(Yup- Ringo Starr!)
So, in an effort to keep this blog humming along despite the fact that the brain juices are running low (see post below), I came across this cool, book-related meme today over at Magical Musings and figured I'd play along! And, hopefully, you'll decide to play along too because that would make it even cooler!
So, here are my picks-- be sure to leave yours in the comments!
- What book(s) made you a better writer?
STORY by Robert Mckee changed my life. Took me from unpublished to published. SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder is one I turn to again and again--the Beat Sheet is insanely useful!
-What book(s) made you cry?
The first book to ever make my cry was CHARLOTTE'S WEB--I sobbed like a baby! After that, I seem to remember shedding a tear or two over BASTARD OUT OF CAROLINA and THE LOVELY BONES. I know there are others, I can be quite the cry baby, but those are the ones that spring to mind.
-What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
I will never forget reading David Sedaris's ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY on a flight from NYC to LA. I was practically falling out of my seat laughing, luckily the seat next to me was empty! Chrisitopher Moore and Nick Hornby always inspire these kinds of hysterics as well!
What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
Well, I don't know if they made me feel like a world beater, but Judy Blume's books helped me through a tough adolescence--they made me feel more equipped to handle my problems. She is a huge inspiration to me!
What book(s) have you read three times or more?
WUTHERING HEIGHTS, DEENIE, CATCHER IN THE RYE, FRANNY AND ZOEY, REBECCA, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S . . .
What book(s) kept you up all night reading?
Hmm, off the top of my head, Elizabeth Scott's LIVING DEAD GIRL- spare, haunting, and I couldn't put it down! Oh, and last night I skipped watching TV (my afterwork treat!), so I could finish Rebecca Stead's WHEN YOU REACH ME--wonderful!
What book(s) do you want to read again?
I want to read THE LOVELY BONES again before the movie comes out, I'd like to read Paul Coelho's THE ALCHEMIST again- a truly lovely tale . . . oh, there's lots of books I'd read again and again, but there are also lots I still need to read for the first time around!
Okay, now it's your turn!! Sing it out in the comments!
Have a great day everyone!
A
xoxo
23 comments:
What book(s) made you a better writer?
I'm no writer, but if I had to choose a book that made me want to write something was The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato.
What book(s) made you cry?
Oh well, many. The first book I cried to was Heartbreak Tango by Manuel Puig, I was about ten I think when I read it for the first time. Flowers for Algernon was the first book that really broke my heart. And the Lake of Dead Languages was so, so sad and haunting that it gave it nightmares for a week. My Sister's Keeper was so unpredictable that I couldn't help but cry at the end.
What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
That's a tough one. Bitten and Smitten by Michelle Rowen was pretty hilarious. I'm reading Succubus Blues and it's a pretty funny book, too.
What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
I can't think of any at the moment.
What book(s) have you read three times or more?
Haha, this is going to be embarrassing. The Twilight saga, the VA saga, Evermore, Heartbreak Tango (I must have read it like six times at least), The Lake of Dead Languages, and many others.
What book(s) kept you up all night reading?
The first book I couldn't put down was Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It remains my favorite book by far. And the ones I mention above I practically read them in a period of less than three days. I must say, Evermore and Blue moon, they both took me less than eight hours non-stopping to read.
What book(s) do you want to read again?
Oh, I don't know. Flowers for Algernon would be nice to read again. But there are way too many books to read for the first time to waste time reading the same old ones.
What book made you a better writer?
Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies. Red Water, Judith Freeman. And The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.
What book made you cry?
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers.
What book kept you up all night reading?
Any of the Harry Potter books. And Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games.
:)
Lucia- Aw, FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON!!! How could I forget--I loved that book!
Hey Sarah- I love Jumpha Lahiris use of language--so lyrical! Haven't ready the Potter books yet-can you believe it? But the HUNGER GAMES is in my stack!
What book(s) made you a better writer?
Im not a writer.
What book(s) made you cry?
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, New Moon, Breaking Dawn, and The Host by Stephenie Meyer, the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books, and My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
The Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks were hillarious.
