the_other_sandy (
the_other_sandy) wrote2009-07-06 08:29 pm
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Monday Meme -- 15 Books
Instructions: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.
1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
When I really like a movie based on a book, I always go back and read the original book to see what the characters and events are like in "canon." When I was in 8th grade, my mom made me watch the Richard Lester Musketeer movies and I loved them; therefore, I dragged The Three Musketeers around school with me for 2 months while I read it. The book was very different from the movies, but I loved it, and I wound up loving the characters even more in the book than I did in the movies. While my peers were scribbling "I ♥ Simon LeBon" on their spiral notebooks, I had a huge crush on d'Artagnan.
2. Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey
I loved the world-building in this book. The magic and its application totally made sense, and the mage battles still give me goosebumps.
3. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
I love all the Lord Peter Wimsey books, but Lord Peter has some serious psychological issues, so most of the books have some serious angst in them. This book featured Peter undercover as an ad copy writer and was huge amounts of silly fun.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Not only did it have great world-building, but it played with language in a way that's my favorite type of humor. My friends and I still quote from it despite having read it 20+ years ago.
5. Hard Core Roadshow: a Screenwriter's Diary by Noel S. Baker
Noel S. Baker wrote a book about his involvement with the movie Hard Core Logo from the day he was hired to write the script, through the entire moviemaking process: funding, casting, rewrites, location scouting, more rewrites, shooting, yet more rewrites, editing, and showing the film at festivals. It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how movies get made. When I saw how the film evolved and what it almost turned out to be, I became completely convinced that good movies are only ever made by accident. I still shudder over Bruce McDonald nearly having to take funding from MTV as a last resort, with the condition that MTV wanted to change all the band members into 20-something women and have the movie set in New York. ::shudders::
6. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
I had some issues with the narrative, but there are some scenes that really stuck with me, and I loved Richard St. Vier. I also took a friend's advice and bought the edition that included 3 short stories featuring Alec and Richard. Those stories went a long way toward clarifying Alec's feelings for Richard for me. The last line in "The Death of the Duke" ("Oh, I knew you'd come.") makes me cry every time.
7. Battlestar Galactica by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston
Both my parents were SF fans, but neither of them were big readers. As a result, I grew up watching stuff like Star Trek and Space: 1999, but the only SF I read was the kind of "meaningful" stories required for school, which always seemed to be about a nuclear apocalypse or humans as zoo exhibits on alien planets. I just assumed that all SF books were crushing downers and avoided them. Then my dad bought me the novelization of the Battlestar Galactica pilot because I was a big fan of the series. The book was considerably less cheesy than the TV series and I loved it. Once I discovered that not all SF books required Prozac to get through, it opened up a whole new genre for me to read.
8. Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
A fascinating look into the art of criminal profiling and how it evolved. Anyone who thinks that every criminal has the potential to be rehabilitated needs to read this book.
9. Gasping by Ben Elton
This is actually the script for a play that was running in London when I went to school there for a semester. I didn't get to see it (I didn't even hear about it until the run was almost over; I went to his other play, Silly Cow, instead), but one of my roommates saw it and loved it, so I bought the book. It is the most brilliant satire of big business I've ever seen and years ahead of its time. It completely cemented my decision not to pursue anything resembling business for a career or to work for a for-profit organization.
10. To Sleep With the Angels: the Story of a Fire by David Cowan and John Kuenster
An account of a fatal Catholic elementary school fire in my old neighborhood in Chicago. It resonated on a lot of levels. Three of my dad's cousins survived that fire, but every family knew someone who didn't. I went to a different Catholic school near there (many years later). I happened to be going to a Catholic grad school in that neighborhood when the book came out, and a lot of people came up to talk to me about it when they saw me reading it in public. There are still a lot of people in the area who were touched by that fire in one way or another. Plus, it's an awesome book. The first hundred pages or so are fairly horrific (there's no way to sugarcoat what happened to those kids), but it never degenerates into sensationalism.
11. The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey
Best ABC book a kid could possibly have. Plus, it's a great vocabulary builder. Once a year, my mom used to call my school and tell them I had a terrible case of ennui and wouldn't be in that day, call in sick to her boss, and take me out to do something fun for the heck of it.
