snurri: (Default)
snurri ([personal profile] snurri) wrote2007-02-26 01:08 pm
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Deja Meme

Got tagged for a book meme by [livejournal.com profile] infanttyrone.

1. One book that changed your life

The thing is, I think I've done this meme or another similar--twice, in fact--so I hate to give the exact same answers. (The previous answers were One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Lord of the Rings, and On Stranger Tides, for those keeping score.) Instead I'll give you Mircea Eliade's Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, which is very long and somewhat dry and yet still managed to give me a new dimension of understanding of the functions of myth in magico-religious thought. Seriously, the whole bit in Hávamál where Odin hangs on the tree to discover the runes? (It's stanzas 137-on if you're interested.) Had so much more meaning to me after I read this book. Which, you know, is kind of a rareified reason to love a book, but I do.

2. One book you have read more than once

Hm. I don't reread very often nowadays, but I recently revisited Karen Joy Fowler's The Jane Austen Book Club, which is, ya know, awesome.

3. One book you would want on a desert island

Six Sigma for Small Business? Nah, probably not. Um. I'll say The Canterbury Tales, 'cause I have yet to read it.

4. One book that made you laugh

Most books I read do. If there's no humor in a book at all it's hard for me to enjoy it. But I'm reading Against the Day right now (yes, still) and it's very funny.

5. One book that made you cry

Hm. I think I already told my embarrassing Anne of Green Gables story. Have I told how I always used to cry when Boromir died? Man, I was a dork.

6. One book you wish had been written

The Secret Testament of My Forbidden Love For David J. Schwartz, by Kate Winslet. Could be she's just looking for a publisher?

7. One book you wish had never had been written

Kind of a harsh question. OK, The Scarlet Letter. If only I could have that part of high school back.

8. One book you are currently reading

I already told you! I did just finish City of Whispering Stone, though. Mongo the Magnificent! Peter Dinklage is playing him in the movie!

9. One book you have been meaning to read

I've had Julie Phillips' Tiptree biography next to the bed for months, and I haven't yet cracked it. Too many books!

10. Now tag 5 people

ALL RIGHT I'M TAGGING PEOPLE!!! THIS IS IT!!! OR RATHER YOU ARE IT!!! [livejournal.com profile] megmccarron [livejournal.com profile] haddayr [livejournal.com profile] _stranger_here [livejournal.com profile] susansugarspun [livejournal.com profile] squirrel_monkey! THE FRAGILE SOCIAL CONTRACT IS NOW IN YOUR HANDS!!! !! !

[identity profile] haddayr.livejournal.com 2007-02-26 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, dear. Now I'm going to have to admit to everyone that I never read anything anymore -- not even dear friends' manuscripts.

Also:

Man, I was a dork.

May I ask why you used the past tense in this sentence? I am always interested in the artistic choices writers make. :-)

[identity profile] haddayr.livejournal.com 2007-02-26 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Note to self:

When mocking others, do not screw up the .html.

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
:-P

[identity profile] markteppo.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, Eliade. Sacred and Profane changed me good. I need to get to Shamanism but, you know, it is buried under a few other stacks right now.

Thanks for the Hávamál link, btw. I actually have need for that section where Odin hangs on the tree and just hadn't bothered to dig it up.

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
There's actually another site, here, which has the entire Elder Edda online and translated. In case you have need of more.

[identity profile] markteppo.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 06:22 am (UTC)(link)
Oh Christ, that's a distraction I don't need tonight. :) I'll check it out tomorrow.

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 06:31 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. Glad to help provide distractions!

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/ 2007-02-27 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I just want you to know that I'm not ignoring your tag. No guarantees on how I'll choose to fulfill the social contract, which incidentally I'm pretty sure I never signed, but one way or another, I won't let you down.

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 07:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh. I don't think society will collapse if you really don't wanna do it. Usually I don't tag anyone, though, so I thought I'd try it for once :-P

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/ 2007-02-27 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Whereas I think society will collapse whether I do it or not, but I don't want to be the chump wading through the wreckage afterwards and realizing I contributed to the downfall instead of being part of the solution! WHAT WILL WE TELL OUR GRANDCHILDREN

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2007-02-27 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I plan to be the rogue bachelor old guy, running around telling other people's grandchildren that it's all THEIR grandmas' and grandpas' fault.