Countdown book meme

[eleanoreader]

List:

Ten books you became utterly lost in
Nine books that you would give to an alien civilisation who were curious about human storytelling culture[s]
Eight books that left you wondering if you were missing the point
Seven non-fiction books that engaged you as much as really good fiction might
Six fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed
Five heavy / cerebral works of literature that are worth the effort
Four short stories you think everyone should read
Three things from books (images, ideas, characters) that really snagged your imagination.
Two genres that are in danger of taking over your shelves
One literary series that was completely satisfying from page one to page done

Comments

[eleanoreader]

Ten books you became utterly lost in:
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, Legend by David Gemmell, The Good Companions by J.B. Priestly, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguru, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey, The Cider House Rules, John Irving, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gorden by Stephen King, Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo.

Nine books that you would give to an alien civilisation who were curious about human storytelling culture[s]:
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Aesop’s Fables, From a Buick 8 by Stephen King, The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl.

Eight books that left you wondering if you were missing the point:
Atonement by Ian McEwan, The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor, Engleby by Sebastian Faulks, Mr Norris Changes Trains by Christopher Isherwood, Tess of the D’urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (okay, I got the point, I just hated the book); Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel by Diane Setterfield.

Seven non-fiction books that engaged you as much as really good fiction might:
Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson, Quartered Safe Out Here by John Fraser Macdonald, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, The Poet and the Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery by Simon Worrall, A.A. Milne, His Life by Ann Thwaite, Papillon by Henri Charriere, Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

Six fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed:
Severus Snape, Hercule Poirot (don’t ask), Detective Bill Slider (Cynthia Harrold-Eagles’ detective), Sam Vimes (Discworld), Austen’s Mr. Darcy, Jeeves (all we learn here is that intellect is hot).

Five heavy / cerebral works of literature that are worth the effort:
The unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (not so literarily heavy as literally heavy); Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre, The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler.

Four short stories you think everyone should read:
Daughter of Regals by Stephen Donaldson, from a collection of the same title, Thinking Meat by Terry Bisson, 1408 by Stephen King, from ‘Everything’s Eventual’, Neil Gaiman’s Chivalry.

Three things from books (images, ideas, characters) that really snagged your imagination:
Severus Snape’s backstory from the Harry Potter books (spoiler alert!); loving and betraying Lily Potter, living with that shame and anger, and ultimately becoming a hero, but without living to attain personal redemption, all make for an unusually dark and compelling character for a children’s book; 2) The daemons of Philip Pullman’s ‘Dark Materials’ trilogy and 3) Roland’s guns from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.

Two genres that are in danger of taking over your shelves:
Crime and fantasy/sci-fi, with historical fiction mounting an invasion from the North (shelf by my bed).

One literary series that was completely satisfying from page one to page done
Hmm… I’d love to say Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, because it’s my favourite series, but there were undoubtedly places where it fell down, so I I’m going to go with Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber.

[libelula]

Ten books you became utterly lost in -

~ The Virtu (Sarah Monette)
~ Transformation (Carol Berg)
~ Breath and Bone (Carol Berg)
~ Q-Squared (Peter David)
~ Chasm City (Alastair Reynolds)
~ Catspaw (Joan D. Vinge)
~ Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
~ Dracula (Bran Stoker)
~ The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle)
~ Michael and the Secret War (Cassandra Golds)


Nine books that you would give to an alien civilisation that was curious about human storytelling culture[s] -

~ The Complete Works of Shakespeare
~ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) - so they can have a good laugh
~ The Tale of Genji (Murasaki)
~ Monster (Naoki Urasawa)
~ The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkein) - or would I?
~ Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
~ American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
~ The Time Machine (H.G. Wells)
~ The Sandman series (Neil Gaiman)


Eight books that left you wondering if you were missing the point -

~ The Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
~ The Woman Who Did (Grant Allen)
~ The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
~ Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
~ Slaves Unchained (Susan Wright)
~ A Lyrical Look at Life, vol. 3 (Mark Stellinga)
~ The Angels of Resistance (David V. Mammina)
~ Time Will Reveal (Black Coffee)


