That Book Meme
Aug. 17th, 2006 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shalannaName:
1. One book that changed your life.
Well, the Bible has changed countless lives, in one way or another, over the centuries, so that would be too cliched an answer. Let's see. How about C. S. Lewis' _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe_? It made me think differently about magic, parallel universes, and many other things when I read it in the fourth grade.
I also changed attitudes after reading _The Hallelujah Factor_ by Jack Taylor, which was a gift from my in-laws after a member of their church published it, but that would only appeal to people who are already churchies (Christian), I think.
2. One book you've read more than once.
Let's say _The Secret History_ here. Sometimes I just need a dose of Henry and those serious Classicists walking around quoting the ancient Greeks.
Of course, I have read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ countless times, as well as _The Great Gatsby_, and even one of my guilty pleasures, _The Boyfriend School_. Let's not even get started on the childhood classics that I lived on before I started school--_Peter Pan_, _Mary Poppins_, Oz, the Doctor Doolittle series, _Heidi_, _Little Women_, _The Five Little Peppers_, the Bobbsey Twins series, even Nancy Drew. . . .
3. One book you would want on a desert island.
Of course the Bible, but then again the Complete Works of Shakespeare needs to be there as well. Wouldn't mind having Dante to re-read in peace, come to think of it. And a couple of blank journals for writing in. Maybe I could haul along the complete OED and finally get a chance to browse to my heart's content. Wait--wouldn't I need a field guide to the birds, and a field guide to plants (so as to figure out which ones to eat and which ones make you itch), and maybe something about survival. . . oh, yeah, the film crew will probably have one of those.
4. One book that made you laugh.
James Thurber's _My Life and Hard Times_. I think everyone should read this before seventh grade. I think we read it in sixth after hearing someone perform "The Night the Bed Fell" as a dramatic reading. I went to the library after that to find more Thurber, which led to my discovery of Robert Benchley. He, too, should be read before you hit junior high and the agonies of that "my nose doesn't fit and my arms and legs fly everywhere instead of being graceful" awkward period, because junior high will seriously mess you up. After Benchley and Thurber, you'll be ready for Dave Barry and other humorists. I don't think you really appreciate Erma Bombeck, Peg Bracken, _et alia_ until you've headed up a household of your own, although I for some wild reason read and "got" most of Jean Kerr during my Benchley-reading days. That happened after I saw the Doris Day/David Niven film of Kerr's _Please Don't Eat the Daisies._ (Wonderful fun, guilty pleasure for me.) I love her little essay about Family Poetry Night best, though--that one's in her collection _Penny Candy_.
5. One book that made you cry.
_Charlotte's Web_. Don't even make me think about how **sob**
6. One book you wish had been written.
I wish I had written one of the books I'm marketing NOW back when I was fourteen or so. The market wasn't like it is now, and I'd have been a big celebrity. At least, "isn't it pretty to think so."
7. One book you wish had never been written.
Whichever one it is that has made everyone so postmodernally cynical and sarcastic. I suspect it's a cultural shift brought on by a combination of factors, though. We can't blame Derrida for *everything*.
8. One book you are currently reading.
Donna Andrews' latest in her humorous mystery series. Something about owls . . . or was that the previous title? They all have "bird" titles. I also have _Save the Cat_ on the nightstand so I can review some of the suggestions now and then.
9. One book you have been meaning to read.
That one about the _Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_. I wanted to experience the autistic's POV, but I hate when bad things happen to animals, so. Um.
"I see you've decided to go psycho; Godspeed."--Crow, MST3K
1. One book that changed your life.
Well, the Bible has changed countless lives, in one way or another, over the centuries, so that would be too cliched an answer. Let's see. How about C. S. Lewis' _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe_? It made me think differently about magic, parallel universes, and many other things when I read it in the fourth grade.
I also changed attitudes after reading _The Hallelujah Factor_ by Jack Taylor, which was a gift from my in-laws after a member of their church published it, but that would only appeal to people who are already churchies (Christian), I think.
2. One book you've read more than once.
Let's say _The Secret History_ here. Sometimes I just need a dose of Henry and those serious Classicists walking around quoting the ancient Greeks.
Of course, I have read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ countless times, as well as _The Great Gatsby_, and even one of my guilty pleasures, _The Boyfriend School_. Let's not even get started on the childhood classics that I lived on before I started school--_Peter Pan_, _Mary Poppins_, Oz, the Doctor Doolittle series, _Heidi_, _Little Women_, _The Five Little Peppers_, the Bobbsey Twins series, even Nancy Drew. . . .
