Special Books!

Here's a meme that's been going around-I stole it from Superfastreader. :)

A book that made you cry: Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I finished it during lunch recess in fourth grade, and I just bawled.

A book that scared you: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. The way that the killer finds his victims is very disturbing! I don't want to give anything away though-it's a great book.

A book that made you laugh: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I've read it at least 5 times, and I still laugh out loud. It's hilarious.

A book that disgusted you: Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy. It was so ridiculously soap opera, sex angst. It is highly unlikely that I will ever read Hardy again.

A book you loved in elementary school: I really liked the Nancy Drew series.

A book you loved in middle school: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Read it for the first time in seventh grade. My best friend and I, a couple nights before we were both going to move (military brats), had a sleep over where we read the whole book out loud to each other, alternating chapters. It was pretty awesome.

A book you loved in high school: so many. It's difficult to remember, but I think I'd have to go with Gaudy Nights by Dorothy Sayers. Or maybe the Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaardner. Or...ok, I'm going to stop now.

A book you hated in high school: A Separate Peace. Ugh. Easily one of my least favorite books ever. Close runners up: Of Mice and Men (though I loved Grapes of Wrath and Travels with Charley), the Red Badge of Courage, and Death Comes for the Archbishop. Shudder.

A book you loved in college: wait, I still have a few more days in college (graduate on Sat). I'll just go with this year, since it's so hard to pick one. That would be Ishiguro's Remains of the Day. It is one of those books that just blew me away. I couldn't stop talking about it for days.

A book that challenged your identity: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I listened to it on audiobook, and I was very, very disturbed by how appealing pediophilia suddenly seemed. As a straight, twenty-year-old girl who loves wathcing Stabler lose his temper on SVU, that was quite disturbing.

A series you love: Laurie King's Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series. They're my newest comfort books-I know the next one will be good before I even open it up.

Your favorite horror book: Hannibal. The movie was shite, but the book is really, really good. The ending challenges so many preconceived notions (it's not the same as the film ending).

Your favorite science fiction book: I don't really read sci-fi, but I remember being impressed with Stranger in a Strange Land.

Your favorite fantasy: anything by Neil Gaiman.

Your favorite mystery: Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books.

Your favorite biography: I don't read a lot of bios, but Hermione Lee's Virginia Woolf impressed me.

Your favorite "coming of age" book: Little Women. Ok, it's a little old-fashioned, but I still think it's a great girl coming-of-age book. If I have a daughter, though, I'll buy her The Body Project when she starts to enter puberty.

Your favorite classic: Pride and Prejudice. I have three copies. They've been with me to several continents.

Your favorite romance book: well, I don't read actual romance books. But I think that a lot of classics count, and in that case I'm going with Persuasion. All about second chances!

Your favorite book not on this list: Anna Karenina. Love it, love it, love it. I've been refraining from reading War and Peace until I join the Peace Corps, but I'm super excited about it!