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Oct. 25th, 2004 11:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labellementeuseSo I was going to do the books that changed my life thing, but it occurs to me that no one book really has changed my life. I think. Pretty much. There are a couple of moments where I can look and say, wow, that was/is important to me, but for the far far greater part I believe that it wasn't the individual books but the sum that has changed me: a cumulative literary metamorphosis, featuring of course all the usual suspects like Narnia, McCaffrey, even Eddings; The Little Prince, The Happy Prince, To Kill and Mockingbird; Enid Blyton and her crew; and so forth.
One book I will mention, though, because it has had a very specific, quantifiable effect on my life. In my first ever House Sports, I was sitting in the stand reading In The Hand of the Goddess, by Tamora Pierce. Now, Tortall my not be the greatest series in the world. But because I was reading it, a total stranger who was also sitting bored in the stands started reading over my shoulder; name of Meg, 7ML. She used to hang around with a kid called Lucy. So say what you like about the book, but I owe my two best friends in all the world to Tammy. <3 them.
Hardback or Paperback? Paperbacks are easier to carry around, cheaper, and slimmer...
... But I'm saying Hardbacks, especially the good sort with strong firm covers- not the cloth ones, but leather or any other material- because I love the way they feel. My favourite book binding, FYI, is the SYWTBAW Anniversary Edition: bound in lovely brown leather and gold print... :D
Highlight or Underline? I don't usually do either. Very rarely, I scribble in margins. I don't not write in books out of morals, because I quite like book notes; I just rarely have anything to say.
Lewis or Tolkien? Um. Talk about a rock and a hard place... Lewis, because Lucy is a kickass girl, and Tolkien has like NO girls.. :D But OMG I feel unclean having to choose. Yeah. (Christian Symbolism really hits me over the head in Narnia... that's def. a low point!)
E.B. White or A.A. Milne? MILNE. <33. First Poem I Ever Knew: James James Morrison Morrison/Weatherby George Dupree...
OMG I totally just noticewd that Weatherby. :p
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings? Hmmm... I just read quite a lot of cummings and loved it, so cummings. But I will ALWAYS love Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, thank you. :D
Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Ummm... neither, really. I don't know either of them really well. Say Koontz.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? Dymocks.
Waldenbooks or B. Dalton? Unity Books. (OMG American bookshops, die die, only don't because you're really CHEAP. But still.)
Fantasy or Science Fiction? Fantasy. Mmm, epics... swords... blacksmiths...
Horror or Suspense? Neither.
Bookmark or Dogear? Mmmmm.... Both, either. I hardly ever have bookmarks. Generally I will dogear paperbacks without thought, but at least look for a bookmark for hardbacks.
Hemingway or Faulkner? Agreeing with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thieving_gypsy here: DULL DULL DULL.
Fitzgerald or Steinbeck? Steinbeck. But I dislike depressing Depression Era American novels as a rule.
Homer or Plato? Homer. Odysseus <333.
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser? Never read either. I'm not smart enough.
Pen or Pencil? Pen. I hate pencil, plus it makes me even more illegible.
Loose-leaf or Notepad? notepad. Books, not program. I like typing too though. Depends on my mood.
Alphabetise? *nods* I sort by genre too. Fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, nonfiction/poetry/other stuff. :p Freaky for someone who isn't even a librarian.
Dust jacket? Only on the shelves. When you're reading they're royal pains.
Novella or Epic? EPIC. Especially fantasy. But only if they manage to defer LSD (that's "Long Series Disorder... :p)
John Grisham or Scott Turow? Who and who?
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket? JKR. But Snicket is smarter.
John Irving or John Updike? Durr.... who?
Fiction or Non-fiction? FICTION. Almost exclusively.
Historical Biography or Historical Romance? Mmmm... Biography usually has elements of Romance.
A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter? Finish at least four chapters, usually half the book, preferably the whole. But when I say "sitting", I also mean getting up and walking around- all whilst reading.
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay? Oh. Oh, man. Tough. Say both? But generally probably essay.
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Once upon a time!!
Buy or Borrow? Um, um, I'd much much rather own but never have anymoney, nor a library card. Augh. USually, it's "given", or "Someone else's book. " :p
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth? Neither and both. Usually I read a page or two to find out, rather than trusting others.
