On Another Mission

Recently, the brilliant Megan tagged me to respond to some questions about books. I have been putting it off becuase I feel pressure to say really insightful things (Megan did, after all. Not that I am surprised) but am not sure I can live up to my own expectations. But, it is Sunday night, I have my blues mix on, and I'm cuddled in a blanket, so I thought I would give it a try.

Here we go.

1) One book that changed your life:

Ok, this is a hard question for a variety of reasons. I mean, there are books that changed the way I see the world, books that challenged me to see other parts of the world, and books that didn't cause any tangible or identifiable change but nonetheless made tremendous impacts. I'll just start naming some, but I cannot guarantee that I wouldn't make a different list tomorrow.
Pride and Prejudice - I read it for the first time in 8th grade and this book has sparked my imagination so many ways. I wanted to be Elizabeth Bennett. I wanted to be a proper lady and inhabit that world. I wanted to marry Mr. Darcy. Oh, Mr. Darcy. I am still terribly in love with him; always will be, I think. What a character to carry me through my pre-teen and teenage years - even my early 20's.
The Uncle's Story by Witi Ihimaera - It isn't necissarily a tremendous piece of work. The story takes the easy way out a few times and the ending is a little preachy, but I tore through it and it was while reading this book that I began falling in love with contemporary world literatuare. I made it one of my areas for my master's degree and plowed through any title my professor gave me. The thing that I love so much about it was that it showed me what it meant to be a Maori warrior and how culture, war, and the individual come together. And that we are all one world in that what my culture is dealing with is something similar to what another culture may be dealing with.
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - Fights with Ms. Austen as my favorite author. He is charming and witty and I tend to fall into a state of bliss everytime I step into his world. And Earnest is the best of work (I should know, I've read all but a few of his essays).
Elizabeth Costello by JM Coetzee - I've read this several times and each time I get something new. It's format (a series of lectures) causes me to suspend all of my expectations and delve into the novel and appreciate the work and the author for the multitude of worlds it opened me up to. Just thinking about it challenges me.
The BFG by Roald Daul - My glory years of reading were mid-elementary school. I devoured books with a feverish pace. I couldn't get enough of book like Caddie Woodlawn, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, The Babysitters Club, all the books by Beverly Cleary and Roald Daul (of which The BFG was my favorite). This time period set the foundation for my reading and makes me happy to think about. A million ideas were opening themselves up to me and when I think back on these years, the books stand out more than anything else (except those horrid German knickers my mom made me wear that the kids made fun of - but that is beside the point, really).


2) One book that you’d read more than once:

Well, it's clear that I've read Elizabeth Costello multiple times, and I read Pride and Prejudice about once a year. I've also read In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson several times. Once before I left for my three month trip through Australia with Greg, again while we were there (usually reading the section we were passing through aloud to Greg while he drove), and later when we got back. Bill has a way of making the country come alive and through him I can go back anytime.

3) One book you’d want on a deserted island:
Pride and Prejudice

4) One book that made you laugh:
Straight Man by Richard Russo. It kills me. He gets into the mindset of academics in a way that I completely identify with. It is perhaps the funniest book I've ever read from start to end. In fact, I should read it again for a chuggle. I love it, love it, love it.
The last time I laughed out loud, glad-I-wasn't-in-a-coffee-shop was reading the interview with Colin Firth (who played Mr. Darcy in the BBC rendition of P&P) in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. I've read just that section numerous times, including several attempts of reading it out loud to Greg and having to stop for laughing too hard. And only partly because I have a sneaking suspicion that I would act in a very similar way if I were ever to interview Mr. Darcy - I mean, Mr. Firth. (By the way, the second book is FAR better than the first, and this is the best section).
The outback section of In a Sunburned Country is another one that it took me several attempts to be able to read aloud.

5) One book that made you cry:

A lot do; I am a crier. There was a time when I was in junior high that I tormented myself by reading a series of books that centered around high schoolers who wer terminally ill and their intense teenage love affairs. I would cry for an entire evening about the wasted young love and then start another one the next morning.
Recently, though, two scenes in different books about Vietnam did it for me. The buffalo scene in The Things They Carried and the one with the old couple in The Uncle's Story both got me where I lived. I also cried in The Cure for Death by Lightening and The Kite Runner.

6) One book you wish you’d written:
Any, really. I don't have high aspirations. I'd be happy for anything that I am proud of. A psychic told me that I would publish several books later in life, so that is something to look forward to. Check back with me when I'm in my 60's.

7) One book you wish had never been written:
If I'm not interested, I won't read it. Whatever.

8) One book you’re currently reading:
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway. Oh, and I'm working my way through The Best American Short Stories - 2003.

9) One book you’ve been meaning to read:
I always have a list becuase I have a rule that I have to read a book a week. I don't, however, plan more than three in advance becuase it starts to feel unattainable.
The Stranger by Camus - I have recently decided that I was in the midst of an existential crisis. That makes my inner turmoil and anguish seem cool and aloof. My friend Lisa promised me if I read this book I would be certifiably pretentious, an expert on existentialism, and able to (I'm quoting her e-mail) "start wearing black berets and smoking cloves and go 'what does eet all mean? mon dieu!'"
After that, I'll read:
How to be Good by Nick Hornby
Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Shelby, Jr.

10) Tag five people:
I'm only tagging one: Ebeth, have it.