What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
Again, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landu-Banks by E. Lockhart.
What book(s) have you read three times or more?
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landu-Banks by E. Lockhart, The Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter, The Twilight Books and The Host by Stephenie Meyer, The Harry Potter books By JK Rowling, Scrambled Eggs at Midnight by Brad Barkley and Heather Helper,Lock and Key, The Truth About Forever, and This Lullaby all by Sarah Dessen, Gone and Hunger by Michael Grant, and Evermore and Blue Moon by you! Plus a lot more I cant think of.
What book(s) kept you up all night reading? Pretty much all in the last question and Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman, Need by Carrie Jones, and The Squad books by Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
What book(s) do you want to read again? I would read every book I listed above again and again.
Question 1
The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be an influence for my short stories about teen romance and adolescence.
Q2
The first book that made me cry was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: the scene in which Sirius died.
Q3
The Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.
Q4
The Spider Web by Cella Serghi, a romanian author. It's a great novel that describes the coming of age of a poor, yet beautiful girl in the interwar period. It also emphasizes her struggle to be successful in a men's society.
Q5
Harry Potter and the Twilight saga.
Q6
Don't remember, but I guess most of the books I liked.
Q7
Pride and Prejudice and The Most Beloved of Earthlings by Marin Preda, another romanian author. The book is a fresco of the communism in Romania and tells the story of an intellectual that becomes a prisoner because of some stupid political reasons.
Alyson--great post, but there's no way I could do justice to those questions without a lot more caffeine! Also, I'm too excited about the upcoming Smart Chicks Tour to do any real thinking--congratulations!!!
I'm sure I'll think of more appropriate ones later, but here goes:
1) Anything by Madeline L'Engle and Frank Herbert -- they are story telling masters.
2) I just started reading the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris. There is a scene in Dead Until Dark where someone important to Sookie is murdered--I couldn't read the words through the tears. Also several scenes in The Host by Stephenie Meyer. The end of Blue Moon made me cry. (I hope the series ends on a more positive note!)
3)Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews--When I found it at B&N I read the first five or so chapters standing in front of the book shelves and people kept staring at me because I couldn't keep from laughing out loud.
4) Any of the books by Judy Bloom--very girl/kid-power inspiring when I was 10-13 years old.
5)All of the Twilight books, The Host, Frank Herbert's Dune series, Enchanted, Inc. series, Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle In Time series--when nothing else has grabbed me I always go back to one or more of these books.
6) Blue Moon, Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas all kept me up late recently.
7)Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--I keep telling myself I'll go back and re-read them, but I never seem to have the time to really focus on them.
What book(s) made you a better writer?
Most books I've read to be honest. Especially the well-worded ones that make me notice the writing, not just the story. I've read Harry Potter many times (especially 6 and 7) and I've learned a lot of writing skills from JKR.
What book(s) made you cry?
Bridge to Terabithia, My Sister's Keeper, only a few more that I can't think of right now. I've only gotten extremely into books in the past year or two and I've just recently gotten interested in "deep" books as my mother calls them. So I haven't cried much yet.
What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
None so far, but I'm not so much for the comedy, even though I'm very humorous in real life!
What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
Hmm... Gosh that's hard. Other than those Chicken Soup for the Soul books? No idea. Books don't tend to get laughs from me or give me confidence. I'm more of a read, cry if nesecary, love or hate the book, and move on type of girl. No real lasting feelings except whether I liked it or not and whether it was sad or happy.
What book(s) have you read three times or more?
Harry Potter 6 & 7 (I'm too lazy to read 5 again - It's over 800 pages!) Certain Twilight books in the series back when I was obsessed (but don't worry I've moved on!) A Wrinkle In Time. Lots more I believe but I haven't really gotten the chance to re-read with all the new/new to me books I want to read.
What book(s) kept you up all night reading?
All the Harry Potters by JK Rowling, all the Twilights by Stephenie Meyer, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeliene L'engle, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (still in the process of reading but so far very very good), You Don't Know Me by David Klass (again still in the middle of it but very good), Evermore by YOU!, Sucks to Be Me by Kimberly Pauley, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Sweethearts by Sara Zarr
What book(s) do you want to read again?