One book I will mention, though, because it has had a very specific, quantifiable effect on my life. In my first ever House Sports, I was sitting in the stand reading In The Hand of the Goddess, by Tamora Pierce. Now, Tortall my not be the greatest series in the world. But because I was reading it, a total stranger who was also sitting bored in the stands started reading over my shoulder; name of Meg, 7ML. She used to hang around with a kid called Lucy. So say what you like about the book, but I owe my two best friends in all the world to Tammy. <3 them.
Hardback or Paperback? Paperbacks are easier to carry around, cheaper, and slimmer...
... But I'm saying Hardbacks, especially the good sort with strong firm covers- not the cloth ones, but leather or any other material- because I love the way they feel. My favourite book binding, FYI, is the SYWTBAW Anniversary Edition: bound in lovely brown leather and gold print... :D
Highlight or Underline? I don't usually do either. Very rarely, I scribble in margins. I don't not write in books out of morals, because I quite like book notes; I just rarely have anything to say.
Lewis or Tolkien? Um. Talk about a rock and a hard place... Lewis, because Lucy is a kickass girl, and Tolkien has like NO girls.. :D But OMG I feel unclean having to choose. Yeah. (Christian Symbolism really hits me over the head in Narnia... that's def. a low point!)
E.B. White or A.A. Milne? MILNE. <33. First Poem I Ever Knew: James James Morrison Morrison/Weatherby George Dupree...
OMG I totally just noticewd that Weatherby. :p
T.S. Eliot or e.e. cummings? Hmmm... I just read quite a lot of cummings and loved it, so cummings. But I will ALWAYS love Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, thank you. :D
Stephen King or Dean Koontz? Ummm... neither, really. I don't know either of them really well. Say Koontz.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? Dymocks.
Waldenbooks or B. Dalton? Unity Books. (OMG American bookshops, die die, only don't because you're really CHEAP. But still.)
Fantasy or Science Fiction? Fantasy. Mmm, epics... swords... blacksmiths...
Horror or Suspense? Neither.
Bookmark or Dogear? Mmmmm.... Both, either. I hardly ever have bookmarks. Generally I will dogear paperbacks without thought, but at least look for a bookmark for hardbacks.
Hemingway or Faulkner? Agreeing with
thieving_gypsy here: DULL DULL DULL. Fitzgerald or Steinbeck? Steinbeck. But I dislike depressing Depression Era American novels as a rule.
Homer or Plato? Homer. Odysseus <333.
Geoffrey Chaucer or Edmund Spenser? Never read either. I'm not smart enough.
Pen or Pencil? Pen. I hate pencil, plus it makes me even more illegible.
Loose-leaf or Notepad? notepad. Books, not program. I like typing too though. Depends on my mood.
Alphabetise? *nods* I sort by genre too. Fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, nonfiction/poetry/other stuff. :p Freaky for someone who isn't even a librarian.
Dust jacket? Only on the shelves. When you're reading they're royal pains.
Novella or Epic? EPIC. Especially fantasy. But only if they manage to defer LSD (that's "Long Series Disorder... :p)
John Grisham or Scott Turow? Who and who?
J.K. Rowling or Lemony Snicket? JKR. But Snicket is smarter.
John Irving or John Updike? Durr.... who?
Fiction or Non-fiction? FICTION. Almost exclusively.
Historical Biography or Historical Romance? Mmmm... Biography usually has elements of Romance.
A Few Pages per Sitting or Finish at Least a Chapter? Finish at least four chapters, usually half the book, preferably the whole. But when I say "sitting", I also mean getting up and walking around- all whilst reading.
Short Story or Creative Non-fiction Essay? Oh. Oh, man. Tough. Say both? But generally probably essay.
"It was a dark and stormy night" or "Once upon a time"? Once upon a time!!
Buy or Borrow? Um, um, I'd much much rather own but never have anymoney, nor a library card. Augh. USually, it's "given", or "Someone else's book. " :p
Book Reviews or Word of Mouth? Neither and both. Usually I read a page or two to find out, rather than trusting others.
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 12:53 am (UTC)Hah, so my uni choice is _her_ fault. Brilliant. :D
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 01:55 am (UTC)That IS truly brilliant. Ahhh. :D
no subject
Date: 2004-10-25 01:16 am (UTC)