Things to say: Book Meme Day 4 and 5
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
While there are many worthy books out there, including Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, this prize has to go to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
"In a hole, in the ground, there lived a Hobbit..." Just those words alone are enough to perk up any day for me. The Hobbit was my first bedtime story, and I read it repeatedly growing up. There are many good lessons to learn in that book, especially when you're a small, thoughtful and not terribly athletic kid surrounded by bigger and more easily distracted classmates. I learned a bit of luck is as important as being clever. That staying on the path, even when things get hard, is the only sure way through Mirkwood. That heroes need a little help to slay dragons, and that dragons can be slain.
I know a lot of people give this book a bad rap and think of it as the "kid brother" to the Lord of the Rings series, but I completely love this book on its own merits. It's a wonderful bedtime story- each chapter leaving you ready for the next, and every difficulty leading into the one that follows. And since I do most of my reading in the half-hour before bed each night, it's an old favorite I turn to again and again.
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
This was an easy one. Without a doubt, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is the worst book I've ever been made to suffer through. It was required reading for me in 8th grade, and the first book I ever literally considered setting flame to. I found the narrator to be amazingly whiny and irritating. His relationship with the 11 or 12 year old Pheobe set me on edge as being age inappropriate- it came across to me as a mixture of a Lolita fixation and an 17 or 18 year old boy relying on a 11 or 12 year old for emotional support and stability. The narrator's problems and alienation seemed trivial to me (I was living overseas at the time and had spent two years being literally the only English speaker at my school). Compared with the very real alienation and challenges I was facing at that point in my life, his directionless meanderings and ennui completely failed to register as the huge issues he made them out to be. The ending also felt like the biggest rip off of all. The main character hasn't confronted any of his short comings. He hasn't grown. He's just given up, and I've never liked that kind of a coward.
Possibly this book was groundbreaking and eyeopening to some readers, but to me it was a form of torture. I've never hated a book that much since without putting the book down and finding something more worth while to read instead.
Meme Prompts
Day 01 - A series you wish had ended sooner.
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about.
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever.
Day 05 - A book or series you hate.
Day 06 - Your favorite book of all time.
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device.
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once.
Day 09 - Best scene ever.
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving.
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you.
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times.
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book.
Day 15 - Your "comfort" book.
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry.
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.).
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book.
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!).
Day 20 - Favorite kiss.
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship.
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship.
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever.
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel.
Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack.
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending.
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it.
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession.
Day 29 - Favorite character death.
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?