Friday Five
Apr. 8th, 2005 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
Today's Friday Five was particularly good, so I decided to use it. It was either this or the Unitarian Jihad meme that's been making the rounds. Great enough, it is, to avoid risking over-exposure.
1. What is the one book that you reread over and over again?
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahamme. To me, the shining example of friendship, love of nature, acceptance of quirks tempered with...well, the expectation to behave like a Civilized Animal. And ratties. :) I just never get tired of it, not now, not ever.
2. What is your favourite genre?
I don't really have a favorite genre of book, but there's typically a theme throughout genres that I resonate with more than anything: self-discovery. It can pop up in anything from Demian by Hermann Hesse to Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut to Tamsin by Peter Beagle. I love it when the Hero's Journey forces people to recognize aspects and traits of themselves they never had before, and I'll walk down that road with myriad characters time and time again.
3. Do you usually buy your books or visit the library?
I work in a bookstore. I'd *better* by my books. :)
4. Who is your favourite author?
Changes depending on mood. I'll give a listing of five: Peter Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Aitken and Hermann Hesse.
5. What book have you read that you absolutely hated?
Black Boy and Native Son by Richard Wright. This might have been tempered by my rebellious "I don't want to read *that*" phase in high school, but I do believe that Wright is probably one of the most bitter and hateful people to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. He's pretty much the predecessor to a lot of black leaders in this country today, who would rather bitch and moan about there not being enough black people on TV than work to get drugs out of inner-city neighborhoods. That kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, the problems and attitudes he railed against were there, but his "Fuck the white devil." message is really going to help repair race relations, I'm sure.
If you want a better book about black life in the 30s and 40s, read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Much better, trust me.
1. What is the one book that you reread over and over again?
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahamme. To me, the shining example of friendship, love of nature, acceptance of quirks tempered with...well, the expectation to behave like a Civilized Animal. And ratties. :) I just never get tired of it, not now, not ever.
2. What is your favourite genre?
I don't really have a favorite genre of book, but there's typically a theme throughout genres that I resonate with more than anything: self-discovery. It can pop up in anything from Demian by Hermann Hesse to Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut to Tamsin by Peter Beagle. I love it when the Hero's Journey forces people to recognize aspects and traits of themselves they never had before, and I'll walk down that road with myriad characters time and time again.
3. Do you usually buy your books or visit the library?
I work in a bookstore. I'd *better* by my books. :)
4. Who is your favourite author?
Changes depending on mood. I'll give a listing of five: Peter Beagle, Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Aitken and Hermann Hesse.
5. What book have you read that you absolutely hated?
Black Boy and Native Son by Richard Wright. This might have been tempered by my rebellious "I don't want to read *that*" phase in high school, but I do believe that Wright is probably one of the most bitter and hateful people to come out of the Harlem Renaissance. He's pretty much the predecessor to a lot of black leaders in this country today, who would rather bitch and moan about there not being enough black people on TV than work to get drugs out of inner-city neighborhoods. That kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, the problems and attitudes he railed against were there, but his "Fuck the white devil." message is really going to help repair race relations, I'm sure.
If you want a better book about black life in the 30s and 40s, read Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Much better, trust me.
