Book meme! Day 15
Aug. 8th, 2010 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vcmwDay 15 - Your "comfort" book
Cherton by David Telfair is a book that I pretty much never get tired of re-reading. I can pick it up and open it anywhere and read a few pages and stop. It has delicious dialogue. It's been my comfort reading for the last couple of years now. It's... sort of a book set in some small town with a lot of people who are very class-conscious. I originally read it as a kid because it had blurbs by Quentin Crisp and Anne McCaffrey, making it one of a handful of books I've ever read because of blurbs.
It's very queer-friendly and sex-positive. Not much really happens in it I suppose - a rich guy burns himself getting out of the tub, his very old mother comes to visit, there are some problems with the local vicar. Usually it can still make me chortle even though I've read it dozens of times. The back cover flap says something about sequels, but I've never been able to locate any. They may be as thoroughly non-existent as The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities. I'm not sure.
For nonfiction, my comfort book waffles between the Dictionary of Humorous Quotations that I got as a prize as a kid, and Jennifer Michael Hecht's Doubt.
Then there are the books that are very specific kinds of comfort for specific moments. Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock or Dark Lord of Derkholm for family chaos. My sophomore year of college I spent significant chunks of time locked in the bathroom re-reading Dark Lord of Derkholm over and over. It helped. Robin McKinley's Sunshine is excellent when I'm feeling both monstrous and detached.
I tend to have comfort quotations/poems/lyrics as much as or more than comfort books. Spinoza's "But love for the absolute and eternal thing fills the mind with a joy entirely free from sadness" (yes I know that's not always the translation - it was the one I saw first). Millay's "Love is not all, it is not meat nor drink." Cohen's "New York is cold but I like where I'm living, there's music on Clinton Street all through the evening."
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?
Cherton by David Telfair is a book that I pretty much never get tired of re-reading. I can pick it up and open it anywhere and read a few pages and stop. It has delicious dialogue. It's been my comfort reading for the last couple of years now. It's... sort of a book set in some small town with a lot of people who are very class-conscious. I originally read it as a kid because it had blurbs by Quentin Crisp and Anne McCaffrey, making it one of a handful of books I've ever read because of blurbs.
It's very queer-friendly and sex-positive. Not much really happens in it I suppose - a rich guy burns himself getting out of the tub, his very old mother comes to visit, there are some problems with the local vicar. Usually it can still make me chortle even though I've read it dozens of times. The back cover flap says something about sequels, but I've never been able to locate any. They may be as thoroughly non-existent as The Splendor and Misery of Bodies, of Cities. I'm not sure.
For nonfiction, my comfort book waffles between the Dictionary of Humorous Quotations that I got as a prize as a kid, and Jennifer Michael Hecht's Doubt.
Then there are the books that are very specific kinds of comfort for specific moments. Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock or Dark Lord of Derkholm for family chaos. My sophomore year of college I spent significant chunks of time locked in the bathroom re-reading Dark Lord of Derkholm over and over. It helped. Robin McKinley's Sunshine is excellent when I'm feeling both monstrous and detached.
I tend to have comfort quotations/poems/lyrics as much as or more than comfort books. Spinoza's "But love for the absolute and eternal thing fills the mind with a joy entirely free from sadness" (yes I know that's not always the translation - it was the one I saw first). Millay's "Love is not all, it is not meat nor drink." Cohen's "New York is cold but I like where I'm living, there's music on Clinton Street all through the evening."
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?
