elderberrywine | And a last one.

And a last one.

Really! I promise! But it was all about boooooks, you see, and, well, OK.

1. A favorite book!
Oh, hey, there's this trilogy you might have heard of. And The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Afraid those two have been first and foremost for a very, very long time.

2. A book that affected you in your YA years
*points above* What it says. Other guilty pleasures too numerous to mention, but I can't forget my two favorite romances, Ramona and Lorna Doone.

3. A favorite fantasy novel
Well, besides the obvious, The Gormenghast Novels. And Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin probably qualifies here as well.

4. A favorite sci fi novel
I was very much into sci fi in my teens, especially, but it was mostly the anthologies, the short stories that I enjoyed the most. I remember a lot of the stories, but not the names or authors. I do, however, remember being quite fond of Cities in Flight by James Blish.

5. An awesome book (possibly a favorite) you think not many people around you have heard of/read. Oh, this is hard. I really have no idea. Heyer? I'm a recent convert to her deliciously snarky historical romances - much to love there.

6. A book you own more than one copy of
LOTR. I have my Ballantine paperbacks, and my deluxe version, last year's Christmas present from my husband. He doesn't get it, but he knows obsession when he sees it. :*
Otherwise, whenever I have a duplicate, I give it to my mom.

7. An author whose every single book you own/will buy
Dickens. Austin. Any one of the Brontes. Turgenev. Eliot. Collins. Hardy. Wolfe. Renault. E. Forester. Gogol. Heh - I guess that's enough to give you the general trend. *is classics girl*

8. The worst book you've ever read
The Golden Bough, Fraser. The first time ever I had to stop reading a book half way through, and I love mythology! Man knew how to grind a perfectly good tale absolutely into the ground. Boring and insanely repetitive.

9. A book you dislike that lots of other people you know like
*hides behind sofa* Wrinkle in Time. meep.

10. The most difficult book you've ever read
Easy pick. That Advanced Differential Equations textbook from my senior year in college. OMFGWUT! The trauma is still with me. The first time math was ever really, really hard for me.

11. Tell me what kind of books your mom reads/read
Anything and everything I read, minus the slash. ;). She'll be 80 in about a month, and is still going strong. Whenever I talk to her, at least half of our conversation is about what we are each reading. I owe my weird library habits to her as well - both of us work our way around the library, taking a book out of each Dewey decimal category. (I'm in the 540's now. Oooh, chemistry!) We trade good stuff.

12. What have you read so far this year?
OK, checking my reading LJ, back to January, I've got David Thewliss, Flora Thompson, Gavin Wright, Janet Caird, AS Byatt, Paul Davies, Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Walter Scott, Tamora Pierce, Rick Reilly, Charles Dickens, and James Wilson.

13. What are you reading now?
Just about finished with Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry, by Cathy Cobb, and The Cossacks and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy. Have also just started Dragon Prince - Book 1, by Melanie Rawn.

14. What are you reading next?
Whatever's at the top of my multitude of piles. Right now, that looks like The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, Belchamber by Howard Sturgis, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne. But that could totally change.

Books! Whee! *is obsessed*

*and has just started summer vacation :D*

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What a nice bunch of books in the offing. :)

I'm not bothered about A Wrinkle in Time. I liked it but it wasn't hugely influential and one had to fill in the time somehow when one wasn't reading LotR. But I read a critique of Dickens on my f-list the other day that would have peeled paint. To each her own.

Alas, I've become sadly accustomed to the lack of Dickens love out there.

And yes, it is a rather nice group with which to start my vac. *beams* The dictionary one will most likely go first, that is the library book out of the lot.

When I was a kid, I thought everyone loved Dickens. Everybody I knew loved Dickens. I didn't realise until quite recently that not only do some people not love Dickens, some people loathe Dickens. I've never met a Victorian novel I didn't like to some degree -- and I've read well outside 'the canon' -- so I don't 'get' that kind of reaction to a novelist. Maybe Dickens requires a certain something, a certain quirk of character, in the reader that not everyone has.

I used to think that the Dickens loathing had to do with his books being long books. But then there are LOTR-lovers who are not on board with the Dickens lurve.

So I dunno.

How could anyone fail to fall in love with Herbert and the Aged P, I ask you? Just ain't right. *shakes head in bemusement*

Reading is one of the best things ever!

I am extremely fond of Dickens, and found The Professor and the Madman to be quite engaging. (I still have my paperback copies of Cities in Flight.)

Whoo hoo! Another Dickens lover. *high fives you*

Glad you enjoyed The Professor and the Madman, looking forward to starting it.

