thewhitelily | Entries tagged with meme

Meme from

the_zaniak: three radically different pieces of fiction, showing my breadth as a writer. I suspect he had me in mind when he made this one up - he knows I can't resist the threeness. :)

First, we have a poem: ( Wanderlust )

Next, a drama-ish flashfic which got the usual obsessive non-flashy Lily treatment: ( Lemons )

Finally, we have some humour. ZOMG, Lily writes humour? Yes, yes she does. Unfortunately, it’s hard to sustain, so the story this has been clipped from is unlikely to ever make its novellength way out to being posted. ( Ginny’s introduction from my crossoverfic )

Meme nicked from

rchevalier

1-List 17 things that you want to say to people, but never will.
2-Don't mention their names.
3-Never discuss it again.
4-Random order

( 17 things )

Hmmm. I appear to be rather bitchier than I thought I was. Maybe it's the lack of word count.

Going around my friendslist at the moment: thirteen favourite books from childhood. This is particularly relevant at the moment because... well, I know what I'm going to be writing for NaNoWriMo - and it's definitely kidlit. The protagonist is a boy who runs away to join the circus and everything. :)

I've titled my list my thirteen childhood literature favourites, though, because... well, I didn't really read books that there was only one of. So some of these are authors, some of them are series, and there's a couple of single books which I loved but didn't like the series around them. I couldn't narrow it down to only one kind.

1. David Eddings: I can't count the number of times I read these books. Honestly, it would be in the hundreds. It got to the point where I could read a whole series in three days - a week for part one and two - and that was while school was in. I took one with me everywhere - they were perfect, because they fit precisely into my blazer pocket. I got in trouble for taking one on a fire drill once, and successfully managed to explain that it had been in my pocket when the bell rang - and did they want me to waste time emptying my pockets before I proceeded in an orderly fashion down to the oval, just so that I could be as bored as everyone else? The Belgariad and the Mallorean were my absolute favourites, but I didn't mind the Elenium and the Tamuli, either.

2. Gordan Korman: "I Want To Go Home!" was my favourite, but "Who is Bugs Potter?" was also good. Just... hysterically funny.

3. Trixie Beldon series: I've got almost this entire series. I was obsessed. ~~Lily? Obsessed? Surely not!~~ Actually I wrote my very first fanfiction about Trixie Beldon, before I'd ever heard of fanfiction. I'd completely forgotten about that.

4. Enid Blyton - sheer genius, even if in retrospect not necessarily that brilliant. My favourite series was The Adventurous Four - or possibly the Adventure series ("The ... of Adventure"), but of course I loved the Famous Five. Never really got into the Secret Seven, and my sister was far more of a Brer Rabbit fan than I was, but...

5. Dr. Seuss: I totally agree with what others have said - the Cat in the Hat was rubbish. But I loved The Big Brag, The Sneeches, Yertle the Turtle, What Was I Scared Of?, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax - all the ones with a moral and a real story to set off the clever or ridiculous rhymes rather than just a huge list of words that happen to rhyme.

6. Willard Price's Adventure series: thinly disguised animal encyclopedias as two brothers go around the world capturing exotic animals for their father's company (which provides animals for zoos). Riveting from one end to the other.

7. The Berenstain Bears: Particularly The Bike Lesson! "Will I ever ride it? Or will I just keep running beside it?" I must say, the Berenstein Bears and Dr. Seuss remain lasting entries in my childhood favourites mainly because they were the books I most clearly remember enjoying with Dad. I enjoyed them both well past the point where I was also reading stacks of way thicker books.

8. Ender's Game: my very first introduction to the twist ending. No, I did not guess what was going on, and it made me very cross when Hubby said "what? it was obvious, wasn't it?" after reading it on my intentionally vague recommendation. But I adored it and read it obsessively, and the whole concept of "the enemy's gate is down" was something that twisted my gravity-bound brain into an adoring pile of goo.

9. Bottersnikes and Gumbles: the most wonderful book series ever, about two warring tribes of mythical creatures in the Australian outback - the Gumbles were peace-loving mischevious environmentally friendly beanbags with faces and hands and feet, the Bottersnikes were evil, lazy, angry beings who lived in rubbish dumps and liked to catch Gumbles and stuff them into empty soup cans so that they could pull them out and have slaves whenever they wanted. Hilarious, thrilling, and complete and utter escapism.

10. Redwall: I stopped reading after some... ten books or something, but Redwall provided me with so much fantasy world retreat in my head, it was just awesome.

11. Ancient Future: also known as Mary-sue Strikes Back, but... well, I loved it. When a butt-kicking modern woman goes back in time to marry a medieval prince and get declared a warrior goddess... aaaaah, it's all my adolescent dreams coalesced into one handy volume.

12. A series I can't remember the name/author/etc., because they were from the library and are thus lost into antiquity. It was about a set of children who loved sailing and got into adventures: the first book I read opened with one of the children running across a grassy field pretending to tack, since they were going into the wind. I could never find them when I went back to look for them, but I remember absolutely adoring them. Anyone who can identify them will earn my eternal gratitude.

