Two Book Lists by Kate

1^st Book List

1. First book to leave a lasting impression?
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
I remember wanting to “act out the story” and later reading the book to my younger siblings.

2. Which author would you most like to be?
Hmmmm…. So many of them didn’t end well. One of my students once said, “what is it with famous authors? They all off themselves?” Yes. Good question. I am not sure I envy any of their lives so much that I want to BE them…. I would love to make a living as a writer… I would love to travel to Europe expatriate style and write. I would love to be invited to fantastic parties and be someone celebrated for my intellect rather than my amazing beauty, however…. I am not immediately thinking of a particular author.

3. Name the book that has most made you want to visit a place?
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg made me want to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

4. Which contemporary author will still be read in 100 years?
Margaret Atwood

5. Which book would you recommend to a teenager reluctant to try 'literature'?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

6. Name your best recent literary discovery.
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (I can’t believe I’ve never read this one before)

7. Which author's fictional world would you most like to live in?
I think “live in” might be too strong a word… but when I was young I really wished I had a “Secret Garden” Like in the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

8. Name your favorite poet?
This one is tough. I have to pick two… and if you give me enough time.—I’ll change my mind.
e.e. cummings
Theodore Roethke

9. What's the best non-fiction title you've read this year?
I’ve only read a few this year, but I really liked Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

10. Which author do you think is much better than his/her reputation?
This doesn’t really answer the question, but I don’t have any other answers at the moment. I think that Little Golden Books aren’t given the proper recognition. From taking Children’s Literature classes in college I get the distinct impression that the academic world frowns on them. However, I think that some of my favorite books as a wee one were part of that collection. They built a reader in me.

2nd Book List
1. One book that changed your life.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (the whole series, actually)

2. One book that you have read more than once.
How about more than TEN times? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
On another note:
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
I actually really like to reread favorites…. I couldn’t begin to list them.

3. One book that you would want on a desert island.
Maybe Ulysses by James Joyce (since I’ve not read it) Not sure. Something difficult and long and layered and rich. But not sucky. How disappointing would that be? J

4. One book that made you laugh.
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

5. One book that made you cry.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Green Mile by Stephen King (gosh, I loved that mouse!)
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton made me sob the first time I read it. I was in 5^th grade, I believe and I sat in the van parked in the garage at my aunt and uncle’s house while I finished the last chapter and then had to sit there and “get a grip” before I could go inside.

6. One book you wish had never been written.
Christine by Stephen King. I read it for a class and it was the only book I’ve ever hated enough to actually THROW AWAY. Straight into the bin.

Also some spooky book I read in third grade about people who were taken over by aliens leaving them with “jelly eyes”… a sort of body snatching situation and it shook me up terribly. Had nightmares for ages over that one. In fact, since I listed this I’ve been looking online for the title to this hazy memory using this vague description. I’ve had no luck.

7. One book you are currently reading.
The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

8. One book you have been meaning to read.
Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov

Lists taken from The Sheila Variations