Literary Meme DuJour
Dec. 2nd, 2002 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteLifted from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cadhla, with edits...
Which books are you reading right now?
"A Personal History" by Katharine Graham. Readable memoir by the late publisher of the Washington Post, albeit a bit earnest in spots, and a bit self-deluding regarding her late husband. Not as well-written as Ben Bradlee's own memoir of the same time, but much less self-serving.
Also reading a book of Nicholas van Rijn novellas by Poul Anderson and a bio of baseball player Sandy Koufax
When is your favourite time to read?
On the subway in the morning and the evening. A great way to ease into and out of the day.
Where is your favourite place to read?
In our living room, in the big comfy chair or spread out on the couch
What is the first book you remember reading?
I've been reading since I was three. You expect me to remember that? :)
What is your favourite quotation?
You would think with all I've read that I would have one. Maybe it's Tom Joad's speech in "Grapes of Wrath." Maybe it's Douglas Adams's description of Arthur absorbing the end of the world, or some other segment in this work.
But I much prefer to quote Frost or Shakespeare, or the great comic books.
Who is your favourite novelist?
Mark Twain, the inventor of the American novel, wins by a hair over Philip Roth, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, and William Kennedy.
Which school text did you most enjoy?
There was a book we had when I was in seventh grade that had Truman Capote's Christmas memories story (all made up, I think) and a marvelous little tale about a brother, a sister, and a broken sled. This text had a lot more good stories that I remember. Really quite rare for a schoolbook.
What is the most difficult book you have ever read?
Hmmm. Maybe it was William Safire's "Freedom," an epic Civil War novel that was entirely peopled by real historical figures and had 600 pages of footnotes in the back. Maybe it was Leon Wieseltier's brilliant but dense "Kaddish," an exploration of the Jewish prayer said by mourners that takes the 30 or so lines of the prayers and milks 1,00 pages out of them. Both are quite worthwhile.
What is the most erotic book you have read?
I know I've read erotic scenes, but my still-too-innocent mind has edited them out, it would seem.
What is your funniest book?
It's "Restaurant at the End of the Universe," which I feel holds up better than any other Hitchhiker's Guide book in both narrative and writing skill.
And saddest?
Have I read anything truly sad of late? Or ever? Nothing comes to mind.
What is your favourite children's book?
In terms of a nvoel, I would say "Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang," by Mordecia Richler. Twisted and heroic all at once. But the complete works of Dr. Seuss get a very special place.
What is your most overrated book?
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Bland and predictable, a prime example of why I still don't get Gaiman.
Name your most underrated book.
"The Flaming Corsage" by William Kennedy. The best novel I've read in the past five years, yet it went almost unnoticed despite Kennedy's renown.
Who is your favourite character?
It's a toss-up between Captain Carrot, the almost-too-good-to-be-true second-in-command of Ankh-Morpork's guards in the Discworld series; and Nate Heller, the half-Jewish, half-Irish PI who gets to solve the great true crimes of the 1920s-1950s in Max Allan Collins' series of novels. Both are honest, tough, intelligent. One is true to life, the other the kind of man I want to be. You can figure out which is which. Inspector Endeavour Morse would be a close third.
Which characters do you hate most?
As in bad guys? No novel villain can match up to Lex Luthor or Gul Dukat or Dr. Doom or Angelus. Sorry.
As in a really badly conceived character? None come to mind.
With which character do you most identify?
Again, novels have nothing on someone like Clark Kent or Peter Parker in terms of seeing myself in there.
With which character would you most like to have an affair?
As in who I would hire to cater an event? Can't think of any. :)
Who would be your ideal literary dining companions?
Captain Carrot and Nate Heller, of course. Jack Sawyer from "Black House." Mark Twain, as he was a literary invention of Samuel Clemens, as much as Huck Finn. Maybe Kavalier and Clay, just to talk comic books and Jewish history. Inspector Morse. Maybe Dr. Watson.
What is the worst screen adaptation?
The Kubrick "Shining" perhaps. Or maybe "2001," which takes a fairly striaghtforward book and turns it into a midnd-numbing thing of sterile white. The lesson? Don't trust Kubrick.
Name three desert island choices?
"Huckleberry Finn," "The Truth" by Pratchett, and "The Talisman" by King and Straub.
What is your favourite poem?
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Which book changed your life?
Well, since my points of reference begin with the Torah, that book - unlike all the rest, of course, would have to be the answer to this question. But in terms of literary works, I would say "RAgtime" by Doctorow, as it was the first novel I ever read without any dialogue. All things are possible in writing a novel.
Which book would you make compulsory reading?
