Days 7-17

So I am way, WAY behind on all of the blogging that I was supposed to be doing. I got a job, you see, and the time that I was spending typing up blogs on my laptop at home was replaced with time spent typing up legal documents in plain English. Anyway, I am sure there will be another post about my new job at some point or another, but that is not what this post is for. This post is to catch up on the days that I missed from the book challenge. I didn't want to give up on it, and I didn't want to write eleven separate posts, so I figured that I would put them all together here. I won't bore you with long stories about why I chose these books this time around - just a line or two to explain how they apply to the topic. The book covers are a little small at times, but you can click them to be taken to a bigger picture or you can click the book titles to be takes to their Wikipedia pages. Enjoy!

A book that you can quote:
The Great Gatsby is one of the books that I was forced to study at University, but that I absolutely loved. This meant that when it came to the exams, it was one of the books that I aced purely because it was one that I managed to remember well having enjoyed it so much. And yes, I can quote a couple of lines from it.

A book that scares you:
As someone who would like to have children some day, the idea that my child could turn into a monster or a psychopath is scary. The whole nature vs. nurture idea that was behind
We Need To Talk About Kevin is one that intrigues me and yes, scares me more than a little.

A book that makes you sick:
I don't see how anyone who has ever read American Psycho could disagree with me on this one. It was another book that I studied at University, and I pushed through it, but could only read small sections at a time as at times the descriptions would just get far too vivid and I would actually start to feel physically ill.

A book that changed your life:
I know that this is going to sound more than a little corny, but
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone really did change my life in more ways than one. It got me addicted to reading, addicted to fantasy (and led to some more hardcore fantasy reading of course) and it was the foundation for one of my best friendships - I don't think that Natasha Karpul and I would have ever clicked if we hadn't discovered our mutual love for JK Rowling!

A book by your favourite author:
Choosing a favourite author was always going to be a difficult one, but there is one author whose work I love and that is Khaled Husseini, author of The Kite Runner. You will see another of his books later in the challenge.

A book that reminds you of your own life:
This was another hard one, but the first thing that came to mind (and this is more from the movie than the book really, although I have read the book) was Bridget Jones's Diary. A silly, overly emotional rollercoaster is the best way to describe it, and yes... that does sound quite a bit like my life.

A book that has a main character very much like you:
I haven't seen the movie, so I cannot tell you that I am very much like the character in that, but I can tell you that I am quite a lot like Becky in The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic: a. A shopaholic (Grant can attest to that), b. Have an over-active imagination (once again, just talk to Grant for proof) and c. Am more than a little nutty (no proof required).

A book that has a main character that you want to marry:
I am not the kind of girl who likes bad boys. I like gentlemen, men who are kind and sweet and nice and lovely and... anyway. The quintessential gentleman? Why, Mr. Darcy from
Pride and Prejudice of course! Sure, he wasn't all that kind and sweet in the beginning, but it turned out that way at the end, didn't it!

The first "chapter book" that you can remember reading:
I still fondly remember sitting on my mother's lap and paging through Black Beauty. There were a number of books that I did this with, but Black Beauty was also the first that I snuck off to read on my own, a fete that I remember being rather proud of!

The longest book you've read:
It took me awhile to think of this one, but I believe the answer would be The Earthsea Quartet. It may be four books in one, but it certainly is a very long collection and, as I have yet to finish The Lord of the Rings, I think that this is probably the closest that I have gotten to that length.


The shortest book you've read:
This is, without a doubt, Heart of Darkness. It is a novella and I was really surprised and excited to see how thin it was when I had to study it in High School. Little did I know the horror ("The horror!") that awaited inside. A cure for insomnia if ever there was one.