All the entries are in at Kimbooktu, and she's inviting everyone to
vote for their three favorites.
I've been following some of her links, and found this meme at
book-a-rama:
A Few Of My Favorite ThingsA book that made you cry:
Ex and the Single Girl by Lani Diane Rich. Don't get me wrong, overall this is a funny book, but a few moments struck a little too close to home and got me teary-eyed.
A book that scared you:
The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum. This novel is brilliant, but also deeply disturbing. I am eternally grateful I did not get the illustrated edition!
A book that made you laugh:
American Idle, by Alesia Holiday - the panties-on-fire-causing-a-plane-wreck bit, and several others. Also, everything by Christopher Moore and Douglas Adams and...
A book that disgusted you:
The Awakening by Kate Chopin - I HATED that book. I hated that the main character was whiny and passive and completely self-absorbed, and that her solution to all of her problems was to drown herself - although I was glad she died ;)
A book you loved in elementary school:
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I wanted to find a hidden garden, and bring it back to life. I also wanted to be Dicken, with his menagerie of animals, but especially the pony. And speaking of members of the equine family, I also adored National Velvet by Enid Bagnold, and I dreamt of having a piebald horse and entering the Grand National for years. (I did own a horse that looked a lot like the horse in the National Velvet movie that starred a very young Elizabeth Taylor, and trained to barrel race and show jump. However, I didn't look much like Elizabeth ...)
A book you loved in middle school: Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
A book you loved in high school:
Fevre Dream by George RR Martin. This is the book I blame for starting my love of vampire novels :)
A book you hated in high school:
hmmm. I hated the way we discussed books in high school, but not necessarily the books themselves... The Mists if Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley was something I read and didn't like much, more because of the incest than anything. Someday, I'll reread it and see what I think of it now.
A book you loved in college:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neal Hurston. In a semester on the naturalists, she was the only bright spot...
A book that challenged your identity:
[Chris said: Atlas Shrugged. I didn't really like this book but it had me looking at the world, and how I fit in it, in a different way.]
(After reading several Ayn Rand novels, I decided that I would never have enough money or be pretentious enough to be an Objectivist. I did love Anthem, however.)
I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was by Barbara Sher. Not that I'm entirely certain yet what I want to do, which is my own fault, since I am easily distracted and never go back and do the exercises.
A series that you love:
Harry Potter, Sookie Stackhouse, Merrie Gentry, Dark Tower, Thomas Black, Mac Fontana, Betsy Taylor, Samantha Adams, Rachel Morgan... and others. I like novels with continuing characters.
Your favorite horror book:
I love horror, especially Stephen King. For sunlight horror, I'd go with We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson. The Blood Artists by Chuck Hogan was excellent, also.
Your favorite science fiction book:
Douglas Adams, again; I cannot single out just one as my favorite
Your favorite fantasy:
Sunshine and everything else by Robin McKinley...
Your favorite mystery:
Madeleine Alt's witch mysteries, Sarah Shankman's mysteries,
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg is brilliant.
"Mr. Linden's Library - He had warned her about the book. Now it was too late."
Your favorite biography:
I, Tina by Tina Turner and Kurt Loder. She amazes me, and I hope that I can be as gracious about what life throws at me.
Your favorite "coming of age" book:
a variety... the Harry Potter series, at the moment.
Your favorite classic:
Slaughterhouse Five or Watership Down or To Kill a Mockingbird, none of which were assigned reading anywhere in my academic career. Sad, really...
Your favorite romance book:
Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
Your favorite book not on this list:
The Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin, One on One by Tabitha King, and so many others.
