15 Books Meme

[talktooloose]

You're not supposed to think too long or too hard on this one.

List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you—list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it. You will probably forget important ones, and everyone will make fun of you for being either too fluffy or too pretentious. Get over it.

Here's my 15 minute list:

1. China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh
2. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
3. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
4. Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone
5. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
6. Twisted Kicks by Tom Carson
7. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
9. Moving Mars by Greg Bear
10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
11. The Piano Man's Daughter by Timothy Findley
12. Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley
13. The Boys on the Rock by John Fox
14. L'étranger by Albert Camus
15. Ordinary People by Judith Guest

I'm supposed to tag 15 people but I don't do that, so just do it volunatrily!

Comments

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

I tried, but I can't seem to recall very many books any more. Sad.

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

Do you ever fear (in all honesty) that you are going prematurely senile? I panic about this for moments from time to time. I can't remember any names these days! Especially under pressure.

One thing is clear, left untreated, hypochondria causes more imaginary deaths per year than any other psychosomatic disorder.

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, hell yes. I'm frequently stunned by how my mental power have declined just in the last five years or so.

I keep telling myself it's because I'm using more of my brain for music .... I hope I'm right.

[quirkstreet.livejournal.com]

Ha. And look at that. I didn't even click the proper link for the reply.

{sob}--totally NOT intentional. eeeeeeek

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I have several theories when I'm feeling rational. One of them is that when we're younger, it's harder to know which information is important for getting ahead, for making people like us, for a more positive self-definition. Now, we're like "Who cares about the name of the red-shirt killed in that ST episode!" We're not encoding the information because we deem it trivial.

A corollary to this is that we have Google damage. We let Google hold onto the info for us instead of storing it ourselves.

I can hold more in my head now than I used to. In other words, I can balance a shitload of factors and keep track of them, for instance, in our reno. In many ways, my mind works better than ever. But I have been trying for two days to remember the name of a city in India I visited and it won't come to me.

MY GOD, I'LL BE PEEING MY PANTS SOON AND DROOLING GRUEL IN A WARD SOMEWHERE!!!

[snowmit.livejournal.com]

Neuromancer
The Integral Trees
Diamond Age
Breakfast of Champions
Distraction
Bluebeard
Count Zero
The Crying of Lot 49
Le Petit Prince
Snow Crash
Holy Fire
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Shaping Things

[snowmit.livejournal.com]

There's more. A revised version of this list would include The Demolished Man which I mentally lost and had to re hunt down again. And another book whose name I cannot recall in which a talented fugitive takes on a surveillance state by making everything public.

Also maybe some of the weird cyberpunk meets fantasy stuff I liked.

And Gordon Korman books.

I kind of hate my list now. :)

[talktooloose.livejournal.com]

I think that's part of the point! Ha, I should have included Breakfast of Champions and le petit prince. I considered including Lot 49.

I don't know Gordon Korman at all. I'm pretty sure I read the Demolished Man but don't remember it. Bester, right?

[snowmit.livejournal.com]

Yessir.

Gordon Korman is a YA author that I grew up with. My grade 3 teacher reading from his books is a big part of what sparked my love of stories.