Lots, but specifically... The other Wrinkle in Time books in the series, Paperquake by Kathryn Reiss (a truly GREAT book!), My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George, Don't You Know There's a War On by Avi, Bloomability by Sharon Creech, The Host by Stephenie Meyer (the only REALLY AMAZING book by that author, Twilight was average for me after the obsession passed)
Any other recommendations?
The Notebook and all other books by Nicholas Sparks, all books by Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Emily Bronte
I've been dying to read The Road by Cormac McCarthy but I couldn't find that particular book by that author in the library (there were other books but not that one). And The Time Traveler's Wife but unfortunately the movie is raising its popularity and making it difficult to get a hold of from the library.
I'm also determined to read to read other books by all the authors I mentioned, especially Madeliene L'engle as all her books other than the ones in A Wrinkle In Time seem to be well-loved.
I came across this meme from Natasha Fondren via Alyson Noel's blog via Magical Musings and thought I'd fill it out.
•What book(s) made you a better writer?
The Writer's Journey is probably the one that had the biggest influence.
•What book(s) made you cry?
The Time Traveler's Wife, Shiver, The Lovely Bones, Twenty Boy Summer, The Last Time They Met, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (actually, I think almost all of them made me cry!)
•What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
The Bridget Jones books are some of the few. I don't really read funny books now that I think about it.
•What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting, which was The Secret before The Secret came out. Great book. I gave it to a lot of people as gifts.
•What book(s) have you read three times or more?
I know for sure that Are You There God, It's Me Margaret is on that list. I probably read it 10 or 15 times between 4th and 6th grade. I'm sure there are more from around that time but after junior high or so I pretty much stopped re-reading. Maybe Tuck Everlasting. I've read Harry Potter 4-6 twice, and will have read them 3 times once I do a re-read of the whole series at some point. Also, my favorite short story is All Summer In A Day by Ray Bradbury and I've probably read that around 20 times at least.
•What book(s) kept you up all night reading?
I stayed up late to finish The Forest of Hands and Teeth in one sitting, same with Deathly Hallows. Identical. Pet Semetary was the first horror book I read and I stayed up all night when I was home alone reading it because I was too scared to go to bed!
•What book(s) do you want to read again?
All The Pretty Horses - which I loved, The Time Traveler's Wife, The Talisman, Are You There God It's Me Margaret, Shiver, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Harry Potter series, Catcher In The Rye, Shutter Island, Paper Towns, A Wrinkle In Time
I loved Story! I tried to give it to one of my students who wants to be a writer, AND HE PASSED IT UP! I could barely keep my mouth shut.
This is an awesome list, Alyson! I am going to have such a fun year reading!
Alyssa- Great picks! Ally Carter rocks@
Cristina- Perks of Being a Wallflower-Yes! One of my all time faves!
Pamela- Waving!! Get thee some coffee!
NiGeLa- I just bought A Wrinkle in Time- Can you believe I never read it? Guess I was into the realistic, gritty stuff as a kid!
Valerie- Shutter Island was amazing!! I hope the movie does it justice!
Natasha- HE PASSED IT UP??!!!! That should be a crime!! My heart breaks for him . . .
:-D
Thanks, Alyson. It was a cool meme :) . And thanks for reminding me about THE ALCHEMIST. I really loved that book. THE DEVIL & MISS PRYM was also great.
- What book(s) made you a better writer?
Writing is my other half honestly. STORY by Robert Mckee really showed me a whole new point on writing, his insights are incredible and eye opening. Also SAVE THE CAT GOES TO THE MOVIES by Blake Synder- I read it in my first screen writing class and ever since that my writing has only gotten better.
-What book(s) made you cry?
Dean Koontz- THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR. I think he's fabulous. EVERMORE- by Alyson Noel : ) when Ever remembers the few moments before the car accident with her family in the car and the writing in that section is just so visual, and of course, William Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET.
-What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears?
THIS LULLABY by Sarah Dessen had its funny moment with Dexter and his band mate's. Also, TWO WAY STREET by Lauren Barnholdt.
