It is an honor to have been tagged for a Book Meme by Lynn at Life is Beauty (a blog that truly lives up to its name) and Elizabeth Foss, a woman who needs no introduction.
Well, here goes:
1. One book that changed your life:
Sixty Saints for Girls by Joan Windham
Back in my Catholic school days, we visited the school library every other week, and I kept borrowing the same book over and over--Sixty Saints for Girls. I read it and re-read it, practically learning it by heart. Those lively stories of the saints imbibed at a young age impressed me in a way I have never forgotten.
2. One book that you've read more than once:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Is there anything more worth re-reading than a courtly and eloquent Jane Austen romance?
3. One book you'd want on a desert island:
I would really need two books--the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
4. One book that made you laugh:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The first time I read this book, my husband kept asking, "What are you laughing at?" Each time I replied, "David Copperfield," he thought I was pulling his leg. After all, in high school, most of us learned to dislike Dickens, considering his works dry and depressing. Fortunately, as I discovered by chance in my mid-twenties, David Copperfield is one of the most insightfully comical books ever written.
5. One book that made you cry:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
I know, I know--how could I select the same book for both the laughing and crying categories? Well, it just goes to show the depth of Dickens' writing. I must have re-read chapter 53 through tears at least a dozen times. It begins:
"I must pause yet once again. O, my child-wife, there is a figure in the moving crowd before my memory, quiet and still, saying in its innocent love and childish beauty, Stop to think of me -- turn to look upon the Little Blossom, as it flutters to the ground!"
[Excuse me while I grab a tissue . . . .]
6. One book that you wish had been written:
I wish there was a series of fabulously illustrated and engagingly written children's picture books on the lives of at least a hundred individual saints.
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Misty's Twilight by Marguerite Henry
This is admittedly a quirky pick on my part, but I so loved the Misty of Chincoteague series, and Misty's Twilight, written by Ms. Henry much later in life, was disappointing in the extreme.
8. One book you are currently reading:
The Latin-Centered Curriculum by Andrew Campbell
9. One book you have been meaning to read:
I still have not read Crossing the Threshold of Hope and several other works by Pope John Paul II, but would very much like to do so. Hmm, maybe I'll take one of those off the shelf tonight!
Tag:
Alice, I'm so glad you were meme-tagged :) I'm having so much fun reading all the book memes; I echo your sentiment on Misty's Twilight...my daughter would say the same.
Off to read more memes :)
Blessings,
Denise
Posted by: Denise in Ohio | August 12, 2006 at 07:12 PM
I enjoyed reading your picks so much! Got to get my hands on some Jane Austen books. Thanks for adding to the fun.
God love you,
Lynn
Posted by: Lynn | August 13, 2006 at 12:23 AM
Thanks for the tag, Alice! I posted mine this morning. You know, I've never read David Copperfield, you've provoked my interest...maybe I should add it to my #9? LOL!
Posted by: Jennifer | August 13, 2006 at 09:25 AM