats Claire right and travels through history with style and humor.

Henry Tilman from Northanger Abbey, for his humor and twinkling eyes, and for standing up for love and breaking the pattern of asshatery of his father.

Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones for loving Bridget's enthusiasm and recognizing eventually, that he needs Bridget, and for wearing the reindeer jumper from his mother.

I can't decide between Gilbert Blythe and Matthew Cuthbert, because they both love Anne and were my first literary crushes.

Favorite player from Harry Potter would be Dumbledore. I loved his belief in Harry and Snape and goodness, and for letting Harry figure most things out himself.

I'm a day late since I was at Parent Teacher interviews for all hours yesterday, and by the time I got home last night, all I could do was eat a Peanut Buster Parfait and watch Survivor and Lost.

BOOKING THROUGH THURSDAY: Heroine

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

First reaction: the ABC's of heroines

Anne of Green Gables: she makes the best of her bad situations, has tremendous imagination, and stays true to herself and her friends.

Bridget Jones: also makes the best of bad situations; willing to try anything; still growing and learning from her mistakes; even though she's attracted to the bad boy, she choses the stable good guy

Claire Randall: up for an adventure, brave, adaptable, Jamie loves her

Then, I knew there were more, a second tier, of worthy but not as obvious choices:

Pope Joan: wanted to learn so disguised herself as a boy, and then due to her character and strength and intelligence, rose to be Pope

Tuppence of Tommy and Tuppence: she's an equal partner with Tommy, and uses her brain and brawn to solve the crime,

Lyra from His Dark Materials: uses her brain and trusts her instincts to take her on the right path

Then the names I saw after blog browsing that I had forgotten:

Jane Eyre, for all the reasons everybody else put down

Hermione Granger: she's an equal part of Harry's gang, and uses her brain and logic to solve their problems, she believes in herself

hmmm, wonder what next week's question will be? My hero?