Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Book Q an A

A friend sent me this list of book q and a's. I believe it is meant for facebook, but it seems far more relevant here! I'm sure some will be easier to answer than others and some I may have answered elsewhere on this blog. Off we go!

1-Your favorite Book - Perelandra by C.S. Lewis; This book completely entrances me, no matter how often I read it. It really is unlike any other book I've ever read, but if you thought the religious undertones of The Chronicles of Narnia was too much you'd best steer clear of this work.

2-Least Favorite Book - My Antonia by Willa Cather; This book is actually quite well written but we read it for school and a book I simply didn't like was drug out for months, thus turning my dislike into loathing.

3-A Book that completely surprised you - My Name Is Not Angelica by Scott O'Dell; Let's just say that I used this book to write a unit plan for one of my classes but would never use it in a real classroom. I chose the book before reading it and, by the time I finished it, didn't have the time to choose another book. The ending is... a bit of a downer, and not something I would recommend for the grade level it is written at.
Seriously? That ending made me want to call my mom and cry.

4- A Book that reminds you of home - None really come to mind.

5- A Non-fiction book that you actually enjoyed - The Road of Dreams by Bruce Junek; First off, I don't like what the question implies: are we not supposed to enjoy non-fiction? I enjoy lots of non-fiction, as do many people I know. Anyway this book is amazing because I met the authors a few times in my childhood, plus it is just an incredible book. I really need to read it again just to re-experience the world-view they present.
6- A Book that makes you cry - Zink by Cherie Bennet; Yeah, it won't be winning any awards that's for sure, but this story of one girl's fight with cancer is heartbreaking and will never fail to make me mope around the entire time I'm reading it.
7- A Book that’s hard to read - Left to Tell by Imaculee Ilabagiza; This story of survival during the Rwandan holocaust seems so unbelievable. It brings images of what we wish was a long forgotten past and reminds us that it has happened within our own lifetimes.
8- An unpopular book you believe should be a Best-Seller - Year of the Hangman by Gary Blackwood; I love this author and it's a pity he isn't more well known. But this book is one of his masterpieces, a work that really makes you examine our country's founding from a new angle. A great work of alternative history for any American Revolution buff.

There's a noose on the cover and it's still not as traumatizing as My Name is Not Angelica.
9- A Book you’ve read more than once - Really? If I like a book there is a pretty good chance I've read it more than once. In fact, this is like walking up to the average person and asking if there is a movie they've seen more than once.
10- The first novel you remember reading - Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder; I've mentioned it once before but this was certainly the first big book I ever tackled. I will always remember it fondly for that fact.
11- The Book that made you fall in love with reading - Too many to remember.
12- A book so emotionally draining you couldn’t complete it or had to set aside for a bit - Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup; While the book itself is emotional, I think that it was other emotions I was feeling at the time that made it hard to finish.
13- Favorite childhood book - Panda Cake by Rosalie Sandler
14- Book that should be on hs/college required reading list - Beowulf; Surprisingly few people I've met have read this epic. It was on my high school reading list and was one of the best books that we read for a class.
15- Favorite book dealing with foreign culture - The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling; This was a bit of a toughie, most of my favorite children's authors are Brits but the British way of life doesn't seem so foreign especially some of the older works. So I decided to run with a book I really like that happens to be set in a country very different from my own.
16- Favorite book turned movie - Bambi by Felix Salten; I took this question to mean a book that became a movie and the movie improved the book. And if ever there were a movie that I found ten times more enjoyable than the book it is Bambi.
17- Book turned movie and completely desecrated - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle; It's a shame because this is a book that actually deserves a good movie but won't likely ever get one. After all Disney tried, does any other company care to see if they can get the rights and still have a film budget? Probably not.
But, for the love of all that is right in this world, avoid this movie too.
18- A Book You can’t find on shelves anymore that you love - Voyage of the Basset by James Christensen; This book is a conundrum. The professional reviewers hated it and said to skip it by; that children didn't deserve this overwrought, sentimental work. But everyone who read it seems to have enjoyed it. Sadly it is rare enough that the only copy on Amazon will often be more than fifty. I was lucky to stumble across this book and buy it on a whim while it was cheap.
19- A Book that changed your mind about a particular subject (non-fiction) - The Freedom Writers' Diary by Erin Gruwell; This is a book that shows just how difficult life can be even in the US and how important school is. Made me consider just how much of a difference a teacher can make.
20-A Book you would recommend to an ignorant/racist/closed minded person - Depends on their ignorance.
21-A guilty pleasure book - Guardians of Ga'Hoole Series by Kathryn Lasky; Yes, they are book series about a society of owls. Now, leave me alone so I can read.
22-Favorite Series - Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis; If I could name my kids Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy without getting weird looks I probably would. Also, I think it would be fun to put a secret office behind a wardrobe for reading, writing, and painting.
23- Favorite Romance Novel - Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare; Not technically a novel but I really hate romance so this was a close as I was going to get.
24 - A Book you haven't read but feel that you should - Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; I'm a twenty two year old bibliophile who wants to teach, I really ought to read this book.
25 - Favorite Autobiographical/Biographical book - Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder; I know it's only loosely autobiographical but several of the books are set in my home state and it is fun to be able to go somewhere you read about.
26-A Book you wish would be written - A book about George Schuster for independent aged readers. I feel that there's a great story there.
27- A Book you would write if you had all the resources - See #26
28- A Book you wish you never read - Watership Down by Richard Adams
29- An Author that you completely avoid/hate wont read - Nicholas Sparks, Willa Cather, and Stephanie Meyer to name a few.
30 - An Author that you will read whatever they put out - Well, since most of the people on my favorites shelf are dead, I'm going to have to go with J.K. Rowling.

We all know it could be this and still top the bestsellers list.

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