Seven non-fiction books that engaged you as much as really good fiction might -

~ The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)
~ The Bounty (Caroline Alexander)
~ The Kiss (Kathryn Harrison)
~ The Little Black Book of Tea (Mike Heneberry) - okay, it didn't engage me like fiction does, but I had fun reading it
~ In Praise of Shadows (Junichiro Tanizaki) -
~ The Sandman: King of Dreams (Alisa Kwitney)
~ Tarot Journaling (Corrine Kenner) -


Six fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed -

~ Mildmay (Doctrines of Labyrinth)
~ Sherlock Holmes
~ Sparrow (Michael and the Secret War)
~ Bill Weasley (Harry Potter)
~ Howl (Howl's Moving Castle)
~ Cat (Catspaw)


Five heavy / cerebral works of literature that are worth the effort -

I can't answer this question, to be perfectly honest. I'm not sure if that says something about me or about "cerebral" works of literature. *eyebrow raise*


Four short stories you think everyone should read -

~ "A Scandal in Bohemia" (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
~ "Tideline" (Elizabeth Bear)
~ "Eulogy for a Demon Lover" (Sarah Monette)
~ "The Black Cat" (Edgar Alan Poe)


Three things from books (images, ideas, characters) that really snagged your imagination -

~ The possibility of other worlds, whether fantastical ones or alien ones
~ Unicorns and Dragons and wot.
~ Daemons!


Two genres that are in danger of taking over your shelves -

~ Fantasy and Science Fiction


One series that was completely satisfying from page one to page done -

~ The Doctrines of Labyrinth series by Sarah Monette. =O

[lifebecomesart]

Ten books you became utterly lost in:
A Fine and Private Place Peter S. Beagle
The Prestige Christopher Priest
The Neverending Story Michael Ende
The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis
The Jungle Upton Sinclair
Brave New World Aldous Huxley
The Last Unicorn Peter S. Beagle
The Time Machine H.G. Wells
1984 George Orwell
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Patrick Suskind



Nine books that you would give to an alien civilization who were curious about human storytelling culture[s]
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky
Beowulf
The Complete Far Side Gary Larson (I so would give this to aliens)
The Best of Wodehouse P.G. Wodehouse
a mythology collection that contains myths from various cultures

Eight books that left you wondering if you were missing the point
Disgrace J.M. Coetzee
Pricksongs & Descants Robert Coover
The Stranger Albert Camus
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Everything by Ann Rand
A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen (is it cheating to list plays?)
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy (Good gosh I HATED this book)

Seven non-fiction books that engaged you as much as really good fiction might
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death Deborah Blum
Dibs: In Search of Self Virginia M. Axline
The Coming of the Fairies Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away Bill Bryson
Hotel Babylon Imogen Edwards-Jones
No Direction Home: The Life And Music Of Bob Dylan Robert Shelton
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters Daniel Stashower, Jon Lellenberg, Charles Foley, Arthur Conan Doyle


Six fictional characters you wouldn't kick out of bed
Sherlock Holmes
Tesla (in The Prestige, so that makes him fictional)
Jeeves
The Pilot Le Petit Prince
Aragorn LOTR
Ford Prefect The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Five heavy / cerebral works of literature that are worth the effort
Crime and Punishment Dostoevsky
The Divine Comedy Dante
The Trial Kafka
Amerika Kafka
World as Will & Idea Arthur Schopenhauer

Four short stories you think everyone should read
Diary of a Madman Gogol
The Man with the Twisted Lip Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
A Modest Proposal Jonathan Swift (I'm cheating, this is an essay)
Hills Like White Elephants Ernest Hemingway (Oddly enough I hate Hemingway 99% of the time, but this story has always stayed with me)

Three things from books (images, ideas, characters) that really snagged your imagination.
The use of smell as a main descriptive force in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
The evolution of Vulcan in Spock's World (I went high brow there, I know)
The Time Traveler in The Time Machine

Two genres that are in danger of taking over your shelves
Sci-fi, TV spin offs

One literary series that was completely satisfying from page one to page done
I don't read many series, but I loved the Narnia books growing up.