Saturday, December 03, 2005

Tagged for a book meme

Tagged by Ray with another book meme--list 15 personal facts and/or preferences about books.

I can deal with book memes, so I'm happy to play.

Here we go:

1--Eudora Welty's prose is so delicious I love to read her aloud, to myself or to others--doesn't matter either way.

2--I actually love to read aloud just in general, now that I think of it. Some authors are better for it than others, though.

3--If I particularly love a book, I'll buy extra copies so I have copies to force on give away to friends and acquaintances

4--My favorite childhood books were The Black Stallion books, and The Happy Hollisters

5--I discovered spec-fic when I found a tattered paperback copy of A.E. Van Vogt's Slan in a box of old books in my dad's auto-shop waiting area--I was completely smitten and besotted with the genre, by the time I reached the end. I promptly read my way through Heinlein and Asimov, that same summer.

6--I wrote my master's thesis primarily on Stephen King's Pet Sematary--much to the bemusement and grudging admiration of my faculty advisor, department chair, and thesis committee. They liked it.

7--I'd rather read than watch anything on TV.

8--I usually have more than one book with me, everywhere I go.

9--I read as much or more nonfiction as fiction.

10--I can't go in a bookstore without buying a book. Or twelve.

11--I'm particularly addicted to How-To sorts of books: How To Tile Your Kitchen With Coconut Shells...How To Make Goat Cheese With An Oversized Tupperware and a Crock Pot...How To Raise Bees In Your Garage Without Being Stung to Death...

You get the idea, I'm sure.

12--I adore reference books. Especially books about words. The longer, more detailed the information, the better. Etymologies are soooooooo sexy...

13--I have too many books. I have books I literally haven't handled in years, but I cart them with me from place to place, whenever I move--and I can't bring myself to get rid of a single one of them.

14--I periodically reread much-loved books because the sense of familiarity is like catching up with a dear old friend. I have books I've read ten or more times.

15--I'm always a bit afraid, when I start a new book by an author I particularly like. I'm afraid this book will disappoint me. I'm afraid this book won't be as good as the author's others, and the let-down will taint the joy I feel when I get the next. It hardly ever happens that way. Still.

My god. Reading the above sounds downright...dysfunctional. Heh.

Okay, I'll tag Medievalist (on her blog of choice)--just leave us a link
Jen, on Creatif
Amy on Ruining My Eyes, if she happens to meander by
and Coyote Beta at Coyote Wild

(hint, hint: Someone should tag Frank, at Remaindered Random Musings
I would have, but I didn't wanna tag everyone I knew, so y'all could spread the love! *grin*)

13 comments:

Joanne said...

I love etymologies! Know what you mean about dragging books from move to move. I have some sets that have been with me since I was seven years old. I need more bookcases. :D

emeraldcite said...

Great list! If I could choose a violent death, it would be by an avalanche of books...you know, if I had to choose...:)

Anonymous said...

I start getting nervous before I'm even 1/2 way through a book about having a great "next" book.

A super list, Mac! And like Joanne, I've got a number of my childhood books, wouldn't give 'em up for the world!

Anonymous said...

Hiya Mac! V. cool meme. I just posted my list and tagged Frank for you. :)

Unknown said...

Cool meme, Mac. I'll do it tomorrow when I'm capable of thought.

Frank Baron said...

Um...what's a tag?

Is it like the kids' game? Am I "it?"

I am aren't I?

Amy? What have I ever done to you? ;)

I'll check my blog and see if there's a clue there I missed.

Cool thoughts Mac. I like 'em.

Gonna steal 'em. :)

Lisa Spangenberg said...

OK.

I've done the best I can here.

ohdawno said...

At least I now know I have one "for certain customer" for my "How To Make 101 Lovely Mosaics With Acrylic Nail Clippings" book.

I wanna read that dissertation.

Mac said...

oh...mosaics! What an interesting idea...

shannon said...

You wrote your thesis on Stephen King's Pet Semetary!!!???!!!

That is so darn cool. I have an MA in English (rhetoric & comp emphasis), and one of the things that irks me about English Studies is the snooty attitude of the Literature people. Brit lit, especially.

So, what was your thesis about, exactly? I'm dying to hear about it!

Mac said...

Hiya, Leapb4--specifically, it's about horror fiction as cathartic exploration of taboos--I concocted a bs approach I called Heisenbergian Lit Crit, and tackled the protagonist, Louis Creed, as essentially unreliable: That is, Creed at the center of this maelstrom of death and destruction as a result of his own incest/oedipal impulses, and anal/oral perversion.

I related Pet Sematary to the horror tradition, going back to Shelley's Frankenstein and Stoker's Dracula, in the discussion of horror as an exploration of taboos. I also pulled in some of King's own essays on writing, and especially on writing horror.

*grin*

It was sort of silly good fun, really.

shannon said...

Fascinating! I think King's work deserves more acknowledgement from the literati. :o)

Mac said...

I think it's coming. He won a national book award--last year? year before last?--and there was next to nothing in the academic literature about his work, when I did the thesis in 97. Now, ten years later, there's a lot more out there. *grin*

I agree with you though, and I consider him a major figure of 20th century American lit--sort of our Henry James. His short stories are, in some ways, superior to his novels, as well.