Meme Fit for an English Major.
1. What author do you own the most books by?
Philip Roth for a total of 10.
2. What book do you own the most copies of?
I own 3 copies of TimeOut Amsterdam (different editions). Does that count?
3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really. I figure blogwrite is like speaking aloud. It has a different, more fluid set of grammatical rules.
4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Apparently the arrogant, neurotic/orally fixated protagonist in all of Roth's books. Additionally, I'm going to steal Rob from High Fidelity from Lara as well.
5. What book have you read the most times in your life?
Probably Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (assigned in high school and have read it many times since) followed by Portnoy's Complaint (college senior thesis). And probably The Chronicles of Narnia as a kid. Before I knew it was a Jesus parable.
6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
The Chronicles of Narnia mos def. And Harriet the Spy. And Are You There God, mais oui.
7. What is the worst book you’ve read?
The Kite Runner. Oh yeah. Someone oughta be waterboarded for people having to endure the torture. Ta ta da!
8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?
Hmmm...I really enjoyed The Russian Debutante's Handbook. Funny, well flushed out with a nice amount of pop culture references and snark.
10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Mandatory read for anyone thinking of having children. Or not. That book haunts me to this day.
11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
We Need to Talk About Kevin.
12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
We Need to Talk About Kevin. Because they are sure to snip it into little pieces and that will be too frustrating to watch.
13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Can't say I've ever had a dream like that. I haven't been remembering my dreams lately but I've been waking up with this awful snappy kink in my neck and it hurts like hell all day long.
14. What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?
Hmmm...Clan of the Cave Bear.
15. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?
One Hundred Years of Solitude. I couldn't keep track of the people and I was just not into all that dream imagery. It bored me to tears. And took me nearly 100 years to read too. Ta ta da!
16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?
Couldn't tell you. Too obscure.
17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
French. Nicer food, nicer booze, nicer terrain, nicer style, nicer quality of life. Besides, I'm Lithuanian, it is in my blood to hate the Russians.
18. Roth or Updike?
Updike! You thought I was going to say Roth, didn't ya? I'm over Mr. Orally Fixated at this point in my life. Rabbit at Rest is one of my favorite books. I cried at the end.
19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Eggers to read. Sedaris to hear read.
20. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare, but only because you've given me Milton and Chaucer as my other choices.
21. Austen or Eliot?
Austen. I haven't read enough Eliot.
.
22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
The DaVinci Code. Ta ta da!
23. What is your favorite novel?
Pnin by Nabokov. It's basically the same story as The Wrestler (saddest, most depressing movie I've ever seen, Sophie and Schindler included), about a lonely wash-up who just can't get in the groove of the human race. My love for that book comes from the same place as The Girl on the End Pew...
24. Play?
Ack. I don't know. Something David Mamet? In 1994, I went to a party at his house that one of his kids threw. Friend of a friend kind of thing. Pretty sick brownstone!
25. Poem?
I don't like poems.
26. Essay?
Ah Lara, 6 to 8 Black Men - totally hysterical. Good call.
27. Short story?
Or is that a short story?
28. Work of non-fiction?
I don't read a whole helluva lot of non-fiction, but I just finished The Fois Gras Wars and that was very interesting. Deer Hunting With Jesus was pretty good too.
29. Who is your favorite writer?
Do I have to pick one? Updike, Nabokov and Oates.
30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
J.K. Rowling. Sorry! I mean she's good, but the gig was over after book four.
31. What is your desert island book?
Desert island book meaning something to read on the beach? Or something that I will have no choice but to read?
32. And … what are you reading right now?
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It's got a lotta Spanish/Catalan words the Kindle can't define, so I feel like I'm missing about 15% of what's going on but whatever, it's pretty good so far.
posted by Oy Vey at 2:56 PM
2 Comments:
I have LOVED reading these lists.
I really enjoy magical realism. I liked 100 Years, but I think part of the problem is there are too many characters that share the same name. AND I think the translation is not great. At least that is what I have told myself. Have you read House of the Spirits?
Why did you choose Roth as your area of focus? I know I started reading Roth after reading Goodbye Columbus in high school. For me- a Midwestern goy, this was a whole new world to which I had no previous access- oh, and the frank talk of sex! As I have gotten older, my enthusiasm has waned. But I did like The Plot Against America.
As a young woman/scholar, what conclusions did you come to on Roth?
Oh man, Monkey, I'm feeling very intimidated right now! You definitely know your craft.
You know, I recently reread Portnoy's Complaint for the sole purpose of attempting to remember what my senior thesis was about. The notes in the margins were cryptic. I'm vaguely certain it had something to do with the Father/Mother Father/Son relationships, but beyond that...
I, too, was a midwestern goy once upon a time. Until I got to Barnard and got a hankering for the New York Jewish Guy type. I fell in love with the Jerrys/Woodys/Alexes that roamed Morningside Heights. Then I fulfilled a deep seated dream by converting to Judaism and marrying a New York (Jersey, really, but we'll let it slide) Jew from Columbia. I had the fever. I've returned to the fold however and am now marrying an ex-Catholic/Quaker. Once you go goy, you never-never mind.
I have not read House of Spirits. And I agree with your assessment of Roth. I'm over it. I liked Plot too.
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