Ten Books That Touched You - Meme
Dec. 12th, 2017 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFound this fun Book Meme on Face Book. Liked it so much - bringing it here.
Rules (if you've been tagged, you can actually play or not play!): list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take more than a few minutes and don't think too hard - they don't have to be the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag ten people or just a few people including me - so can see list. 🙂 [You don't have to tag anyone of course.]
1. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
[I fell in love with the story and it grabbed me by the throat and did not let go. I think on some level I identified with Bilbo Baggins, who was a bit reluctant, but wanted an adventure, even if he was a bit worried about it. He hates conflict and seems to be a natural mediator. And I adored the anti-war theme at the end, which to this day I think did a better job of getting Tolkien's point across than the Lord of the Rings did.]
2. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
[It's a love story, but not in the way they usually are told. It's about a little girl who journeys into the forests and ice kingdoms, facing her fears, to save a little boy who was her best friend, and had turned against her -- caught by an ice queen. I fell in love with the little girl's journey.]
3. Ulysses by James Joyce
[Another book about a journey, except it takes place in one day and never really leaves Dublin. A man's journey through his own demons and failings, and struggling to come to grips with his own human weakness and find the glory in it. It was an odd book, and I found myself oddly obsessed with it for a long time. I'm not now.]
4. The Sparrow by Maria Doris Russell
[Also about a journey, a bunch of friends are chosen to visit another planet, they fall in love with the planet's songs. And believe they will meet and interact with interesting inhabitants. But alas, when they arrive things go horribly awry, for they've misunderstood the language and the culture. Their arrogance and assumptions doom them in ways they never could have foreseen. It's a book that makes you question things, including what you know and what you believe. Told in flashbacks, by a horribly disfigured priest who has lost his faith...oddly, it is weirdly hopeful.]
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
[I remember a professor recommending it to me. So I read it. A haunting ghost story that more than any other book that I've read takes you inside the African-American female's experience of slavery, and its consequences. But it's so much more than that -- reading it is like immersing oneself in an epic prose poem. And it grabs you by the throat and does not let you go. Part Ghost Story, part history...it stuck with me long afterwards.]
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
[This book changed how I saw certain things, and well was so beautiful on so many levels. It's a love story, but also a story of awakening and empowerment.]
7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Among the best stories about classicism and the toxicity of class that I've read. It's painful. And tragic. Reminds me a little of Wuthering Heights, but I thought more realistic somehow.]
8. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
[Loved this as a child and as an adult. I remember a creative writing teacher telling me once that it was an excellent example of social satire -- and how to build characters in a comical way, without making them into cartoons or losing story. A comedy of manners, I found in some ways it resonated with me -- depicting class and gender politics so expertly and with a sense of fun. ]
9. Dune by Frank Herbert
[When I read this and completed it in high school or junior high, can't remember which, I re-read it again. It blew me away. It grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. Oddly couldn't get into any of the other novels in the series. I don't know why. Something about the first one compelled me. Maybe how the lead character is forced to embrace the alien culture until he almost becomes alien himself -- the mysticism and the politics woven together. It showed me how to create a world and wonderful characters side by side. ]
10. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
[A book about being alive and how life doesn't quite go as planned. There's a wonderful line in it about how hard it is to be or understand another if you do not share the same musical history. You can't really have a lasting loving relationship with someone who doesn't share that musicology. Which haunted me. I don't know if it is true or not. The story floats between people and has a touch of magical surrealism to it. It's weirdly uplifting. Do not see the movie -- this is one of those books that cannot be made into a movie.]
Tagging ten people on my correspondence list -- who have interesting and incredibly diverse taste in books and might like this sort of thing.
cactuswatcher; herself_nyc, selenak; jesuswasbatman; cjlasky7; petzipellepingo; rahirah; beer_good_foamy; yourlibrarian; shapinglight
I think that's ten. You don't have to tag anyone. I rarely do. But what the heck. Tag me, if you do it, so I can see it. Hence the tagging - so if people do it, which you don't have to, I can see.
All the above books have the following things in common -- I read them between 1980-2000. I still remember them vividly, with two or three exceptions that don't tend to translate well to other mediums, all seem to involve some sort of journey, and all grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I actually was obsessed by them and rec'd them to others or wanted more.
