{"id":5865,"date":"2007-01-05T16:56:41","date_gmt":"2007-01-05T21:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=5865"},"modified":"2015-05-27T10:11:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T14:11:05","slug":"books-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=5865","title":{"rendered":"Books You’ve Been … Questionnaire"},"content":{"rendered":"

I got this from the wonderful Stefanie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Books you\u0092’ve been planning to read for ages<\/b><\/p>\n

War and Peace (Vintage Classics)<\/a>\"\"<\/i><\/p>\n

Les Miserables (Signet Classics)<\/a>\"\"<\/i><\/p>\n

a biography of Queen Elizabeth (you know, as in the Virgin Queen). I don’t care which one but I need it to be good (Lisa<\/a>?? Recommendations?). I have been meaning to read a biography on her since … 1991? i don’t know – forever – I just have never gotten around to it.<\/p>\n

Books you\u0092ve been hunting for years without success<\/b><\/p>\n

I tracked down The summer sleigh ride,<\/a>\"\"<\/i> and that is probably the most obscure book from my past that I wanted to find, and did. Yay<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Recently I just tracked down 2 other old favorites – I remembered nothing of one of them except the title: SARAH AND KATIE<\/a>\"\"<\/i>. 2 good friends. They’re in 5th grade. Something bad happens that drives them apart. It’s awful. They get back together. I do not know what it was that I so loved about this book – there’s something about a school play … but I have never ever forgotten how I adored that book – and I just tracked down a used copy for 20 cents on Amazon. I can’t wait for it to arrive!!<\/p>\n

The other perennial favorite of mine is a MARVELOUS book called Into the Dream<\/a>\"\"<\/i> – with which my brother and I were absolutely obsessed<\/i> when we were kids. (Read some of those reader reviews. So many of them say: “This book got me started reading.” Or “I was totally obsessed with this book.” Or “20 years after reading the book, I still remember it vividly.”) I HIGHLY recommend it to this day. Great book – for kids and adults. Anyway, I just bought my own copy. I thought I had one, but apparently I do not – Brendan has one, I know that.<\/p>\n

Oh – and it was my mission for many years to track down all of Max Shulman’s books. (This was before I really discovered or even freakin’ knew how to use Amazon. I’m behind the times.) I write about my love for Max Shulman here<\/a>. I now have them all (thanks, Dad!) But when I was bound to look for books only in bookstores – I just despaired of the lack of Max Shulman, I despaired that he had gone out of print.<\/p>\n

Books dealing with something you\u0092re working on at the moment<\/b><\/p>\n

Hm. Working on? I’m not really working on<\/i> the French revolution – but it seems to be where my interests are leading me now. Marie Antoinette: The Journey<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, The French Revolution: A History (Modern Library Classics)<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, A Tale of Two Cities<\/a>\"\"<\/i> … it appears to be a theme.<\/p>\n

I’m not really working on<\/i> Shakespeare currently either – however I have given myself a course of study for 2007, which I am hoping will serve me later this year. I just bought Shakespeare After All<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, on the strength of the introduction – so fun, so … NON scholarly – It’s a fan’s reading of Shakespeare – so anyway, I’m gonna read every play (I’ve already read them all – but now it’s going to be all together) … in “chronological” order (estimated, anyway) and – follow along with my new Shakespeare book (each play has its own chapter). Anyhoo, this is my plan for 2007. I have already begun! But that’s the general syllabus.<\/p>\n

Books you want to own so they\u0092ll be handy just in case<\/b><\/p>\n

Hmm. I’ll copy Stefanie. The OED.<\/p>\n

Books you could put aside maybe to read this summer<\/b><\/p>\n

Hm. Should I read Les Miserables<\/i> this summer? To go along with my French Revolution theme? I am overwhelmed by the thought – but maybe that’s what I should read this summe<\/p>\n

Books you need to go with other books on your shelves<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m a collector. Not really of NICE books or first editions (at least not yet) – but if I’m into an author I need to have all of the books. I am haunted by my missing The Virgin in the Garden<\/a>\"\"<\/i> in my Byatt collection. I’ve got them all but for some reason I lost my copy of that book (and I love that book). Every time I peruse all my Byatt titles, I think: Hm. Need to get Virgin in the Garden<\/i>. They all need to be together.<\/p>\n

Books that fill you with a sudden, inexplicable curiosity, not easily justified<\/b><\/p>\n

Any book that has to do with:<\/p>\n

— Charles Manson
\n— mass murderers
\n— cults
\n— Central Asia<\/p>\n

Books read long ago that it\u0092s now time to re-read<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m kinda in the process of doing that right now. Just re-read Tale of 2 Cities<\/i>. And now I’ve started Gulliver’s Travels<\/a>\"\"<\/i> as well. I adore the first chapter of that book – where he finds himself tied up by the teeny people. You kinda just can’t stop reading that book once you start.<\/p>\n

Books that if you had more than one life you\u0092d certainly read but unfortunately your days are numbered<\/b><\/p>\n

I hate to contemplate this. There is so much I haven’t read.<\/p>\n

I somehow fear I may never get to In Search of Lost Time<\/a>\"\"<\/i>– which I certainly feel like I MUST read. Not just because I “should” but because I think I would love it.<\/p>\n

Oh – and any multi-volume biography of anyone. Or any of the collected letters and papers of all of those guys I adore. I know that there are volumes of Jefferson’s papers out there – volumes of John Adams’ papers – and I just … I can’t read them all. I can read SOME and I already have … but I can’t commit to an 8 volume biography of anyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got this from the wonderful Stefanie. Books you\u0092’ve been planning to read for ages War and Peace (Vintage Classics) Les Miserables (Signet Classics) a biography of Queen Elizabeth (you know, as in the Virgin Queen). I don’t care which … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[1001,258,668,232,689],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103154,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5865\/revisions\/103154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}