I think I may have to read the Blish again; it's been entirely too long. And he's also the one who did those wonderful short story conversions of all the original Star Trek episodes! *loves me some Blish*

What a lovely pile of books!
I have read or know only the 'classic' you listed, I have to confess, but I'm a book addict too.
I love non-fiction books. Do you recommend Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry, by Cathy Cobb?
And I agree with you about 'Advanced Differential Equations'. :)

It is a very lovely pile of books. But then, what pile of books isn't? *beams*

I would definitely recommend the physical chemistry book if you have some background in chemistry. It's actually more of a book on the physics of chemistry, I'd say. But the historical bits are very fascinating.

Boy I tell you what, that math class was killer. Only grade of D I ever got in my life, and I was more than happy to take it and run. :D

You have to see the 'Bilbo-like' piles of books there are in my room!
Now I'm reding at the same time Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in woman over fifty by Jean Shinoda Bolen, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery Ender's game by Orson S. Card.

I have definitely a background in chemistry (http://estelanui.livejournal.com/5833.html#cutid1)! :D
Are you a chemist too or a physicist?

Hee! That was sooooo cute!

Nope, a math teacher, now, after a few decades as a banker. But I started college as an English major, and then very nearly changed to chemistry, because I loved it so much. But ended up as a math and music major. At the very last minute, I snuck in another English class (I was just dying to read a book for homework!) so I ended up with only the Math degree.

It's a fun book, with a lot of fascinating background on the various historic figures involved, and very clearly written by a woman, which I'm sure we can both agree is a Good Thing. It's a lot more in the valiance bond area, and electromagnetic forces, etc., than the periodic table type thing I was expecting, but that's OK. Only downside, she goes a little overboard with analogies, IMHO, but that's because she has a background teaching to secondary school, as well as at a university level, so that's understandable.

Those books you have lined up sound quite interesting as well!

Wow, that's quite an interesting pile of books. Heyer has been one of my favorites for almost 40 years. In fact she was my favorite until a certain little hobbit went there and back again.

I've come on to Heyer a little late, I suppose, but have been thoroughly enchanted by her. Unfortunately, she seems to be disappearing out of bookstores, so it's off to Powell's and Amazon, as we speak. :(

I lost my entire set of Heyer about four years ago in a house fire, but was able to get them all, new not used, through Amazon and Amazon marketplace. Happy hunting!

This is a very interesting post! I've hardly been around on LJ recently so I haven't been taking in any of the meme things, but it sounds as if you are very well read & are really into the classics. Also that you come from a very bookish family by the sound of things, which I didn't, not really.

I recall from my childhood my mum having some books from her own younger days which would now be worth quite a bit, I think, because there's recently been a lot of interest in them -- they are novels about schoolgirls at posh public boarding schools (I think "public school" in the UK means the opposite of what in means in the US).

I haven't been so good at reading the classics since ... um ... well, my teenage years I think (when I turned into a horse bore ;-D ). I think, too, that because I was an Arts student, perhaps I felt I'd had too many foreign classics shoved down my throat. As an older adult I rebelled against that by reading bonkbuster type stuff ;-D I still do occasionally, but I have to admit that since the advent of (a) motherhood, (b) a TV set in my home (didn't have one for quite some time) and (c) the internet, my fiction reading has fallen by the wayside somewhat. In the good old days I would always have a novel & a non-fiction book going at the same time -- the non-fiction usually being on the subject of the paranormal, earth mysteries etc.

That Advanced Differential Equations textbook from my senior year in college. OMFGWUT!

Crikey! *goes into a coma* I don't understand the second part of your acronym but can kind of guess ;-)

Walter Scott

I picked up some wonderful old Walter Scott books (very old ones) in a charity shop, but later sold them on to a secondhand book dealer. Not sure but I think they were Waverley and Peveril of the Peak. (Erm, no, I didn't read them before selling them *blushes* And they would have cost a fortune to send them to you because they weighed a ton!)

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

Hey, is this the book that was published fairly recently about Tolkien & his involvement with the OED?? If so I'd like to read it -- bet it's very interesting.

Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne

There's this interesting new cult thing developing called Steampunk -- have you heard of it? It centres around sci-fi novels from the Victorian era & people who are obsessed with all that stuff (inventions etc) & supposedly dress like people did back then. They had this ... thing, I can't remember its name now but I read about it on the net a couple of weeks ago. It was some kind of electronic telescope thingy that looked like it was made of brass, and it enabled people in New York & London to wave to one another when they looked into it. There may even be a website at www.steampunk.com or similar -- it sounds like great fun anyhow for those who are into it!

I hope you enjoy your vacation ...

~Lyra

Sorry I'm late answering you, my dear, but I got caught up in one of the above in-the-process-of-reading books that was just too much fun - the Dragon Prince if you should be in the mood for some tasty fantasy!

Well, both of my parents were readers really, and I was actually quite lucky to grow up in the desert at the time I did. Come summer, your choices were very limited. So I read. Tons.

