Sage got me. Here are my answers for the Book Meme.
1. One book that changed your life?
Changed my life? Hmmm. I’m gonna say, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. That book really touched me, very deeply. I loved it. Second, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou. She is such a beautiful writer, beautiful woman.
2. One book you have read more than once?
Besides the above, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is my most favourite book. I can’t say how many times I”ve read that one.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
I’d probably take Will to Power by Freiderich Nietzsche. Or maybe, The Tao Te Ching (Lao-Tze). I do get great peace and solace from that book. Or maybe The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran? Or some poetry, perhaps a compiled works of Pablo Neruda, complete with English translations, and then I could learn some Spanish while I was deserted! You never know who might come to rescue you!
4. One book that made you laugh?
Immediately I knew tha answer to this one – The Commitments, The Snapper, and The Van - a trilogy of books by Irish writer Roddy Doyle. His writing is SO funny! It makes me laugh out loud!
5. One book that made you cry?
Aw, easy peasy. The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. What a story! A bit fantastical, but I loved the romance. Broke my heart.
6. One book you wish had been written?
How To Solve All the World’s Problems in a Single Day!
7. One book you wish had never been written?
The Bible. The Qu’ran. The Torah. The Rules.
8. One book you are currently reading?
Right now I”m knee deep in empowerment and development theory, but for pleasure I’m reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. It’s a bit broken, but I think it might tie together soon. We’ll see.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Well, they’re all piled up neatly on my coffee table, and in my bedroom on the window ledge, and on my microwave, and on my nightstand. Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond. The End of Faith, by Sam Harris. The End of History and the Last Man, by Francis Fukuyama. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamont. More Marx. More Foucault. More Nietzsche. More Camus. More Butler.
10. Now tag five people.
OK, folks, your turn. I tag: Marc Andre, L>T, Mike, Karenology, and Mister P!
oh, and if anyone else wants to answer, please do so here in the comments section!
thanks!
that’s a good one…
i fear i might have the same answer to several…
will let you know when my answers are up…
well that’s not so bad. I think i can handle it. get back to you soon.
ok – mine are up
and while i think i know where you are coming from re: the books you wish were never written, they are all beautiful books…(except, perhaps for THE RULES, is that a real book – or was that a joke…)
that many misinterpret and see them out of context ought not detract from their beauty – i.e. the problem isn’t with the books, but with the misguided reading of them…
the bible, in fact, is actually a collection of books…
[...] Okay, Thinking Girl got me (just as I was reading Nerdine’s answers). So, here more or less goes. [...]
I did it! practically painless it was.
[...] Thinking Girl tagged me. I will try to answer these questions, though I’m awful at answering things like these. Must I really pick one book for each? I am hopelessly noncommittal. [...]
Hey Jenna:
I’m not sure you know this about me so, I thought I’d share too! Love and miss ya doll face!
1. Hard to pick just one: Possessing the Secrey of Joy by Alice Walker
2. See above.
3. The Brothers Karamazov
4. Anything by Douglas Adams
5. No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod (also a book that changed my life)
6. No Great Mischief, it’s just so beautiful. And, Fall of Your Knees by Anne-Marie MacDonald
7. It by Stephen King-too long and a total waste of time.
8. On Common Ground, a discourse on perceptions of the environment.
9. War and Peace
thanks Anji! I’m so glad you answered!
I remember the summer you spent reading “It” – you were SO disappointed with the end! I mean, a giant spider?!?! how stupid can you get! The clown was scarier than the spider!
“Nothing is scarier than a clown”
– Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City
I guess it’s time for me to read the Time Traveller’s Wife. It’s about the tenth time, it’s been suggested to me.
fwiw, Guns Germs and Steel is one of my favorite non-fiction book if only for the chapter on almonds.
well, hi, my name’s michal, which is the Polish equvalent of Michael (it’s pronounced as meehow). I found your blog by sheer accident looking for FGC in the Google browser. As a matter of fact, I have pretty traumatic memories connected with philosophy – I had several lectures to get a credit during my MA studies. We all were fresh and the lecturer made us read Kant, Descartes, Spinoza, Levinas or Lyotard without much preparation… Anyway, I somehow survived it … As far as feminism is concerned, I do advocate women’s roghts, but there have been some legislation proposals in my country that made me really furious. One of them was the idea that there should be an equal representaion of both sexes in the parliament or in every occupation, which, in my humble opinion, are slightly unreasonable. Oh, I also love Neruda… (Here I love you… La Cancion Desperada are my favourites). I like your blog too. Do you like Alanis Morisette?
oh my answers to the quiz
1. Brave New world
2. again Brave New World
3. Future Shock
4. Catch 22
5. Zahir by Paolo Coelho
6. Do It Yoursef: A Decent Life
7. Das Kapital
8. Fanny Hill
9. LOve in the Times of Cholera
Just stumbled onto your sight from another and saw that you were tagged with the same theme as I was — didn’t realize it was so prominent! My answers are here .
I enjoy your topics, I will definitely add you to my blog subscriptions!
Thinking girl – I love Roddy Doyle too! How could I forget.
Angel – Possessing the Secret of Joy is another one I’ve read a few times. I even read excerpts to my classes when it suits.
Chancelucky, you’ll love the Time Traveller’s Wife. It’s beautiful.
angela, thanks for popping in!
Sage – I love Roddy Doyle. I’ve read most of his work, he’s just such a favourite for me!
Meehow – funny, the topic in one of my classes today was about political activity and representation being empowering for women, and the subject of parliamentary quotas did come up. I don’t think there is anything unreasonable about that prospect at all. One of the only ways to get women into government in any sort of representative way is to deliberately set aside seats for them. By the way, if 50% of seats were set aside for women, that also means 50% of seats are rserved for men. The problem is, there are so many barriers to women getting involved in politics as a career, or in most careers for that matter, and just as many once they are there. This idea could only work if those barriers were removed. That would involve men overcoming their subtly sexist ideas that a woman simply can’t be the “best man” for the job, and understanding that a woman filling a quota is not simply a female body, but is the best candidate for the post – just as qualified as the men, but due to gender discrimination, has not been presented with the equal opportunities to be there in the past. The idea that people should only make it on merit, and that since women (and other groups) AREN’T visibly represented means they don’t merit the position, is faulty. Individualistic ideologies neglect to see that not everyone is allowed to play the game in the first place. We don’t live in an equal world.
No, I don’t care much for Alanis. She’s ok I guess, but after her first solo album, I didn’t like her follow-ups.
I also loved The Time Traveller’s Wife, and I’ve just finished Suite Francaise. I thought it was great. I think the reason some of the strands don’t tie together is that she was planning to carry on with the characters in the next three books. Thanks to the Nazis, she never got the chance.