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May. 30th, 2003 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ealgyldenHello, working cut-tags! I've missed you! But now that we've been reunited, I can do a couple of memes that everyone else in the world did ages ago. Oh well, there's no prize for being quick.
1. What's your favorite book of all time? Why? Top ten favorites?
of all time:
Right, like I can pick just one. Well, what the heck, let's go with Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen. It's about a young postulant in 1906 upstate New York who develops stigmata, and the turmoil into which she throws her convent. Hansen's writing is always beautiful, but Mariette reads like a prose poem, with some of the most striking and gorgeous imagery I've ever read. Mariette's experience is both mysterious and mystical, and yet Hansen doesn't eliminate the possibility that she may be a fraud. I've read this book some 40-50 times, and I'm still not sure whether Mariette's stigmata are real or not. Hansen also conveys the rhythm of the monastic day as skillfully as I've ever read. He has a feel for the patterns of the regular life, and his characters are as petty and illuminated and hopeful and disdainful as real people. Truly, a wonderful work, even if you aren't particularly interested in monasticism or mystical experiences.
top ten, in no particular order:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso
Lamb in Love by Carrie Brown
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott/ Knight's Castle by Edward Eager
That's not necessarily a "top ten" so much as a "top ten that came to mind quickly", but all would be in my top 25 (no decision-making skills, you know). And I cheated on Ivanhoe and Knight's Castle, because I always think of them as a pair. Knight's Castle is and always will be one of my favorite children's books (and Eager one of my favorite children's authors), and my love for it led directly to my reading and loving Ivanhoe, and eventually to my becoming a medievalist. So choose wisely when you read to your kids (thanks, Mom)!
2. Is there any author who's been so consistently wonderful that you've devoured all of his or her work and actually enjoyed *all or most* of it?
Well sure! Even if I cut out serial authors like Rex Stout, Georges Simenon, C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brien, Dorothy Sayers, etc., there are bunches. Robin McKinley, Neil Gaiman, Ron Hansen, Jonathan Lethem, Colette, Ellen Kushner, Arturo Perez-Reverte, P.G. Wodehouse, James Morrow and lots of others
3. What book do you most often recommend to other people?
Good Omens, Swordspoint, Mariette in Ecstasy, The Blue Sword... hm, it seems I’m a pest.
4. What book should be turned into a movie? Should they even *do* that? Does it kill the book?
Last part first- why would it kill the book? Unless the filmmakers collect every single copy and burn them and see that it's never reissued, the book is the same as it ever was, regardless of how good or terrible the movie is. Maybe I'm just better at compartmentalizing my experiences, but I've never understood it when people have wailed that a bad movie has ruined their favorite book. Has it reconfigured your brain waves to the extent that your imagination is broken? I just don't get that. Anyway.
In general I like book-to-film adaptations. For every lame Practical Magic or A Thousand Acres, you'll get something wonderful like Persuasion or The Last Unicorn or Captain Blood or High Fidelity or the Lord of the Rings films. Even movies that aren't necessarily a faithful adaptation of the text, like The Neverending Story, may still work well as movies. So yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic in general when it comes to such things.
There are books I'd like to see filmed, like The Blue Sword or The Fencing Master, but I'd be nervous about the results. Still, cautious optimism and all that.
Mariette in Ecstasy has been filmed, but it was never released in the US and I've never been able to see it (despite years of trying). Some of the casting sounds a bit sketchy. I like Rutger Hauer, but he's waaay too young for the part. John Mahoney strikes me as all wrong as Dr. Baptiste. Same with Eva Marie Saint and Mother Saint-Raphael. Mary McDonnell, though, could work very well as Mother Celine. So I don't know. Maybe someday I'll be able to see firsthand.
5. What's your favorite biography? Am I the only one who likes those?
Off-hand I remember liking:
Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul by Cathleen Medwick
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks
All of Alec Guinness's autobiographies
Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford
If you don't feel like reading it (can't say as I'd blame you), the upshot is- read Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen.
If I were a month I would be: October
If I were a day of the week I would be: Friday
If I were a time of day I would be: 6:00 am
If I were a planet I would be: Mars
If I were a sea animal I would be: manta ray
If I were a direction I would be: East
If I were a piece of furniture I would be: a bookcase
If I were a historical figure I would be: Christine de Pisan
If I were a liquid I would be: cider
If I were a stone, I would be: granite
If I were a tree, I would be: maple
If I were a bird, I would be: a red-tailed hawk
If I were a tool, I would be: a hammer
If I were a flower/plant, I would be: a fern
If I were a kind of weather, I would be: a blizzard
If I were a mythical creature, I would be: a gryphon
If I were a musical instrument, I would be: an oboe
If I were an animal, I would be: a cat
If I were a color, I would be: burnt umber
If I were an emotion, I would be: impatience (is that even an emotion?)
If I were a vegetable, I would be: carrots
If I were a sound, I would be: castanets clicking
If I were an element, I would be: magnesium
If I were a car, I would be: a Jaguar
If I were a song, I would be: "Soon As I Get Paid" by Keb' Mo'
If I were a movie, I would be directed by: Jim Henson
If I were a book, I would be written by: Arturo Perez-Reverte
If I were a food, I would be: bread
If I were a place, I would be: Tours
If I were a material, I would be: linen
If I were a taste, I would be: cloves
If I were a scent, I would be: sandalwood
If I were a religion, I would be: Zoroastrianism (no, seriously)
If I were a word, I would be: melodrama
If I were an object, I would be: a fountain pen
If I were a body part I would be: hands
If I were a facial expression I would be: a smirk
If I were a subject in school I would be: English
If I were a cartoon character I would be: Nicholas Wolfwood (er, maybe not)