3. One book you would want on a desert island.
Of course the Bible, but then again the Complete Works of Shakespeare needs to be there as well. Wouldn't mind having Dante to re-read in peace, come to think of it. And a couple of blank journals for writing in. Maybe I could haul along the complete OED and finally get a chance to browse to my heart's content. Wait--wouldn't I need a field guide to the birds, and a field guide to plants (so as to figure out which ones to eat and which ones make you itch), and maybe something about survival. . . oh, yeah, the film crew will probably have one of those.
4. One book that made you laugh.
James Thurber's _My Life and Hard Times_. I think everyone should read this before seventh grade. I think we read it in sixth after hearing someone perform "The Night the Bed Fell" as a dramatic reading. I went to the library after that to find more Thurber, which led to my discovery of Robert Benchley. He, too, should be read before you hit junior high and the agonies of that "my nose doesn't fit and my arms and legs fly everywhere instead of being graceful" awkward period, because junior high will seriously mess you up. After Benchley and Thurber, you'll be ready for Dave Barry and other humorists. I don't think you really appreciate Erma Bombeck, Peg Bracken, _et alia_ until you've headed up a household of your own, although I for some wild reason read and "got" most of Jean Kerr during my Benchley-reading days. That happened after I saw the Doris Day/David Niven film of Kerr's _Please Don't Eat the Daisies._ (Wonderful fun, guilty pleasure for me.) I love her little essay about Family Poetry Night best, though--that one's in her collection _Penny Candy_.
5. One book that made you cry.
_Charlotte's Web_. Don't even make me think about how **sob**
6. One book you wish had been written.
I wish I had written one of the books I'm marketing NOW back when I was fourteen or so. The market wasn't like it is now, and I'd have been a big celebrity. At least, "isn't it pretty to think so."
7. One book you wish had never been written.
Whichever one it is that has made everyone so postmodernally cynical and sarcastic. I suspect it's a cultural shift brought on by a combination of factors, though. We can't blame Derrida for *everything*.
8. One book you are currently reading.
Donna Andrews' latest in her humorous mystery series. Something about owls . . . or was that the previous title? They all have "bird" titles. I also have _Save the Cat_ on the nightstand so I can review some of the suggestions now and then.
9. One book you have been meaning to read.
That one about the _Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time_. I wanted to experience the autistic's POV, but I hate when bad things happen to animals, so. Um.
"I see you've decided to go psycho; Godspeed."--Crow, MST3K
Jean Kerr
Date: 2006-08-19 12:45 am (UTC)Re: Jean Kerr
Date: 2006-08-19 03:57 am (UTC)I just adore _Penny Candy_, _Please Don't Eat the Daisies_, and _The Snake Has All the Lines_. Read them when I was in something like fifth or sixth grade, after seeing the film of PDEtD on TV one afternoon (Channel 8 used to run family movies from 4 to 6 or thereabouts.) The title of that last one comes from something one of her sons said when he got cast as Adam in the school play about the Garden of Eden. "Aren't you excited? You're the star," she said. He shrugged. "Yeah, but the snake has all the lines."
Another fave: "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation."
I love the Poetry Night essay. "Mom, it is Margaret you mourn for." After reading that, I tried to make my family do a Poetry Night, but as it turned out I was the only one who wanted to memorize poems, and I took them to the UIL school contests instead.
From the film, who can forget the dangers of a ride on the Down-U-Lator? And I love the silly title song and all the visuals. I love kitschy 1960s stuff anyhow, because it reminds me of my early childhood in a Midcentury Modern home with all that "Modern" stuff and OpArt that was just coming into style, Woodstock and psychedelia being on the horizon for when I turned six!
I also loved _Cheaper by the Dozen_ and the REAL movie, the one with Clifton Webb and Myrna Loy. And the book version of _Belles on Their Toes_. From there I went back even further, to _Our Hearts Were Young and Gay_ by Cornelia Otis Skinner. This was a great window into how people lived in the past.
But what's really great about Jean Kerr is that she was never negative or overwhelmed by modern life, motherhood, et al. When you read Erma Bombeck and some of the postmodern female humorists such as Fran Leibowitz (who's funny, yes) and Merrill Markoe (yes, she's funny, too), they are SO negative in tone (and this is my personal reaction) that they can make you feel hopeless, but Kerr just seems intrepid. She always gives you the feeling that she coped and so can you. Peg Bracken also had this tone. Dave Barry is great because he has an absurdist tone that's as close to Benchley as any modern writer I've ever read.
I like humor that leaves us with a feeling of hope. (Although the insightful black humor and cutting satire of Jon Stewart has its place.)