Book meme! Day 13
Aug. 4th, 2010 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vcmwDay 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Since I was a youth services librarian for two years, this is probably the hardest question for me. I will flagrantly not pick one answer.
My favorite classic YA book is Forever by Judy Blume, which I didn't read until I was in library grad school. The awesome/tragic thing about this book (take your pick based on your perspective) is that its rational, reasonable, humane take on adolescent girl sexuality is still ground breaking.
My favorite modern-ish YA book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Because personally I think it is not a problem novel. It is the opposite of a problem novel - it's a life-is-messy novel where people muddle through the mess with the best grace they can muster.
I fail to have a favorite current YA book but I'm very fond of Tithe by Holly Black, Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White, Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and... umm... yeah, clearly no one favorite.
My favorite childhood book was The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (I thought of them as all one book). I was also extremely fond of the Oz and Narnia books. And Bambi, and Swiss Family Robinson, and Peter and Wendy. And A Solitary Blue (brooding, boys, guitars!). But my mom said I might like the Hobbit and I did, and then she let me read The Lord of the Rings. Though very reluctantly, as I was 7 and she wasn't sure it would be... comprehensible? enjoyable? for a seven year old. I liked Tolkien first for the poetry in mom's Tolkien Reader - especially the one about the girl who got left behind by the elven ships and goes down to the beach with her feet wet with dew, and then comes home. Also I thought very earnestly that if I could just make Thorin Oakenshield be a happier person (dwarf) then he would trust Bilbo and they would get out of that Mirkwood dungeon much sooner.
I also had this killer plan for building Aragorn and Arwen a nice cottage in the woods where they could go hang out together without Aragorn having to become king (I liked him better as Strider, really) and without waiting for Elrond's approval. Given that Aragorn wasn't immortal I thought they were being stupid ninny-heads to wait and wait.
I think I was reading a completely different set of books than Peter Jackson (I think I was reading a different set of Narnia books than the person who made the most recent Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe feature film, too) because the epic battles were not terribly interesting to me - it was the promises and friendships and betrayals and the longing for trust and friendship and honor that got to me. And the boundaries and crossing them. I liked the bits with Tom Bombadil and the Ents much better than I did the bits with the battles, and I LOVED the scouring of the Shire. There's a desperate longing for home in the books and an embattled need to protect homes and then the horrible disconcerting realization that for whatever reason you don't fit your home anymore, or it no longer fits you.
Home was not exactly an un-fraught concept for me as a kid, and all those different visions of home really got to me.
My neighborhood theater did Christmas plays of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Voyage of the Dawn Treader when I was a kid. And The Hobbit. I got to be in the Hobbit when I was 9 or so. My mom played a Troll. I was a background elf, if I recall correctly. I had a horrible crush on the cute older blond boy who played Thorin, but actually I think that that was BECAUSE I had a sort of crush on the character already, rather than the other way around.
Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your "comfort" book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?
Since I was a youth services librarian for two years, this is probably the hardest question for me. I will flagrantly not pick one answer.
My favorite classic YA book is Forever by Judy Blume, which I didn't read until I was in library grad school. The awesome/tragic thing about this book (take your pick based on your perspective) is that its rational, reasonable, humane take on adolescent girl sexuality is still ground breaking.
My favorite modern-ish YA book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Because personally I think it is not a problem novel. It is the opposite of a problem novel - it's a life-is-messy novel where people muddle through the mess with the best grace they can muster.
I fail to have a favorite current YA book but I'm very fond of Tithe by Holly Black, Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr, The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White, Spirits that Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and... umm... yeah, clearly no one favorite.
My favorite childhood book was The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (I thought of them as all one book). I was also extremely fond of the Oz and Narnia books. And Bambi, and Swiss Family Robinson, and Peter and Wendy. And A Solitary Blue (brooding, boys, guitars!). But my mom said I might like the Hobbit and I did, and then she let me read The Lord of the Rings. Though very reluctantly, as I was 7 and she wasn't sure it would be... comprehensible? enjoyable? for a seven year old. I liked Tolkien first for the poetry in mom's Tolkien Reader - especially the one about the girl who got left behind by the elven ships and goes down to the beach with her feet wet with dew, and then comes home. Also I thought very earnestly that if I could just make Thorin Oakenshield be a happier person (dwarf) then he would trust Bilbo and they would get out of that Mirkwood dungeon much sooner.
I also had this killer plan for building Aragorn and Arwen a nice cottage in the woods where they could go hang out together without Aragorn having to become king (I liked him better as Strider, really) and without waiting for Elrond's approval. Given that Aragorn wasn't immortal I thought they were being stupid ninny-heads to wait and wait.
I think I was reading a completely different set of books than Peter Jackson (I think I was reading a different set of Narnia books than the person who made the most recent Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe feature film, too) because the epic battles were not terribly interesting to me - it was the promises and friendships and betrayals and the longing for trust and friendship and honor that got to me. And the boundaries and crossing them. I liked the bits with Tom Bombadil and the Ents much better than I did the bits with the battles, and I LOVED the scouring of the Shire. There's a desperate longing for home in the books and an embattled need to protect homes and then the horrible disconcerting realization that for whatever reason you don't fit your home anymore, or it no longer fits you.
Home was not exactly an un-fraught concept for me as a kid, and all those different visions of home really got to me.
My neighborhood theater did Christmas plays of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Voyage of the Dawn Treader when I was a kid. And The Hobbit. I got to be in the Hobbit when I was 9 or so. My mom played a Troll. I was a background elf, if I recall correctly. I had a horrible crush on the cute older blond boy who played Thorin, but actually I think that that was BECAUSE I had a sort of crush on the character already, rather than the other way around.
Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve watched more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your "comfort" book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?
