A quick book meme

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - most of middle school was devoted to these, and I still have a whole shelf of Tolkien and related books.

2. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice - One of my very favourite books, which will probably always be able to remind me of high school.

3. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff - I've talked about this recently enough that I needn't say why it's on this list, but it is a lovely book.

4. Tam Lin by Pamela Dean - my favourite book of all.

5. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - The whole trilogy, really, but I probably remember this one the best. They're thoroughly wonderful.

5. Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce - All of Tamora Pierce's novels, especially the earlier ones, stick with me, but I always loved this one especially well.

6. Emma by Jane Austen - need I say more? I've spent enough time on this one lately.

7. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - I'll always be glad I had the good timing to grow up with these books, and they really are wonderful stories.

8. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - I need to reread this, but it did have a big effect on me when I read it, and I remember it extremely fondly.

9. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell - I don't even know why I love this one so much, but Elizabeth Gaskell has an indefinable quality that makes me love her.

10. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - I read this a little too late to have a childhood fondness for it, but I love it nonetheless.

11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - this used to have fights with Tam Lin over being my favourite book, and I still love it.

12. On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder - I had to include a favourite children's book, and this is the one I was always fondest of.

13. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom - I loved these when I was a child, and they are some of the few books that I love in exactly the same way as an adult.

14. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh - this just has some really rather magical qualities to it.

15. The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt - it's enormous and vivid and lovely, is all.

Banned Books #1

It's Banned Books Week! It goes from September 26th to October 3rd this year, and in celebration thereof I'm going to highlight some of my very favourite banned books, which also happen to be some of my favourite books period.

The His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman, is one of those things I reread periodically, just because it's so wonderful and so full of things to find on rereadings. As you may recall it was on my essential books list to bring to college. According to the Banned Books Week website, it was one of the 10 most challenged books in 2008. It was banned for its political and religious viewpoints and for violence. I love this book because it creates such a real, vivid, almost tactile world(s), because even the invented parts are believable and complete, because it questions institutions, and because all the characters are so very wonderful. Just, all of it. It's one of those books that makes me sort of squirm with joy.

Does anyone else feel kind of gleefully revolutionary when reading oft-banned books?

The essentials

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beowulf
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice
Schott's Original Miscellany by Ben Schott
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

These are the books I am taking to college. They are the books I consider indispensable, whether because I am likely to have a sudden urge to read them or because it simply feels wrong to be without them. Bear in mind that this stack would be a lot taller if I were going farther away from home. Also consider that all of Jane Austen would be on there if I had not decided not to bring anything I know I can find online. The Complete Works of Shakespeare might actually get added to this pile, I haven't decided yet. Schott's Original Miscellany isn't really indispensable, I suppose, but it's the sort of random useful little thing that I think it might be nice to have. The Amber Spyglass would be in this pile also, except that I can't find it, I only have a hardcover (which I was trying to avoid bringing), and if I actually read the first two that'll give me time to find the third one.

The Clouds of Witness and Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Ha'penny by Jo Walton
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
The Cinnamon Peeler by Michael Ondaatje

These are my selections off my to-read pile that I think I might actually have a chance of getting around to. The Dorothy Sayers because they're short reads and will be a nice change from all the books I'll be reading for classes, Ha'penny because I'm in the middle of it, the Obama book because it's the university common book and I haven't read it yet (but I think it might be my next house book), and The Cinnamon Peeler because I might feel the need for some poetry.

I find it interesting to have it put to the test which books I think I can't live without. There is, for example, pretty much zero chance of my reading Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. Tolkien's an old love for me, a little faded and diverged more into reading his letters and essays. But despite the fact that the books are just going to sit in by tiny dorm room taking up space, I can't live without them. The others are all comfort books, which given a college reading load is likely to be the only thing I get around to reading (though we'll hold out hope for the unread pile).

Those photos, by the way, were taken in my back yard, and look how sunny it is. Oh, Seattle, rain in August and 85 degrees on the autumn equinox.

Next you hear from me, I'll be typing from my dorm room!

So many books, so little space

I just got my dorm assignment for the fall, so now I'm really starting to think about what I'm bringing with me. I'm not going very far, so I'll be able to come home for anything I want, but sometimes you just want to have things there to hand exactly when the thought first occurs to you.

In terms of books... They tell you not to bring anything apart from a few favourites because you'll be too busy reading for classes, and looking at the stack of books I bought the other day for just one class I totally believe this.

I've come up with the brilliant plan that I will bring nothing that is in the public domain, since if it is it can be found in the Great Holy Place of Literature, Ridiculousness, and Geekery We Call the Internet. Plus in virtual form it will be easily searchable thanks to the wonders of Ctrl+f, and I doubt I'll be looking it up for anything but reference.

So I won't bring reference books. And let's face it, I'm sharing an 11' by 15' room with two other people, so unless I want to sleep with books in my bed like stuffed animals (which, er, isn't unheard of in my world) I won't have room for very many.

What books do I think I'll have a sudden desperate urge to read and not be able to wait the half-hour bus ride to get them from home? They'll be comfort books, ones I've already read countless times. Tam Lin, no doubt, will be a necessity. I suspect the His Dark Materials trilogy will make the trip. I might also consider Harry Potter, a couple of Tamora Pierce books, and maybe the most compact copies I have of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. This is already taking up a lot of space. And I should probably bring that Barack Obama book I'd forgot about, which we're all supposed to have read. And maybe a couple of the books left on my to-read pile after the summer's over. And where am I going to put my shoes?

We'll see how this pans out. I'm already looking at that list and making cuts.