BookMuncher is currently reading Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters.
I’ve been a DailyLit member since August 21, 2009.
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Etc. - If YOU were GUY MONTAG
Poetry: John Donne, Shakespeare of course, Song of Solomon, and Ronsard for the French speaking citizens of the future dystopia. "Allons voir si la rose, qui ce matin avait declose, sa robe de poupre au soleil..." At one time in the past, I had a deep fear that I might someday be imprisoned without books, and took to memorizing poetry so I could recite to myself if I were incarcerated in the Chateau d'If, for example...
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #11: Your Questions
What books most affected your personality as you grew up? What character did you most identify with? What book outside your favorite genres most impressed or surprised you? What book do you wish you could get yourself to read? What is your favorite animal book? (animals as characters or about animals...)Dog book? Horse book? What book do you wish you could get friends/family to read, but no one "gets" it?
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #37: Where to?
A Year in Provence...but read "A Dog's Life" for another view of Provence from the POV of the Englishman's adopted French mutt! It's really good fun: "Chickens are that perfect combination of sport and nourishment" says the mutt, about his habit of raiding the barnyard of the neighbors. I have re-read and recommended that book many times.
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #35: Literary Friends
Of course, who wouldn't want Lizzie Bennett as best friend? Let's add Hermione from Harry Potter--I like her smarts, loyalty, and general sturdiness of character. Also, from Dies the Fire series by ST Stirling, the head of the newly formed post-apocalyptic Mackenzie clan: Juniper. I would want her by my side if battling cannibals, raging maniac SCA warlords or other disasters. Worst: the Lord Protector from Dies the Fire. A former college prof, SCA fighter, sadist John Norman-wannabe with the power to enact his gruesome fantasies! Yuck!
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #32: Guilty Pleasures
Anything by one of the latest crop of Jane Austen/Georgette Heyer genre: but I refuse on general principles to read that new Jane Austen Zombies book! One must preserve some dignity! Romances were a secret sin for many years, but ...even...I could...not...read...Barbara Cartland...without...going ..into...dot..dot..dot..paroxysms!
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #33: Go International
Colette is, as, will always be my most beloved author. When a child in French primary school, I was required to learn to take "dictee"--dictation--of portions of her work. I think her stories are fascinating and her language style is precise, yet elaborate, curling like a trailing vine around a dormer window....
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #38: Books on Repeat
Every Winter Solstice, I unpack "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper and re-read it, as slowly as possible. An Arthurian/modern day time-traveling story of a young boy who discovers his powers to keep the world safe from evil, it is truly exquisite Anyone who has ever gone to see a Christmas Revels performance should read this book--Susan Cooper wrote the wonderful poem at the end of the performance. Harry Potter is great, a great beautiful tapestry of a story, but the Dark is Rising is an exquisite miniature mosaic of the same themes, written for the same age group.
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #30: Books Go To Camp
During my teenage years, my family went camping in Montana. I remember that summer so well. We had to hide in the outdoor toilets when a biker gang rode through the campground. I was sure they were real live Orcs, because I was reading The Lord of the Rings--all three books--throughout that summer. Sitting on a rock ledge over a mountain stream, in the warm sun, surrounded by Ents, I mean sweet smelling pine trees...
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #31: American Writers
As of this moment, the author of The Egyptian and Prague--Arthur Phillips. The Egyptian had me enthralled: history, unreliable narrators, changing points of view, changing time frames--a mystery in the truest sense of the word.
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #14: Books You Hate
My guy, a scientist, reads fiction only if it passes my scrutiny first. He reads slowly, like many science types, and has ADHD, so concentrating on fiction is difficult. Our first year together, I recommended SHOGUN, by James Clavell. He read it all the way through, and when the heroine died, he threw the book across the room and bellowed. He really, really hated the ending--so after that I was careful not to recommend anything where the girl gets killed He said it was like watching a Chuck Norris flick, where the girlfriend gets killed as an excuse for mayhem! So I think his dislike of Shogun is a rather sweet comment on his adoration of all things female, like me!
Question of the Week - Question of the Week #39: Paper vs. Pixels
I am trying the DailyLit approach because a head injury has made it hard to concentrate for long periods of time. I'm hoping this approach will ease my despair about losing my reading pleasures and maybe even get me back to longer stints.