I didn’t get “tagged,” but I read this meme via The Dane and decided I needed to blog something and it’s not a bad idea.
1. One book that changed your life:
I wouldn’t say it “changed my life” in terms of changing who I am, but one book that had a strong influence on my tastes in literature was “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. This was one of the earliest science fiction novels I read (aside from a few classics I read in middle-school such as Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451).
Ender is an incredibly fun character who is easy to root for as he faces all trials thrown at him as he’s trained to become a space fighter to help fend off potential invasions of an alien race known as Buggers. As something of a genious, he begins his training at the age of six.
As a sidenote, the quality of the books decreases as the series goes on with things getting really bizarre by the end. The parallel series, starting with Ender’s Shadow, does a better job of not degenerating by the end, though things are left wide open for more stories at the conclusion of Shadow of the Giant.
This may be because another book is (supposedly) coming out titled “Shadows in Flight” which I hadn’t previously known about till stumbling across Ender’s Game on Wikipedia.
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the late Douglas Adams. I first read it during high school around eight to ten years ago, and I still laugh when I read it. This is the best sci-fi humor on the market. Plus, I love having a number I can give as the answer to any question which in turn lets you know who all the geeks in the room are. 42. Seriously.
If you don’t read books, try the movie. It’s at its best the first couple times, but subsequent viewings will bring out appreciation for the subtleties.
“He’s just ziss guy, ya know?”
3. One book that you’d want on a desert island:
Ecclesiastes. A time to be LOST, and a time to be found.
4. One book that made you laugh:
Though more of a graphic novel, I’m going to claim Megatokyo (wiki, print version). It’s the story of two geeky gaijin who fly to Japan after getting incredibly drunk after a gaming convention (E3). They become stranded there because they don’t have enough money to get home. The art and style are strongly influenced by Japanese style, but are done by an American named Fred Gallagher.
In any case, I’ve gotten quite a few laughs out of it, though lately the drama has been well done.
5. One book that made you cry:
The absolutely best translation I’ve ever read: Shiokari Pass by Ayako Miura. Ayako Miura is a female Japanese author whose books have a profoundly positive reputation in Japan.
This book tells the fictional tale (though parts are similar to her own life which is documented in another book - The Wind Is Howling) of a Japanese man who falls in love with a woman stricken by tuberculosis. The characters are amazingly well written, the story is powerful, and the ending is one of the most powerful literary pictures of Christianity I’ve ever read. In addition, the translation from Japanese to English is incredible from a readability standpoint.
6. One book that you wish had been written:
I’d like to write a book some day.
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Oh, there’s some bad ones out there: I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Totally killed my dating life in high school. (As if I had one. Or wanted one.)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
I finished Prey by Michael Crichton last night. The characters were flat and the plot was highly unbelievable. Of course, it is a sci-fi type of plot, but this was seriously bad. Essentially, a bunch of nanorobots get loose in the environment and begin to rapidly evolve over a period of weeks.
I like to follow technology and know what’s going on, and I’m fairly certain there’s no chance of a bunch of microscopic robots getting out in the wild and starting to develop new instincts and skills based on their interaction with nature. You have to accept a lot of premises to enjoy this book such as evolution and the potential for self-evolving, man-made machines.
I also found is artistic style to be lacking. His foreshadowing tends to tip off the reader to what will, won’t, or can’t happen in the upcoming chapters. By the time the climax showed up, I knew what the big secret was.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Next up on my reading list is “Heretics of Dune” by Frank Herbert. It’s the fifth of six books in the Dune saga.
I’ve also got a bunch of pop-theological books sitting around that I read a chapter or two of before they end up sitting for a long time.
The End
If you want to write on this meme yourself, have at it.
Categories: Life