What book(s) made you feel like you could conquer the world?
The TWILIGHT Series did it for me and Dean Koontz, INTENSITY. It is such a powerful novel and really empowers the capability humans really do have to be brave, succeed, and help others.
What book(s) have you read three times or more?
Velocity, Intensity, Your Heart Belongs to me, Romeo and Juliet.
What book(s) kept you up all night reading?
Twilight Series, Evermore, Blue Moon, Two Way Street, and plenty of Dean Koontz books. Oh, and I have this feeling that the Hollow by Jessica Verday (check it out!) is going to be awesome!
What book(s) do you want to read again?
I want to read Blue Moon, just to refresh my memory before Shadowland comes out and Eva's story- a holocaust survivors tale. ( Really heartfelt.)
What book(s) made you a better writer:
As I am a writer, THE FIRST FIVE PAGES by Noah Lukeman. Goldmine right there, and then definitely WUTHERING HEIGHTS because, well it's WUTHERING HEIGHTS.
What book(s) made me cry:
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE by Audrey Nifffenegger and WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls - I cried like a hungry angry baby reading that.
What book(s) made you laugh until you were in tears:
Just about anything by Sophie Kinsella (especially CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? and UNDOMESTIC GODDESS). And then PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS series by Rick Riordan, I will never think of enchiladas in the same way.
What book(s) have you read three times or more:
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, EVERMORE by we all know who : ) and THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer.
What book(s) kept you up all night reading:
SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater is phenomenal. THE HUNGER GAMES, GRACELING by Kristin Cashore, and THE HOST. And TWILIGHT and its subsequent sequels.
Books I want to read again:
WUTHERING HEIGHTS - it's the only one that I haven't reread in the last ten months... I don't go to Barnes & Noble often enough, but then again I can't drive yet, so ha!
Thank you Michelle--and the Devil & Miss Prymm- must check it out!
Hey Let's All Live In a Book- Aw, wasn't Blake Snyder great?!! And I'm a big Dean Koontz fan too--he's amazing!
Hey Anonymous- Ah, WUTHERING HEIGHTS--be still my heart! And I'm really looking forward to reading SHIVER!!
i dont really have an answer to any of those q's but i'd tell you that i love you but then i'd have to kill you is the book that got me to start reading and the twilight series is what keept me reading and all books after that mostly vampire yep i gusses i am a loser.
You haven't read Harry Potter yet?? Hunger Games is INTENSE. And your book is actually in my stack right now :) I keep meaning to pick it up at work (I work at a B&N). And how about this -- the B&N I worked at until February was one you visited a month or so ago in Orange! I missed you by a few months :(
Hey Onesoccernine- Loser? No way. Not a chance!!
Hey Sarah- Oh man, I can't believe I just missed you!
should i read wuthering heights? i was looking at it but it's old english. i like romance but not old english. is it worth the read?
Hey Katie- well, it's hard to say as these things are so subjective. One person's glorious gift is sometimes another person's discarded trash . . .
But, that said, it's one of my all time faves! It's moody, gothic, sad, tragic, and I loved it. But whether or not you'll love it to is hard to say until you try it!
What books made you cry?
The one that sticks out the most is My Sister's Keeper. Such a tear jerker. Oh, and Saving Zoe. I was reading it in my physics class last year and burst into tears at the part where Echo finds her present in Zoe's closet. Everyone was laughing at me...but in a good way. I think. :O
What books made you laugh until you were in tears?
Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Even though it's audience is mostly for children, I absolutely love that series. Each book is so hilarious.
What books have you read three times or more?
The Twilight saga and Harry Potter series. Saving Zoe.
What books kept you up all night reading?
Blue Moon, Harry Potter, Twilight, Pretty Little Liars, Private, anything by Jodi Picoult.
Which books do you want to read again?
The Great Gatsby. HP. There are others...
~alyssa
Hey Alyssa- I've been wanting to read the Wimpy Kid series, I've heard it's hilarious! And thanks for all the kind words on SAVING ZOE!
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