Books and crushes

[Tabouli]

jenny from ravenclaw wrote:
> Are there books that you have read so many times you *still* know
> chunks by heart?  Are you also unable to explain why?

I'm a chronic re-reader of books, though I'd be better at answering questions about my favorites than reciting chunks.  I do know Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter off by heart (being a Lewis Carroll fan)...

John:
> * The ENTIRE Famous Five. All of it, but especially #3, "Five Run Away
Together". By Enid Blyton.

That's my favorite one too!  Nothing beats that late night escape to the island, laden with lashings of ginger beer and potted meat, and that cave is glorious.  Good ol' Enid, she copped a lot of flack, and sure, her work ain't exactly the founding text of the womyn's pride movement, but within the boundaries she set herself, she was very creative.  That Wishing Chair... that Faraway Tree... those mystery stories...

John:
> * The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia #3...at the time that I read it,
but they've renumbered since IIRC) by C.S. Lewis.

My second favorite.  IMO, you just can't beat the Wood Between the Worlds and that creation scene in The Magician's Nephew.

I also adore Antonia Forest's Marlow series, which starts with Autumn Term, and includes 10 books covering both term time and holiday time for the members of an 8 child family with a set of identical twins (blond, though, not red haired).  I don't have any magic or deity to pray to for your aunt, but the best of courage and strength to you, and just in case her name has healing vibrations, Antonia Forest has a character called Jan Scott who is cool and serene and very independent minded and provides Nicola (the heroine) with emotional support at a crucial moment in Cricket Term.  You could pay homage in a reading... (as could anyone else who likes the boarding school aspect of HP, though she's hard to track down these days).

Ebony:
*The Blue Castle* is for the times when I feel as if I'll never find 
that special someone.

This book was compulsory reading on the morning of my 29th birthday as a single woman... (a few months ago).  I love tying dates in books to dates in real life: by some happy coincidence, I read Carl Sagan's "Contact" on the 31st of December 1999, which is the actual date of first interstellar mission in the book!

Penny:
> Gone with the Wind - I used to re-read annually, but it's actually
been a few years now.  Need to drag that out again soon.

Oo, now this is a controversial book (I must read "The Wind Done Gone" some time!).  Must admit, I like it very much myself.  I admire assertiveness and resourcefulness, and whatever else you say about Scarlett, she has those qualities in spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds.  Good on her.  Though in the film, they turn her into a whingeing bitch, which always annoys me...

storm:
>>Including on .... (other Au listers will know how 
embaressing this is)... Darryl Sommers (a short, tubby older man who 
pretends to be funny). I spent all my Saturdays in front of the tele 
watching the now defuncted "Hey, Hey it's Saturday", collected his 
picture from magazines, knew when he was in town <sigh> those halcyon days! <<

Good **GOD** (says Tabouli, awestruck at storm's shamelessness).  Now if only the non-Australian listmembers knew of the man in question, you'd have to be a leading contender for the Grand Prize here!  Darryl Somers, begorrah!!!  Even his sidekick Ozzie the Ostrich (a wisecracking puppet) has more sex appeal...

(though Kermit was cute, especially when singing "The Rainbow Connection", and I did have a bit of a thing for Grover as a child...)

Tabouli.


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