The dictionary. All those words that no one uses. For shame.
cadhla, with edits... Which books are you reading right now?
"A Personal History" by Katharine Graham. Readable memoir by the late publisher of the Washington Post, albeit a bit earnest in spots, and a bit self-deluding regarding her late husband. Not as well-written as Ben Bradlee's own memoir of the same time, but much less self-serving.
Also reading a book of Nicholas van Rijn novellas by Poul Anderson and a bio of baseball player Sandy Koufax
When is your favourite time to read?
On the subway in the morning and the evening. A great way to ease into and out of the day.
Where is your favourite place to read?
In our living room, in the big comfy chair or spread out on the couch
What is the first book you remember reading?
I've been reading since I was three. You expect me to remember that? :)
What is your favourite quotation?
You would think with all I've read that I would have one. Maybe it's Tom Joad's speech in "Grapes of Wrath." Maybe it's Douglas Adams's description of Arthur absorbing the end of the world, or some other segment in this work.
But I much prefer to quote Frost or Shakespeare, or the great comic books.
Who is your favourite novelist?
Mark Twain, the inventor of the American novel, wins by a hair over Philip Roth, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, and William Kennedy.
Which school text did you most enjoy?
There was a book we had when I was in seventh grade that had Truman Capote's Christmas memories story (all made up, I think) and a marvelous little tale about a brother, a sister, and a broken sled. This text had a lot more good stories that I remember. Really quite rare for a schoolbook.
What is the most difficult book you have ever read?
Hmmm. Maybe it was William Safire's "Freedom," an epic Civil War novel that was entirely peopled by real historical figures and had 600 pages of footnotes in the back. Maybe it was Leon Wieseltier's brilliant but dense "Kaddish," an exploration of the Jewish prayer said by mourners that takes the 30 or so lines of the prayers and milks 1,00 pages out of them. Both are quite worthwhile.
What is the most erotic book you have read?
I know I've read erotic scenes, but my still-too-innocent mind has edited them out, it would seem.
What is your funniest book?
It's "Restaurant at the End of the Universe," which I feel holds up better than any other Hitchhiker's Guide book in both narrative and writing skill.
And saddest?
Have I read anything truly sad of late? Or ever? Nothing comes to mind.
What is your favourite children's book?
In terms of a nvoel, I would say "Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang," by Mordecia Richler. Twisted and heroic all at once. But the complete works of Dr. Seuss get a very special place.
What is your most overrated book?
"Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman. Bland and predictable, a prime example of why I still don't get Gaiman.
Name your most underrated book.
"The Flaming Corsage" by William Kennedy. The best novel I've read in the past five years, yet it went almost unnoticed despite Kennedy's renown.
Who is your favourite character?
It's a toss-up between Captain Carrot, the almost-too-good-to-be-true second-in-command of Ankh-Morpork's guards in the Discworld series; and Nate Heller, the half-Jewish, half-Irish PI who gets to solve the great true crimes of the 1920s-1950s in Max Allan Collins' series of novels. Both are honest, tough, intelligent. One is true to life, the other the kind of man I want to be. You can figure out which is which. Inspector Endeavour Morse would be a close third.
Which characters do you hate most?
As in bad guys? No novel villain can match up to Lex Luthor or Gul Dukat or Dr. Doom or Angelus. Sorry.
As in a really badly conceived character? None come to mind.
With which character do you most identify?
Again, novels have nothing on someone like Clark Kent or Peter Parker in terms of seeing myself in there.
With which character would you most like to have an affair?
As in who I would hire to cater an event? Can't think of any. :)
Who would be your ideal literary dining companions?
Captain Carrot and Nate Heller, of course. Jack Sawyer from "Black House." Mark Twain, as he was a literary invention of Samuel Clemens, as much as Huck Finn. Maybe Kavalier and Clay, just to talk comic books and Jewish history. Inspector Morse. Maybe Dr. Watson.
What is the worst screen adaptation?
The Kubrick "Shining" perhaps. Or maybe "2001," which takes a fairly striaghtforward book and turns it into a midnd-numbing thing of sterile white. The lesson? Don't trust Kubrick.
Name three desert island choices?
"Huckleberry Finn," "The Truth" by Pratchett, and "The Talisman" by King and Straub.
What is your favourite poem?
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
Which book changed your life?
Well, since my points of reference begin with the Torah, that book - unlike all the rest, of course, would have to be the answer to this question. But in terms of literary works, I would say "RAgtime" by Doctorow, as it was the first novel I ever read without any dialogue. All things are possible in writing a novel.
Which book would you make compulsory reading?
The dictionary. All those words that no one uses. For shame.
