Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most

This question is bugging me. I've been letting it sit for hours (literally! hours!) and have not come up with any answer that I like reasonably enough. Is the issue that I am taking this too seriously or that I don't relate to characters deeply enough to just be like "oh that's the one I can relate to the MOST"?? I ... don't know.

I'm going to say Holden Caulfield, because while I don't agree with anything he says and have never really felt the way he feels, I get him. And I love him.

I'll do better on tomorrow's question.

Day 22 - Favorite book you own

I.... what? What kind of question is this? How does this differ from "favorite book altogether"? Is the assumption that you wouldn't own your favorite book of all time? I mean, that is possible, but also possibly unlikely???

Whatever, sorry to keep harping on these questions, guys, it is obviously something of a fixation for me for some reason.

Okay, going with a strictly literal definition...

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

Hah! Here it is again, just after I slipped it somewhere it didn't quite fit. Welp. If we take this question to mean "favorite book to own," there can be no other. This is a book that deserves being looked at again and again, studied just for the fun of it, reread because there is so much going on, or just opened to a random page and shown to incredulous friends. I love owning this book. So yes, of the books I own, this one has come through for me most often. I think that's an acceptable answer to a slightly redundant question, yes?

Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving

Oh dear I forgot to do this yesterday. Welp, just gonna have to post twice today.

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver


This book, like many of the books assigned through the school system, seemed like it was going to be a drag. But it was wonderful. I got to read it over the summer, so that may have helped some, but it was so absorbing and so heartbreaking and fascinating, and it struck several chords with me. In particular, though the circumstances were HELLA different, it reminded me a little of the year I spent living abroad in Estonia.

I remember that this was one of the first books I thought about adapting to a movie, not because I could (especially not at age 16) but because it was an interesting exercise trying to figure out how I'd do it. I remember I had a lot pretty innovative ideas, particularly for how to handle the varying POVs and also how to translate Adah's endless internal snarkmonologue into something that would work on screen. Well, not to mention everyone's internal monologues. I think I had a different technique for each one of them? All I remember is that one such technique was the thing Woody Allen does in Annie Hall, where he steps right out of the scene to editorialize at the camera. I remember seeing that around that time in my life and thinking holy shit that is awesome, and how it was one of the first times I realized you could really do some crazy creative shit in movies. For Adah I think I wanted subtitles corresponding to various facial expressions. It probably wouldn't have worked at all, but it was fun to think about.

Like many of these books, I gotta reread it sometime.

Day 07 - Most underrated book

This is a tricky one! What does "underrated" mean? Underrated by whom? Because I don't really pay a huge amount of attention to what The People are saying, and I don't read book reviews... I only ever knew what my fellow students thought about books we read in class. And in class you hate almost everything you have to read.

So here's what I did. I googled "underrated books" and looked at the lists of books lacking in ratings on goodreads.com, which isn't really the same thing I guess, but whatever?? And I spotted one that was actually in my Day 2 post.

Maurice, by E. M. Forster

Yo, not only is this book great, it's an important cultural document. A novel about a young man coming to terms with his sexuality in a difficult time period, written from real life experience. Forster doubted it would ever be published due to its themes. But it was, eventually, and not enough people know about it.

I guess I don't have much more to say about it, except I need to read it again. Here's a promotional photo from the totally sexy Merchant-Ivory film adaptation:

yissssssss

Day 04 - Favorite book of your favorite series

Gah! Why didn't I pick a series I'd read more recently.... also I'm fairly certain that all members of the Griffin & Sabine mythos are equally amazing, so, would I know what to say even if I was up on them? Maybe?? I am failing this book meme, ahaha.

Well, okay. I'm gonna go rogue and do my favorite book of my favorite childhood series, which I also barely remember, except the lasting fondness.

Mossflower, by Brian Jacques

You bet your sweet bippy I was into Redwall, Redwall was the best. All that mousefood. So good. I read a ton of these books and I no longer remember almost anything about them or even which ones I read or what order I read them in (probably the wrong one -- definitely the wrong one, I'm pretty sure I started with Martin the Warrior for some reason), but I do remember that Mossflower kicked ass and I loved it because come on, prison breakouts! That is about all I remember from this book! Oh and what's his name, Gonff?? YES google tells me I am right, go me. "Gonff the Mousethief." Resident comic relief and major boss.

I still wouldn't say Redwall outweighs Griffin & Sabine for me because in terms of significant reading experiences, adventure stories about rodents were pretty formative, but postmodern mixed-media epistolary mindfuck was definitely way more formative. Anyone who knows me can probably attest.