aprilstarchild: (Default)
aprilstarchild ([personal profile] aprilstarchild) wrote2009-05-29 07:24 pm

Book meme

Let's see if I can do this without over editorializing:

List (fast as you can - try not to edit) 15 books that will always stick with you.

Starhawk's The Spiral Dance totally changed the course of my life ...I read it in high school
Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion also changed how I see the world, and differently
Derrick Jensen's The Culture of Make-Believe was fucking hard to read. I think I should probably reread it one day. Oddly, it's not as much of a downer as you'd think...but still, another book that changed my view of reality
Driven to Distraction by Hallowell and Ratey, the book that made me think, oh shit, I have this ADD thing too...

Those are the biggest nonfiction ones.

All the Harry Potter books. Duh.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, I think I've read it a dozen times
The Dispossessed by Ursula K LeGuin, OH MY GOD I think I've read it three times now, and I only first read it a year or two ago, and I hardly ever reread anymore
The Weetzie Bat series by Francesca Lia Block (psst if you write to her, she writes back...)
The Secret Garden
Stardust by Neil Gaiman, it's what really got me hooked on his stuff
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, read it the first time in sixth grade, and spent eighth grade reading everything in that series and the parallel one about the Austins..."Meg, I give you your faults..."
The Doll Hospital, a paperback I read repeatedly in fifth grade
Angie, I can't remember the author's name...read repeatedly in fourth grade
Woman: an Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
The His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman

...those were the first fifteen I could think of. I know there are glaring omissions. For instance, the Hitchhiker's Series. Fucking DUH. Or all the ElfQuest graphic novels.

As a correlation to this: I know there are books I really should read. I have very literary friends...please feel free to suggest ONE novel (or series) and WHY you think I should read them, as I think I will pay off what I owe to the library and start using it again, as that will pay for itself very quickly! Please note: I have tried Vonnegut and Robbins and dislike both for the same reason: I get the feeling that the authors are sitting there smugly thinking, "I'm a clever bugger, look how clever I am, tee hee." It is completely off-putting to me. Feel free to disagree. :^)

[identity profile] aprilstarchild.livejournal.com 2009-05-30 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
I had friends in high school who liked Mercedes Lackey...the covers put me off, they just looked so awful. Might give them another shot, though.

Ursula K LeGuin: OH MY GOD. I love her sci-fi so damn much, it's craaazy. The Lathe of Heaven is another huge favorite from her, although I wonder how much of it is because I recognize a lot of the places she talks about--I live in Portland, which is where the story takes place. I also loved Lavinia, even though it's semi-historical.

The God Delusion ...wow. It's so nice to read stuff from someone who assumes you're intelligent, but just don't know the subject matter. He's wonderful at explaining things in a witty way that really makes me think. I finished that book and announced to my (now ex-) boyfriend that I was an atheist.

[identity profile] evilcresyluna.livejournal.com 2009-05-30 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Covers are pretty terrible, honestly, as in my opinion some of the illustrations (I would frequently yell to Chris, "look! 80s-tastic hair furry stuff!") but pretend they don't have covers. ;)

I haven't read Lavinia! I've read the Left Hand of Darkness which I really enjoyed, and Lathe, also awesome (even not being in Portland!... though now I kind of wanna).

Awesome! I can't wait to actually start it. Right now I'm slogging through colonial literature, with a focus right now of religious stuff...

[identity profile] aprilstarchild.livejournal.com 2009-05-30 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
Right now I'm slogging through colonial literature, with a focus right now of religious stuff...

That reminds me, I gotta find The Wordy Shipmates. I didn't finish it! Where is it?! Dang!

The Left Hand of Darkness is good, but I like the person who pointed out to the author (she quoted this in an intro to another book) that she intended to write a book about a planet of androgynes, and wrote a book entirely of men. The Birthday of the World has a short story of a person becoming of age in that society, going into kemmer the first time and visiting the kemmerhouse. It's really good, the characters are actually androgynous, and...it's kinda hot.

[identity profile] evilcresyluna.livejournal.com 2009-05-30 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
That does make sense, thinking of it, it was more men that could have babies/not be outcasts to sleep with each rather than androgynous. I may quite have to check out said short story.