What Do Your Books Say About You?

I was browsing some book blogs this morning, as I sometimes do, and came across Stuck In A Book ... where I found this fun little exercise:

1. Go to your bookshelves...
2. Close your eyes. If you're feeling really committed, blindfold yourself.
3. Select ten books at random. Use more than one bookcase, if you have them, or piles by the bed, or... basically, wherever you keep books.
4. Use these books to tell us about yourself - where and when you got them, who got them for you, what the book says about you, etc. etc.....
5. Have fun! Be imaginative. Doesn't matter if you've read them or not - be creative. It might not seem easy to start off with, and the links might be a little tenuous, but I think this is a fun way to do this sort of meme.
6. Feel free to cheat a bit, if you need to...

I think 10 may be a bit of an overkill, so I am going to share 5 with you. I challenge you, my faithfull followers, to do the same. Post a comment to link me to your list, I cannot wait to see what you come up with!


Weathercock - Glen Duncan
This was my first online purchase at BetterWorldBooks, my third Glen Duncan novel, one that I had been looking for for quite awhile. As with most of his novels, Duncan ponders God, the Devil, thier influences on who we are and the decisions we make. Like Glen, I always find myself sitting on the fence when it comes to religion. I strongly believe that if you live a good life, and treat others kindly, you will end up where ever it is you are supposed to go. Whatever my beliefs - Heaven/Hell, Reincarnation, Nothing - I love reading novels that deal with religion, religious conspiracy, and the afterlife. Duncan also happens to be one of the many authors I push as a recommendation to fellow readers. You are doing yourself an injustice if you haven't read him yet!



Listen to the Warm - Rod McKuen
As a freshman in college, I found myself at the University library a lot. I remember searching the shelves for a book - though I cannot recall which book, or for what paper I needed it - when I just happened to come across this collection of poems, and quite a few others. I flipped through them, having never heard of the poet before. Not having any change for the photocopier, and being too lazy to check them out, I sat at the table and copied out poem after poem onto notebook paper. Needless to say, I fell in love with McKuen and his heartwrenching works. I began to search for his collections in book stores and library sales as an adult, grabbing them as I can find them. I have yet to read another poet that has moved me more than McKuen has.



It - Stephen King
My mother was a huge Stephen King fan when I was younger. She liked him so much that she used to allow me to stay up late when I was small to watch "CreepShow", which was a film adapation of Stephen Kings short stories. I remember sneaking this book off her bookshelf one night... I couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 at the time. It was my first real ADULT novel, and it was scary as hell! I also recall a few years later, watching it on TV on a dark and stormy afternoon and getting scared all over again. Early King novels put all other horror authors to shame.


Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Have you ever read something before you were old enough to truely appreciate it? This book was required reading for my high school literature class. While I didn't hate it back then, there is something about reading a book because you're TOLD to, rather than because you WANT to. Because this novel appears on the Lost Literature List, my husband bought it for me two years ago for christmas, and I re-read it right away. It's amazing how much you can pull out of a book, depending on the time in your life when you read it. When I was in school, it was just a novel about a bunch of shipwrecked boys who devolve into animals. As an adult, I saw so many additional layers to it: the breakdown of society when rules no longer apply, and actions have no consequences; the need for a balance between good and evil, even in a jungle when survival means everything.


The Last Man - Mary Shelley
This was a gift from Sherry, my Secret Santa over at Goodreads. I have been wanting to read this novel for quite awhile now! Mary Shelley's less famous novel, about the last man on earth, a survivor of some world destroying plague. I am a big fan of Post-apocalyptic fiction... having read and loved books like Earth Abides, The Road, Blindness, A Canticle For Leibowitz, The Sheep Look Up...all of which I would recommend!