Memery

Yes, I made up the word. I’ve been seeing this One Book meme on many other blogs and thought I’d give it a whirl.

One book that changed your life:
Mythology by Edith Hamilton is what started me in Classics. I took Latin for four years in high school because of this book and went on to major in Classics in college. This book started me thinking and reading more about history, language, art, math, etc.

One book that you’ve read more than once:
I’ve read Jane Eyre probably eight or nine times. I loved that book from the first time I read it, in 6th grade I think.

One book you’d want on a desert island:
This is a nerdy answer, but the Iliad. Every time I pick up the book, I discover something new.

One book that made you laugh:
The Sea by John Banville. Just kidding. It’s hard to think of a book that made me laugh all the way through it, but I’d have to go with My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. The account of his unusual upbringing had me laughing periodically and even snorting coffee through my nose once.

One book that made you cry:
Chimamanda Adichie’s quiet Purple Hibiscus had me crying by the end. The desperation of the characters caught in a miserable life not of their choosing made my chest ache.

One book that you wish had been written:
There are so many books in the world that I haven’t read yet that I don’t know a good answer to this one. There are a lot of dead authors who could have produced great works I bet.

One book that you wish had never been written:
Man, I could come up with a whole post based on this question. How about Danielle Steele’s tenth book? I’m not even sure what it is, but I imagine she doesn’t need to keep on writing that same novel about crashing marriages amongst the jetset, each with a new (and lame) title.

One book you’re currently reading:
I’m in the middle of Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn right now. It’s his intense and elegant recounting of the search for relatives murdered by the Nazis.

One book you’ve been meaning to read:
William Gaddis’ The Recognitions—I’ve never made it past page 100. I’m determined to finish that book one day.

Feel free to leave your list in the comments. The lists vary so much already, I’d love to hear other people’s answers.

3 thoughts on “Memery”

  2. Jordan

    I believe it’s COMING OUT. Danielle Steel is all my mother ever reads. When I used to tell her to walk twenty feet behind me at the mall, it was for a reason. **laugh**

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  3. John Fox

    One book that changed your life:
    Francis Schaeffer’s trilogy – Dad gave me an inscribed copy in high school, and I must have read it more than fifteen times, soaking in all the philosophy.

    One book that you’ve read more than once:
    You can’t get an more masculine, or more inspiring, than Old Man and the Sea.

    One book you’d want on a desert island:
    Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. It’s richer than brownies. The ones that grandmother makes with goooood chocolate.

    One book that made you laugh:
    I nearly pissed my pants at every chapter of The Confederacy of Dunces. And the author’s story – committing suicide, then his book published posthumously to win a pulitzer – is a tear-wrenching story. But second in line (for funniness) is Catch 22.

    One book that made you cry:
    Oh man, I remember the first one: Where the Red Fern Grows. Cheesy kid book, I know, but I bawled for the dog. And, needless to say, I was not the bawling type.

    One book that you wish had been written:
    The one I’m writing. No, wait, I guess that wouldn’t give me a chance. Um, perhaps for Fitzgerald to finish his last one?

    One book that you wish had never been written:
    Easy. The Da Vinci Code. And everything else than Dan Brown has published. Or even thought about writing.

    One book you’re currently reading:
    Fortress of Solitude by Johnathan Lethem. It’s revered by literary folk, so I thought I’d give it a try.

    One book you’ve been meaning to read:
    Underworld, by Don Delillo

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