World Book Day meme

[mrissa]

Picked up from rushthatspeaks.

The book I am currently reading: Ambrose Bierce, Shadows of Blue and Grey. From Grandpa's collection. Wrenching stuff.

The books I am currently writing: Um. Polish revisions on What We Did to Save the Kingdom. Deeper revisions on The True Tale of Carter Hall. And poking around the edges of the Aesir noir book, which doesn't have a title yet, because I really should get The True Tale out to beta readers before I start anything else, but...y'know...I like writing books...and it's been a long time since I started on a new book...and there is so much shiny....

The book I love most: Seriously. Seriously? No one who likes books enough to answer this meme is going to have their One True Book Love. It is virtually impossible. It may have been virtually impossible since the early 19th century, because how many serious book people are like that? Book I love most, uff da. What a question.

The last book I received as a gift: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk.
The last book I gave as a gift: Bagthorpes Unlimited by Helen Cresswell. Although I have some ready to give very soon.

The nearest book on my desk: the Bierce. Also my Kindle, which doesn't have someone else's book in progress on it at the moment: I finished the Kindle book I was reading at timprov's appointment yesterday, and I haven't started another. I am in the middle of using that to read my own book for revisions, though, so What We Did is apparently equally close.

Comments

[poeticalpanther.livejournal.com]

Boy, am I ever sleep-dopey. I sat here for a few minutes trying to figure out why you were doing Polish edits to your work...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

There used to be--I think it's closed down now, but I may be misremembering--a thing near elisem's house called the Polish Lounge. This distressed me greatly, because there were all sorts of places in the Twin Cities to get one's nails done and nowhere I know of for Polish food.

[ckd]

You're not the only one. I was thinking "woo, you sold a translation!" until I re-parsed the sentence.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Me three. *g*

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

That question about the favorite book has stymied me!

[columbina.livejournal.com]

I first misread "Polish revisions" too. It's the capitalization.

I encountered that "favorite book" thing in a different quiz a couple of days ago. I didn't take the quiz, but I recall that my mental response to the question was pretty much the same as yours, just slightly less elaborate.

Did I ask you already how the Kindle is working out? I'm curious because on my test drives I have personally found them not to my taste.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

So the Kindle. Hmm.

It is absolutely the win for taking people to medical appointments. I don't have to worry about running out of reading material! So much reading material, all right there! Fits in any purse large enough for me to be willing to carry it anyway!

It is very useful to me for top-level revisions: it is compact but not the same as reading on a computer screen.

It also turns out to be useful to me with some kinds of headache: reading in a dark room with the Kindle cover light only is all right when having room lights on would not be.

But in general, my reading in circumstances other than these is still in paper form. So it is just what I thought: a useful tool but not overtaking my reading.

[moiread]

"What is your favourite book?" is my very least-favourite question ever, ever, ever, followed closely by favourite musician/band and favourite food item. Seriously, people. Learn to ask better questions.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's so easy to make this a reasonable question, too. "What bands are you listening to a lot lately?", for example is a very similar question but not as inane.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

I do have The One True Favorite Book, but like the One True Favorite Movie, it's mostly there so I can answer these questions without thinking about it. :) ("Watership Down," of course.)

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Bierce is indeed wrenching. There was a marvelous chapter in Drew Gilpin Faust's This Republic of Suffering, which discusses Bierce in context of changing attitudes about death following the Civil War. I only mention it because it provided some context for his work and made me see it in a whole new life. I'm surprised how little he's taught in American lit classes. (Along with Jack London.) Either writer, in my mind, is as masterful as Hemingway. (And just as disturbing.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people process Bierce mostly as a satirist, which is important but not comprehensive. And I'd rather have him or London over Hemingway any day.