Revelations

It's a completely cool, multi-purpose blog.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Memeing of life

Wooh, I got tagged with a meme by someone I've never actually met. How very blogospherical. Here goes:

1. One book you have read more than once - Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

An obvious choice for an Arsenal boy, but it's an easy read that covers a lot more ground than the football theme suggests: masculinity, responsibility, Gus Caesar.

2. One book you would want on a desert island - Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne

I suppose you would need something long, substantial and life-affirming. This is both hilarious and ingenious, plus it contains great typographical gags including some illustrative squiggles and a black page to commemorate the death of a character. I think it would keep me going in hard times.

3. One book that made you laugh - The Complete Yes, Prime Mister by Jonathan Lynn & Anthony Jay

Brilliantly adapted from the TV show, this is my ultimate comfort read.

4. One book that made you cry - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

I probably cry more at movies than at books - "You're mother can't be with you any more, Bambi" Blub! - but I was full on sobbing at the ending to this one. It's not even particularly sad, I just found it extremely affecting.

5. One book you wish you had written - Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Structurally dazzling, narratively gripping, hilarious and in the most perfect prose ever written. I was reading a lot of Nabokov when I was supposed to be doing creative writing as an undergrad. I would hack out something that I considered just about passable, then I'd read some of this and weep long and hard into my warm beer. I ended up failing.

6. One book you wish had never been written - Clarissa by Samuel Richardson

I had to read it to complete my 100 novels thing. Sheer tedium - 1600 pages of it.

7. One book you are currently reading - Mapp & Lucia by E.F.Benson

Pleasant English whimsy in the vein of Wodehouse.

8. One book you have been meaning to read - The Bible

I'm gradually working my way through it. What a very strange thing to base your life around.

9. One book that changed your life - Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

This is tough. I could give easily justified answers for albums (Screamadelica) or movies (Vertigo). I plumped for this cos I gave it to M on our first date and she was impressed, so Maupin could take some credit for the existence of my baby girl. Marvellous how the world works.

10. Now tag five people:

I don't know five people

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought my Co-Pilot and I were a bit queer - in the old fashioned sense of the word.

Before children we used to read aloud books to each other, taking turns. We read the entire Barbary Lane series out loud.

Glad to hear another m/f couple bonded over a gay classic!

5:57 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home