If I were a shape I would be: a sphere
If I were a number I would be: 7
1. What's your favorite book of all time? Why? Top ten favorites?
of all time:
Right, like I can pick just one. Well, what the heck, let's go with Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen. It's about a young postulant in 1906 upstate New York who develops stigmata, and the turmoil into which she throws her convent. Hansen's writing is always beautiful, but Mariette reads like a prose poem, with some of the most striking and gorgeous imagery I've ever read. Mariette's experience is both mysterious and mystical, and yet Hansen doesn't eliminate the possibility that she may be a fraud. I've read this book some 40-50 times, and I'm still not sure whether Mariette's stigmata are real or not. Hansen also conveys the rhythm of the monastic day as skillfully as I've ever read. He has a feel for the patterns of the regular life, and his characters are as petty and illuminated and hopeful and disdainful as real people. Truly, a wonderful work, even if you aren't particularly interested in monasticism or mystical experiences.
top ten, in no particular order:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony by Roberto Calasso
Lamb in Love by Carrie Brown
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott/ Knight's Castle by Edward Eager
That's not necessarily a "top ten" so much as a "top ten that came to mind quickly", but all would be in my top 25 (no decision-making skills, you know). And I cheated on Ivanhoe and Knight's Castle, because I always think of them as a pair. Knight's Castle is and always will be one of my favorite children's books (and Eager one of my favorite children's authors), and my love for it led directly to my reading and loving Ivanhoe, and eventually to my becoming a medievalist. So choose wisely when you read to your kids (thanks, Mom)!
2. Is there any author who's been so consistently wonderful that you've devoured all of his or her work and actually enjoyed *all or most* of it?
Well sure! Even if I cut out serial authors like Rex Stout, Georges Simenon, C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brien, Dorothy Sayers, etc., there are bunches. Robin McKinley, Neil Gaiman, Ron Hansen, Jonathan Lethem, Colette, Ellen Kushner, Arturo Perez-Reverte, P.G. Wodehouse, James Morrow and lots of others
3. What book do you most often recommend to other people?
Good Omens, Swordspoint, Mariette in Ecstasy, The Blue Sword... hm, it seems I’m a pest.
4. What book should be turned into a movie? Should they even *do* that? Does it kill the book?
Last part first- why would it kill the book? Unless the filmmakers collect every single copy and burn them and see that it's never reissued, the book is the same as it ever was, regardless of how good or terrible the movie is. Maybe I'm just better at compartmentalizing my experiences, but I've never understood it when people have wailed that a bad movie has ruined their favorite book. Has it reconfigured your brain waves to the extent that your imagination is broken? I just don't get that. Anyway.
In general I like book-to-film adaptations. For every lame Practical Magic or A Thousand Acres, you'll get something wonderful like Persuasion or The Last Unicorn or Captain Blood or High Fidelity or the Lord of the Rings films. Even movies that aren't necessarily a faithful adaptation of the text, like The Neverending Story, may still work well as movies. So yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic in general when it comes to such things.
There are books I'd like to see filmed, like The Blue Sword or The Fencing Master, but I'd be nervous about the results. Still, cautious optimism and all that.
Mariette in Ecstasy has been filmed, but it was never released in the US and I've never been able to see it (despite years of trying). Some of the casting sounds a bit sketchy. I like Rutger Hauer, but he's waaay too young for the part. John Mahoney strikes me as all wrong as Dr. Baptiste. Same with Eva Marie Saint and Mother Saint-Raphael. Mary McDonnell, though, could work very well as Mother Celine. So I don't know. Maybe someday I'll be able to see firsthand.
5. What's your favorite biography? Am I the only one who likes those?
Off-hand I remember liking:
Teresa of Avila: The Progress of a Soul by Cathleen Medwick
If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks
All of Alec Guinness's autobiographies
Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford
If you don't feel like reading it (can't say as I'd blame you), the upshot is- read Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen.
If I were a month I would be: October
If I were a day of the week I would be: Friday
If I were a time of day I would be: 6:00 am
If I were a planet I would be: Mars
If I were a sea animal I would be: manta ray
If I were a direction I would be: East
If I were a piece of furniture I would be: a bookcase
If I were a historical figure I would be: Christine de Pisan
If I were a liquid I would be: cider
If I were a stone, I would be: granite
If I were a tree, I would be: maple
If I were a bird, I would be: a red-tailed hawk
If I were a tool, I would be: a hammer
If I were a flower/plant, I would be: a fern
If I were a kind of weather, I would be: a blizzard
If I were a mythical creature, I would be: a gryphon
If I were a musical instrument, I would be: an oboe
If I were an animal, I would be: a cat
If I were a color, I would be: burnt umber
If I were an emotion, I would be: impatience (is that even an emotion?)
If I were a vegetable, I would be: carrots
If I were a sound, I would be: castanets clicking
If I were an element, I would be: magnesium
If I were a car, I would be: a Jaguar
If I were a song, I would be: "Soon As I Get Paid" by Keb' Mo'
If I were a movie, I would be directed by: Jim Henson
If I were a book, I would be written by: Arturo Perez-Reverte
If I were a food, I would be: bread
If I were a place, I would be: Tours
If I were a material, I would be: linen
If I were a taste, I would be: cloves
If I were a scent, I would be: sandalwood
If I were a religion, I would be: Zoroastrianism (no, seriously)
If I were a word, I would be: melodrama
If I were an object, I would be: a fountain pen
If I were a body part I would be: hands
If I were a facial expression I would be: a smirk
If I were a subject in school I would be: English
If I were a cartoon character I would be: Nicholas Wolfwood (er, maybe not)
If I were a shape I would be: a sphere
If I were a number I would be: 7