Oh, the Waverly was the Scott I just read! I enjoyed it a good deal, excepting the (untranslated!!!) Scots dialect. Say what now? I've got Rob Roy buried in a pile somewhere, and there's Ivanhoe, that I can't believe I don't have (probably also buried), but Peveril of the Peak is a new one to me!

No, the one about Tolkien and the Dictionary was The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, Simon Winchester (same author, though!), which I read about a year ago. But the story is full of intrigue and doddering Oxford professors at their most maniacal (not JRR, of course!) so looking forward to reading this one, too.

I just heard of Steampunk! *scurries off to look* And here you go!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2008/05/working-up-a-he.html

That looks like a lot of fun - must check it out!

So many books, so little time!

*gives you hugses*

3. A favorite fantasy novel
Well, besides the obvious, The Gormenghast Novels. And Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin probably qualifies here as well.

I have the Gormenghast trilogy and some Eddison waiting around until I'm in the mood for darker, older fantasy. Do you think they feel that way compared to Tolkien, or writers like Duane?

4. A favorite sci fi novel
I was very much into sci fi in my teens, especially, but it was mostly the anthologies, the short stories that I enjoyed the most. I remember a lot of the stories, but not the names or authors. I do, however, remember being quite fond of Cities in Flight by James Blish.

I remember a lot of Clifford Simak, who seemed to do more short stories than novels. Clarke and C.L. Moore and Knuttner (and a lot of people with pseudonyms) made SF more than space adventure, even when they were using space and adventure as part of the mix.

The Gormenghast is pretty darn dark, I tell you what. Alas, it has the same problem as do the His Dark Material books, or Narnia, IMHO. In that the best book is first, and the quality sort of slips after that. Oh, Eddison! I read the Worm Whatsitsface right after LOTR, lured in by the amazingly similar cover. LETdown. I think what they lack, that LOTR has in spades, is the overarching Big Picture. There's no point building an amazing world, if you aren't going to put it to some worthwhile use. Also I think that the others suffer from a lack of hobbits. Seriously. Has any fantasy world-builder ever come up with such a wonderful and captivating creature as the hobbit? I submit not.

Oooh, yes, Simak was great at stories. Unfortunately, most of my father's sci fi story collections were anthologies, so the authors' names never stuck with me much. I have got to grab a few the next time I see my mom, and go through them again.

Of course, as if there isn't enough on my plate right now... :P

Hmm, authors who really have one best story (or one good story of a particular type) and keep writing it anyway... I've been meaning to read the Worm (pronounced "Vurm" in my head, after a lot of Wagner and Niebelungen) since LeGuin sampled its prose in one of her essays. You're completely right that Big Picture -- you know, a *frame* for all that world-building -- makes it much, much better. I shall have to appreciate ye darke olde fantasye workes on the merits they have.

The hobbits being the viewpoint of the ordinary folks (and being extremely well-salted Salt Of The Earth types, have their own way of flattering the reader into not minding) are a whole different way of pulling in the reader, than the fairytale that revolves around a prince/princess/beggar boy clearly destined for greatness/etc. I'm not sure it's an intrinsically different structure or just a POV thing, but Tolkien did both anyway, having Aragorn in there for readers who need Kingly Kings. Maybe it is intrinsically different. The prince/princess ID character is symbolic and the whole story becomes a person's tale, any person's, maybe yours too, from the inside out. The hobbits are outsiders, like the readers, looking in on the great events, even though they also affect the outcomes. Hmm, this doesn't make a very clear theory, but there are *some* differences.

Absolutely, if you have access to any older SF anthologies, take a look at them. The 50-60s magazines had some gold, but also dross; the early *novels* could hit both high and low, and you've probably heard of the good ones and the lesser ones can be truly awful; published collections of stories tend to select stories worth keeping in somebody's estimation. Also, if there's any Theodore Sturgeon, who did several story collections, grab them all.

Hi dear,

just a short reminder that it is your turn to post something in your LJ for the Lavender Oil Challenge tomorrow (Monday). Please do not flock your post and please use the banner!

Simply copy the code below into your post and change all ( and ) to < and >. (a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v485/frodosweetstuff/?action=view¤t=LavenderChallenge2-1.jpg" target="_blank")(img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v485/frodosweetstuff/LavenderChallenge2-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket")(/a)

Looking forward to what you are going to post!! :)

Wow, I love books and reading, too, but you are a true scholar! (I told you so, my friend) You've listed so many titles and authors with clarity and such wonderful enthusiasm. It's very nice to learn new things from your friends.

I do love the classics, but I never even finished 'Lord Jim' - hmmm, maybe I'd better get busy and do something enlightening with some of my spare time. But this:

Magick, Mayhem, and Mavericks: The Spirited History of Physical Chemistry

Makes me wish I was SO much smarter....

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