12. The Things in Mouldy Manor by Keith Moseley and Andy Everitt-Stewart
This is a children's pop-up book that my mom gave me for Halloween one year. I was an adult by that time, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. Anyway, I'm completely in love with the art in this book. Some of the touches are so subtle that it may take 2 or 3 readings to catch them all. The text is also terrific in that it works on 2 levels. Children will be creeped out by it as a straight story, while adults will appreciate the bone dry humor that goes with the drawings.
13. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
Another one of my favorite Lord Peter Wimsey books, only one of the more angsty ones. As a bonus, Peter's new wife (and the reader) finally gets to hear the story of how Bunter came to work for Peter as his manservant. Bunter had been Peter's sergeant during WWI, and Peter was so traumatized by his war service that Bunter just showed up one day, announced he'd been hired, and set about taking care of Peter for 2 years until he was able to do it himself. It was ridiculously sweet, and once you read it, you'll know why both Bunter and Peter's mother cried the morning that Peter sent his breakfast eggs back and asked for sausage instead.
14. X/1999 Prelude by Clamp
I'd read plenty of graphic novels before, but this is the first manga I'd ever read. I was cataloging it at work and the art and the story just grabbed me. It was my gateway drug into both manga and anime.
15. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: the Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters by Joan Ryan
Reading this book was utterly infuriating and really put me off watching both of these sports for good, and I think a couple of the most world-renowned coaches should have been arrested for child abuse. Bela and Marta Karolyi so severely limited the caloric intake of the Women's Olympic Gymnastics team (and routinely searched their rooms and gym bags for contraband food) in an effort to keep the girls tiny that the men's team resorted to smuggling food into the practice gym for them. The book also discusses the damage done to young athletes by not letting them eat enough (largely in stress fractures due to brittle bones caused by poor nutrition). Some of these girls destroy their health for life in the name of their brief athletic careers.
1. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
When I really like a movie based on a book, I always go back and read the original book to see what the characters and events are like in "canon." When I was in 8th grade, my mom made me watch the Richard Lester Musketeer movies and I loved them; therefore, I dragged The Three Musketeers around school with me for 2 months while I read it. The book was very different from the movies, but I loved it, and I wound up loving the characters even more in the book than I did in the movies. While my peers were scribbling "I ♥ Simon LeBon" on their spiral notebooks, I had a huge crush on d'Artagnan.
2. Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey
I loved the world-building in this book. The magic and its application totally made sense, and the mage battles still give me goosebumps.
3. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
I love all the Lord Peter Wimsey books, but Lord Peter has some serious psychological issues, so most of the books have some serious angst in them. This book featured Peter undercover as an ad copy writer and was huge amounts of silly fun.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Not only did it have great world-building, but it played with language in a way that's my favorite type of humor. My friends and I still quote from it despite having read it 20+ years ago.
5. Hard Core Roadshow: a Screenwriter's Diary by Noel S. Baker
Noel S. Baker wrote a book about his involvement with the movie Hard Core Logo from the day he was hired to write the script, through the entire moviemaking process: funding, casting, rewrites, location scouting, more rewrites, shooting, yet more rewrites, editing, and showing the film at festivals. It's a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how movies get made. When I saw how the film evolved and what it almost turned out to be, I became completely convinced that good movies are only ever made by accident. I still shudder over Bruce McDonald nearly having to take funding from MTV as a last resort, with the condition that MTV wanted to change all the band members into 20-something women and have the movie set in New York. ::shudders::
6. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
I had some issues with the narrative, but there are some scenes that really stuck with me, and I loved Richard St. Vier. I also took a friend's advice and bought the edition that included 3 short stories featuring Alec and Richard. Those stories went a long way toward clarifying Alec's feelings for Richard for me. The last line in "The Death of the Duke" ("Oh, I knew you'd come.") makes me cry every time.
