Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A Meme for Booklovers

This meme first appeared as a Facebook MeMe. I've edited it a bit, because I found it a bit snotty in it's original form.

1. Your favorite novel when you were in elementary school: The Little House on the Prairie series. I read them again and again.

2. Your favorite novel when you were in Middle School (or grades 6-9): Roots - I read Roots in 6th grade as a special project for a history class - and fell in love with it.

3. Your favorite novel when you were in high school: Wuthering Heights

4. Favorite novel from college: The Handmaid's Tale - I don't actually remember reading many novels in college - I had so many other things to read for classes. But, I know I read this in or around college.

5. Your all-time favorite novel: I can't pick just one - The Poisonwood Bible, Gone to Soldiers

6. Your favorite novelist: Once again, I can't pick just one: Marge Piercy and Barbara Kingsolver

7. The best novel you've read that you think others may not have read: Gone to Soldiers - This is an historical novel by Marge Piercy told with a variety of voices. It's well written and engaging.

8. The funniest book you’ve read: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson wins hands down. I read it first on a plane and kept getting odd looks because I was laughing out loud.

9. The longest novel you’ve read: This is hard to say. Candidates include: Moby Dick, Roots, The Stand by Stephen King, any of the novels by Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin, and Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett.

10. The most influential book you read in college: The Redemption of God: A Theology of Mutual Relationship by L. Carter Heyward. I still go back to this book periodically for some thoughts about God and God's relationship with humanity.

11. The most influential academic book you read in a master’s program: In my MAT program, I read a book about the practice of tracking students based on ability that changed my views about this practice forever. In my MDiv, there were a number, but I was particularly moved by Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature by Sallie McFague. Also A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez.

12. The most influential non-fiction book you have read recently: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan has had a huge impact on my life and my food choices.

13. Your current favorite book on religion/spirituality: The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg and God has a Dream by Desmond Tutu.

14. Your favorite autobiography: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audrey Lourde

15. Your favorite biography: I'm surprised to discover that I don't have any biographies on my list. I found even more autobiographies when I went hunting for biographies! I'd add Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver.

16. Your favorite science-fiction/fantasy: The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

17. What's on your to-be-read pile at the moment? Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass, The Rapture Exposed by Barbara Rossing, Brisingr by Christopher Paolini.

No comments: