GBWBT wrap-up

So I only managed one (count it, one) post for the Great Books Week Blog Tour until today. Here's a compressed version of the three I missed--

The cover I remember.

Tuesday: When I was a child, my favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle because it was my first introduction to the science fiction/fantasy genre, and I still remember the feeling of being transported along with Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace to Camazotz. The story also told me that it's okay to be smart, and that I might even end up with a basketball player for a boyfriend.

Wednesday: I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne. Getting stuck, being chased by bees, meeting a Heffalump--yep, been there, done that.

Thursday: I hated … when I had to read it in high school, but when I read it on my own later, I loved it because…

Now, see, this is where it gets sticky. I didn't have to read a single great book in high school. Why, you ask? Because the particular school I went to used Bob Jones University textbooks with watered down versions of parts of stories. I know, I know--believe me, I know. I took some elective literature classes as an undergraduate to make up for this fact, plus I did some reading on my own as a teenager.

There were some books I had to read either for those elective literature classes or general education classes that I decidedly did not care for--As I Lay Dying (Faulkner) comes to mind, as does a collection of Flannery O'Connor short stories. But I haven't yet gone back and read them again to see if I might have changed my mind. Maybe someday. Or not.

And today's entry--

Friday: When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them a book I think they'll enjoy or use because there's no one book I think everyone will love. Except for Goodnight, Moon and Sylvia Long's Hush Little Baby (standard new baby gifts), I don't think I've ever given the same book twice.

Great Books Week Blog Tour (GBWBT) begins

Catch it here and join in on the fun! Hosted by the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors. Great Books Week began Sunday, October 4th. Thanks to Dewey's Treehouse for spreading the word.

Each day a different topic is addressed by participating bloggers. Here's hoping some of my favorite authors are participating!

My Monday entry:

If I were stranded alone on a deserted island with only seven books to read over the next few years, I would like to have…

1. The Collector's Library Omnibus Edition of Jane Austen's Complete Illustrated Novels, including Emma, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park. Lest you say I am cheating, let me tell you that this 880 page tome would save my sanity on a lonely island. Though I've read and re-read each tale, some of them countless times, I just don't think I would be able to go for years without multiple trips to Jane's world.

2. The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. I've not read everything the Bard has written, and enforced alone time would be the perfect time to make a stab at reading it all. What can I say? I was the child who, when forced to choose between books at the bookstore, picked the one with the most pages. This particular anthology has 1808.

3. Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare. To help tease out the meaning of the above opus. 1536 pages. Thanks for the recommendation, Becky.

4. Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Starry Nights: an Introduction to Astronomy for Every Night of the Year, by Chet Raymo. Besides the fact that I've fallen in love with Raymo's lyrical writing style, there would never be a better time to learn about the night sky. Only 225 pages, though. Hmm. . .

5. The Universe and Beyond, by Terence Dickinson. An introductory astronomy book by an author I've read and enjoyed before that reportedly does its job well. Plus it has lots of pretty pictures. 180 pages.

6. Asimov's New Guide to Science. The story of science and scientists from Galileo to Einstein. 896 pages.

7. The SAS Survival Handbook, by John "Lofty" Wiseman. Subtitled "How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea." 576 pages. No sense bringing the first six if I can't live long enough to read them.

If survival was somehow insured and I didn't need the safety of choice #7, I'd pick an omnibus edition of Charles Dickens, like this one, as I have yet to read many of the author's works.

Oh dear, now I realize (after looking at the time and noting that I have "miles to go before I sleep") that I don't have any poetry here. I don't know which one I'd take out, but something would have to go so that The Norton Anthology of Poetry could slide in there. 1424 pages. ☺