7. Battlestar Galactica by Glen A. Larson and Robert Thurston
Both my parents were SF fans, but neither of them were big readers. As a result, I grew up watching stuff like Star Trek and Space: 1999, but the only SF I read was the kind of "meaningful" stories required for school, which always seemed to be about a nuclear apocalypse or humans as zoo exhibits on alien planets. I just assumed that all SF books were crushing downers and avoided them. Then my dad bought me the novelization of the Battlestar Galactica pilot because I was a big fan of the series. The book was considerably less cheesy than the TV series and I loved it. Once I discovered that not all SF books required Prozac to get through, it opened up a whole new genre for me to read.
8. Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker
A fascinating look into the art of criminal profiling and how it evolved. Anyone who thinks that every criminal has the potential to be rehabilitated needs to read this book.
9. Gasping by Ben Elton
This is actually the script for a play that was running in London when I went to school there for a semester. I didn't get to see it (I didn't even hear about it until the run was almost over; I went to his other play, Silly Cow, instead), but one of my roommates saw it and loved it, so I bought the book. It is the most brilliant satire of big business I've ever seen and years ahead of its time. It completely cemented my decision not to pursue anything resembling business for a career or to work for a for-profit organization.
10. To Sleep With the Angels: the Story of a Fire by David Cowan and John Kuenster
An account of a fatal Catholic elementary school fire in my old neighborhood in Chicago. It resonated on a lot of levels. Three of my dad's cousins survived that fire, but every family knew someone who didn't. I went to a different Catholic school near there (many years later). I happened to be going to a Catholic grad school in that neighborhood when the book came out, and a lot of people came up to talk to me about it when they saw me reading it in public. There are still a lot of people in the area who were touched by that fire in one way or another. Plus, it's an awesome book. The first hundred pages or so are fairly horrific (there's no way to sugarcoat what happened to those kids), but it never degenerates into sensationalism.
11. The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey
Best ABC book a kid could possibly have. Plus, it's a great vocabulary builder. Once a year, my mom used to call my school and tell them I had a terrible case of ennui and wouldn't be in that day, call in sick to her boss, and take me out to do something fun for the heck of it.
12. The Things in Mouldy Manor by Keith Moseley and Andy Everitt-Stewart
This is a children's pop-up book that my mom gave me for Halloween one year. I was an adult by that time, but Halloween is my favorite holiday. Anyway, I'm completely in love with the art in this book. Some of the touches are so subtle that it may take 2 or 3 readings to catch them all. The text is also terrific in that it works on 2 levels. Children will be creeped out by it as a straight story, while adults will appreciate the bone dry humor that goes with the drawings.
13. Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers
Another one of my favorite Lord Peter Wimsey books, only one of the more angsty ones. As a bonus, Peter's new wife (and the reader) finally gets to hear the story of how Bunter came to work for Peter as his manservant. Bunter had been Peter's sergeant during WWI, and Peter was so traumatized by his war service that Bunter just showed up one day, announced he'd been hired, and set about taking care of Peter for 2 years until he was able to do it himself. It was ridiculously sweet, and once you read it, you'll know why both Bunter and Peter's mother cried the morning that Peter sent his breakfast eggs back and asked for sausage instead.
14. X/1999 Prelude by Clamp
I'd read plenty of graphic novels before, but this is the first manga I'd ever read. I was cataloging it at work and the art and the story just grabbed me. It was my gateway drug into both manga and anime.
15. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: the Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters by Joan Ryan
Reading this book was utterly infuriating and really put me off watching both of these sports for good, and I think a couple of the most world-renowned coaches should have been arrested for child abuse. Bela and Marta Karolyi so severely limited the caloric intake of the Women's Olympic Gymnastics team (and routinely searched their rooms and gym bags for contraband food) in an effort to keep the girls tiny that the men's team resorted to smuggling food into the practice gym for them. The book also discusses the damage done to young athletes by not letting them eat enough (largely in stress fractures due to brittle bones caused by poor nutrition). Some of these girls destroy their health for life in the name of their brief athletic careers.
no subject
my mom used to call my school and tell them I had a terrible case of ennui and wouldn't be in that day
1. Awesome mom!
2. Not so awesome school. *L*
no subject