Lindsay tagged me back in December… back when I was slacking a bit and not maintaining my blog… it has also taken me some time to remember the books I’ve read (cover to cover)… I m not so much the casual reader, and I read very slowly, so many of these works were assigned at some point in my lifetime.
1- One Book that changed your life
Man’s Search For Meaning
In High School Psych, we had to read a book/write a report on any book about something psychological (or something)… I didnt know what I wanted to read, so my teacher handed me Man’s Search for Meaning. If this book does not change one’s perspective on life, I am not sure what will.
Victor E. Frankl gives his first hand account of surviving in a concentration camp during WWII. Much of the book and his psychological school of thought revolved around the Nietzche quote “He who has the why to live for can bear almost any how.” It stresses the importance of having a reason to live, to keep going day after day. For Frankl, he had the need to write his novel, to tell his story, and this “why” is what kept him alive.
Interesting really, that I read this way back when I didn’t have many difficulties in my life… no college rejections, no family members had died (in my lifetime), no major illness, pre-911… but reading this book laid the groundwork that has helped me though many difficult times in my life.
2- One book that you’ve read more than once:
Macbeth
OK this isnt a book, it’s a play… but over the years MANY teachers have handed me a hard-bound copy to read, so I think it should count. Seriously, I have read this in so many classes, it is about as common as a Southwest Airlines Case Study in Business School. Luckly, I really like MacBeth… it’s set in Scottland, Lady MacBeth is an awesome female character, there are witches, bloody dagers, fate, loopholes and maddness… what’s not to love. Definitely my favorite Shakespeare work.
If you really want me to pick a book, then I would have to say
Put Me in the Zoo
This is the 1st book I ever read by myslef… most likely because it had been read to me so many times that I had memorized it and, therefore, may technially have not been reading it to myself. A childhood favorite.
3- One book you’d want on a desert island:
War and Peace
Charlie Brown once had to read and do a book report on War and Peace over Christmas Vacation… so from a young age I’ve know of the book and that is was synamanous with impossible long novels (it’s over 1,400 pages, and to a 5 year old thats a lot). On a desert island, I would have the time/patience to read it… and one i was through I could 1)eat it for sustinance 2)use it to start fires 3)use as some kind of weapon/tool to aid in my survival.
4- One book that made you laugh:
A Light in the Attic
I cant think of any recent books that have made me laugh out loud… but as a kid I was always ammused by Shel Silverstein. Yes, these are poems, not a novel… but reading them will make you smile 🙂 Oh to be a kid again, when nothing had to make sense and that was ok!
5- One book that made you cry:
Dumbledore dies. DUMBLEDORE DIES?! They kill DUMBLEDORE?! WHAT THE DUCE?!
(Yes I realise I just gave away the end to The Half Blood Prince… but it has been a year and a half, so if you didnt already know the end, then you dont care anyway.)
I was reading Potter during my commutes to and from work in NYC, where basically you have to read something/look distracted so you arent just staring at complete strangers for an hour. I was on the PATH train going home from NYC to NJ and when I read Dumbeldore death I seriously teared up… but I was determined not to cry on public transportation. I closed the book and waited till I was in my room to finish it. So sad! Poor Harry, everyone he cares about keeps dying, he is so alone in the world. It’s a shame Harry had to break up the sad/emotional time with the cliche dumping of his girlfriend because it is “just to dangerous” for him to love her… please, like that hasn’t happend in like every superhero story EVER. Ugh.
6- One book you wish had been written:
This is tough, to think of a subject that hasn’t been written on.
I would appreciate some more literature on the “Quarter Life Crisis” and how it is not so uncommon to have a hard time adjusting from college into “real life” with 40+ hour work weeks, bills and being an adult in situations even though you’re still a kid.
7- One book you wish had never been written:
It is very harsh to say that a book should not have been written, and I am not one to judge, I just had a partacular problem with both of these novels… the ending stinks.
Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel
THIS BOOK… UGH… I remember putting it down and thinking THIS IS THE REASON I DO NOT READ BOOKS… you read hundreds of pages of fluff and finally reach the climax of the book ON THE LAST PAGE… ok maybe second to last. Basically little if no conclusion, leaving you feeling like none of it had any point. It would be like the 7th Harry Potter Book being 5 pages long… NO ONE would stand for that!
Hey, guess what this book is about!? There is a kid, with a brother Sam… and Sam dies… ON THE LAST PAGE! This was a required book when I was in the 5th grade… fine, gives a perspective to 10 year olds on what life was like during the Revolutionary War… BUT GIVE IT ANY OTHER TITLE! Even “My Brother Sam Might Die” would have been better at holding my attention… yes, this had been bothering me for 15 years.
8- One book you’re currently reading:
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)
Lindsay is either gasping or rolling her eyes… because this was the book I was reading the last time I went to visit her in Washington DC.. which I think was like March 2006 :/
My friend Marla recommended this one to me. It is a great book, and very funny too… It is non-fiction work about the author’s experience hiking the Applicaian Trail. The trail runs from Georgia to Maine, and the average hiker can do it in about 6 months. I hiked a few miles of this trail in North Carolina back in 1998, and would love to hike the entrie trail one day.
Bill Bryson decided to hike the trail in less that peak physical condition, with an equally out of shape friend with no concept of even how to pack a backpack. Their advanture up the East Coast is very entertaining… and the honesty makes me think twice about making the hike (I dont think I would take the rats…) I will finish this book, eventually… I acutally want to.
9- One book you’ve been meaning to read:
I really want to go back and read some of those classic books most people read in High School.. I would probably appreciate them more now anyways!
The Great Gatsby
In my defense, I was not assigned this in High School… My Miner (11th Grade English) couldnt find enough copies in the storage room, so we watched the movie instead… the one with Robert Redford 😉
Catch-22
Slaughterhouse-Five
A Tale of Two Cities
Please let me know if there is anything I should add to this list (NOTHING WITH A BAD ENDING!)
10- Six people to tag:
Hmm lets see Lindsay and Ryan have both filled this one out… so I’ll Tag Monica, Kristi, Zan, Bree, Laura F, and Melissa
Lindsay
Great Gatsby is a great book…you shouldn’t have told me you were still reading A Walk in the Woods! 🙂