Rules (if you've been tagged, you can actually play or not play!): list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take more than a few minutes and don't think too hard - they don't have to be the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag ten people or just a few people including me - so can see list. 🙂 [You don't have to tag anyone of course.]
1. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
[I fell in love with the story and it grabbed me by the throat and did not let go. I think on some level I identified with Bilbo Baggins, who was a bit reluctant, but wanted an adventure, even if he was a bit worried about it. He hates conflict and seems to be a natural mediator. And I adored the anti-war theme at the end, which to this day I think did a better job of getting Tolkien's point across than the Lord of the Rings did.]
2. The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson
[It's a love story, but not in the way they usually are told. It's about a little girl who journeys into the forests and ice kingdoms, facing her fears, to save a little boy who was her best friend, and had turned against her -- caught by an ice queen. I fell in love with the little girl's journey.]
3. Ulysses by James Joyce
[Another book about a journey, except it takes place in one day and never really leaves Dublin. A man's journey through his own demons and failings, and struggling to come to grips with his own human weakness and find the glory in it. It was an odd book, and I found myself oddly obsessed with it for a long time. I'm not now.]
4. The Sparrow by Maria Doris Russell
[Also about a journey, a bunch of friends are chosen to visit another planet, they fall in love with the planet's songs. And believe they will meet and interact with interesting inhabitants. But alas, when they arrive things go horribly awry, for they've misunderstood the language and the culture. Their arrogance and assumptions doom them in ways they never could have foreseen. It's a book that makes you question things, including what you know and what you believe. Told in flashbacks, by a horribly disfigured priest who has lost his faith...oddly, it is weirdly hopeful.]
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
[I remember a professor recommending it to me. So I read it. A haunting ghost story that more than any other book that I've read takes you inside the African-American female's experience of slavery, and its consequences. But it's so much more than that -- reading it is like immersing oneself in an epic prose poem. And it grabs you by the throat and does not let you go. Part Ghost Story, part history...it stuck with me long afterwards.]
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
[This book changed how I saw certain things, and well was so beautiful on so many levels. It's a love story, but also a story of awakening and empowerment.]
7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
[Among the best stories about classicism and the toxicity of class that I've read. It's painful. And tragic. Reminds me a little of Wuthering Heights, but I thought more realistic somehow.]
8. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
[Loved this as a child and as an adult. I remember a creative writing teacher telling me once that it was an excellent example of social satire -- and how to build characters in a comical way, without making them into cartoons or losing story. A comedy of manners, I found in some ways it resonated with me -- depicting class and gender politics so expertly and with a sense of fun. ]
9. Dune by Frank Herbert
[When I read this and completed it in high school or junior high, can't remember which, I re-read it again. It blew me away. It grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. Oddly couldn't get into any of the other novels in the series. I don't know why. Something about the first one compelled me. Maybe how the lead character is forced to embrace the alien culture until he almost becomes alien himself -- the mysticism and the politics woven together. It showed me how to create a world and wonderful characters side by side. ]
10. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
[A book about being alive and how life doesn't quite go as planned. There's a wonderful line in it about how hard it is to be or understand another if you do not share the same musical history. You can't really have a lasting loving relationship with someone who doesn't share that musicology. Which haunted me. I don't know if it is true or not. The story floats between people and has a touch of magical surrealism to it. It's weirdly uplifting. Do not see the movie -- this is one of those books that cannot be made into a movie.]
Tagging ten people on my correspondence list -- who have interesting and incredibly diverse taste in books and might like this sort of thing.
cactuswatcher; herself_nyc, selenak; jesuswasbatman; cjlasky7; petzipellepingo; rahirah; beer_good_foamy; yourlibrarian; shapinglightI think that's ten. You don't have to tag anyone. I rarely do. But what the heck. Tag me, if you do it, so I can see it. Hence the tagging - so if people do it, which you don't have to, I can see.
All the above books have the following things in common -- I read them between 1980-2000. I still remember them vividly, with two or three exceptions that don't tend to translate well to other mediums, all seem to involve some sort of journey, and all grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go. I actually was obsessed by them and rec'd them to others or wanted more.