Black Sheep

Archive for May 9th, 2005

Book MeMe

Cathi tagged me for the Book Meme! So for your reading pleasure…
1) Total number of books in your house: A shitload. seriously, I have no idea..I go through them a least once a year and donate some to the library book sale. My apartment is really small so I don’t have much room for tons of books. I have some tucked away in places I probably don’t even remember.

2) The last book you bought was- I am going to include audio books in this meme . The last audio book I bought was Eye of the World (book one of the wheel of time) by Robert Jordan. Several people have told me that they really love these books so I decided to give them a go. I’ve had a hankering lately to get lost in a nice, long epic fantasy book series while I knit. I’m about 12 hours into it and so far so good.

3) What was the last book you read before reading this? Again, going to include audio books here. Feed, by M.T. Anderson. I wrote a little bit about what I thought of it over at Blatherskite if your interested. This book was AWESOME. It’s YA, but sometimes YA books are just so good. It was a scathing commentary on our current consumeristic culture. And you know I like that sort of thing (or you do now).

4) List 5 (or 6) books that you read often or that mean a lot to you.
I rarely read the same book twice. Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever have (unless it was for a class). But here are a few of my favorite books.

His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Again, YA, but probably the best books I’ve ever read. Very well-written, and the story is so good. Undeneath the story is another scathing commentary, this time on God. Very much recommended.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Tolkein. - I have to add it. Again, another fantastic story. Classic good vs. evil. I love that every character plays an important role in the outcome of the story. I love that it was Gollum who had to be the one to detroy the ring, and I love how it happened. It was the only way it could have happened. I also really like the way Tolkein plays with opposites, as well. For example, the Elves are the most perfect creatures in this world, and thier exact opposite, the Orcs (who used to be Elves and have been destroyed by the power of the ring) are the most disgusting, despicable creatures you can imagine. Anyway, I could write a book on this book . I will probably read this book again, and probably in the near future. I am a huge fan of the movies, too. I made my husband watch Return of the King this past Saturday with me.
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Edith Wharton is great. I think of her as kind of a disturbed Jane Austen. I love that she writes about the social lives and customs of Old New York. I love the rich descriptions. But I really love that her stories reveal the fucked up nature of this life. It’s not perfect, as Jane Austen would have you believe. The House of Mirth is my favorite of her novels because the main character really suffers the consquenses of being a woman of society in Old New York. You really feel for her and the ending is really tragic. I think about this novel all the time.
Breafast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. This book is important to me because it was the book I read when I had an important revelation about literature, that everyone has at some point. I don’t know why I didn’t have this revelation long before, but this book really forced me to realize that the narrator of a story is not the author. The narrator is actually a character, totally discrete from the author of the story. I know that seems obvious, and it is to me now (this was long before I became a literature major, and may be one of the things that got me really interested in literature), But I will never forget the conversation I had with my (now) husband, who was a lit major at the time. The book is written in first person, and the narrator kept refering to his mother committing suicide by drinking Draino. I remember just being horrified at that that thought! I mean what an awful way to die! And to have your mother die in such a manner was totally unthinkable. So I remember talking to Raffa about it and I mentioned that I felt sorry for Kurt Vonnegut, that his mother died that way. Raffa just looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Monica, the narrator is not the author!” And it was like a ton of bricks hit me in the head. I totally changed the way I read. I began to really read more critically, and like I said, it really started my interest in the study of literature.
Odyssey translated by Stanley Lombardo. This translation of the Odessey is brilliant. It makes this awesome epic very accessible. Reading this book did something to me on a really deep, subconscious level because while reading it I had these horrible nightmares of getting overtaken by giant ocean waves. I don’t know what that was all about…But anyway, this is the ultimate adventure tale. After reading this I have decided to name my daughter (If I have one) Athena. I don’t know what else to say about it except if you’ve never read it, you definately should.