13. Narnia: The Horse and his Boy was the only one I never really enjoyed. I think The Last Battle was my favourite - a scene that sticks with me even now is Jill turning aside her face so that her tears didn't wet her bowstring. Beautiful.

Noticably absent from this list is anything like the Babysitter's Club, or anything that involved shifting friendships, loyalties, betrayals, and/or girls with crushes as main plot elements. Boooring! [/actually a comment about self, not about such books] Also absent is Roald Dahl and all the horror/gross sort of kids books, who I never really got into.

Since childhood, I've discovered a whole heap of new favourite kidlit authors: Eoin Colfer, Diana Wynne Jones, Phillip Pullman, and.. um... JK Rowling, I guess. The list feels incomplete without them, but I never read them when I was a kid, so I can't really include them.

Not usually a fan of these, but I thought this one was interesting...

One book that changed your life: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling. How could I pick anything other than the first grain of dust in the landslide that has become my life as a writer? But for something more influential on my worldview rather than actually literally life changing, I’d have to say… well, any number, really. Perhaps The Screwtape Letters which, despite my lack of religious belief, manages to be a brilliant fictional guide to avoiding those tiny vices which can creep into your life without your ever noticing, making it less enjoyable and fulfilling for yourself as well as those around you.

One book that you’ve read more than once: Good Omens, Terry Pratchet and Neil Gaiman. I reread, and I reread, and I reread… and I never stop laughing. Or thinking. Or shaking my head in awe at how cleverly it’s been put together when I catch a reference I’d never got before.

One book you’d want on a desert island: I’d have to say some sort of survival manual, because… well, that’s just sensible. But if I may assume this is the kind of resort desert island where I have waiters bringing me coconuts with straws (and various unnamed additives) in them and survival is much less an issue than boredom… I’m really not sure. Perhaps Good Omens, my number one rereader.

One book that made you laugh: Nightwatch, Terry Pratchet. I gave Terry Pratchet (without Neil Gaiman cowriting) a couple of chances, mainly on his early books, and always came away disappointed. Where was the story? Where was the cohesive plot holding all the clever metaphors and one liners together? Was it ever going to stop getting sillier?

blueyeti convinced me that Nightwatch is the answer. This is the book that made me realise I’d judged him on his first books, and that he’s got a heck of a lot better as he went along. It’s as silly as all the rest. But it’s got a framework. A framework that sucks you in and makes you desperate to turn each page. Oh, and laugh several times on every single page along the way.

One book that made you cry: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Mark Haddon. Best. Book. Ever. I’ve wanted to list it in every category so far, but since it’s the only book I can currently recall reading that’s made actual tears roll down my cheeks, I guess it had to go here. It’s had such an impact on my writing style – it’s a brilliant study in writing like your narrator but still making the reader empathise with other characters; in writing bare, spare prose that has even more impact for its understated nature; in spitting the reader back out at the other end of the story with their perspective on the world just that little bit richer. And aside from all that, it’s just a darn good read.

One book that you wish had been written: Um… does my first publishable novel count? Perhaps not. So, let’s say… Harry Potter and the Seventh Book, JK Rowling. *hangs on a cliff*

One book that you wish had never been written: Mere Christianity, CS Lewis. One day people will stop recommending it to me as the cure for my atheism. Mainly because every Christian alive will have recommended it to me. But I’m sort of stealing that one off Ally, so I should think up something else…
Daughter of the Blood, Anne Bishop. This book made me ill. A society that glories in the rape and subsequent mental traumatisation of young children. Which isn’t really a drop in the bucket to some of the fanfiction I’ve come across, and maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me because I don’t mind reading darker fiction, except… Dymocks recommended it as “If you like David Eddings, you’ll love Anne Bishop!” Um… what? If you like light hearted wisecracking cliché fantasy, you’ll love a pitch-dark dystopic explicitly sexually violent fantasy? Gaargh! [/sidetrack rant]

One book you’re currently reading: Inkheart, Cornelia Funke. I read about a third of the way through on Sunday morning, and so far it has me thoroughly intrigued and has already sent me to the bookstore to buy the sequel.

One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Crucible Trilogy, Sara Douglass. My sister lent them to me… too long ago to remember how long it’s actually been. But I just never seem to get around to reading it. I actually really tried a couple of weeks ago, and I picked the first book up and read the first chapter… scornful of the appallingly confusing exposition the whole way through it, only to realise that I’d accidentally picked up the third book, and it was all just meant to be reminder stuff. *sigh* I’m currently endeavouring to forget all the spoilers before I try again.

Finally: Shut up, Lily! You’re rambling again!

Tagged by

dim_aldebaran
I don’t know if I can multi-tag the same people Ally tagged, so I’ll stick to new people. I tag:

fairyhunter

iviolinist

kisekinoumi

kittyrainbow

the_zaniak