Thirty Days of the Book

I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to do book memes on Sundays during NaBloPoMo because they make me seem so cranky.  I had thought I responded to book memes every November, but that turns out to have been my participation in the March NaBloPoMo—the one with the theme of lists. It’s funny to go back to my other Novembers and see pretty much the same frenzy (Christmas gifts, cards, holidays, oh my!) and the same occasional malaise for having to blog every day. So here we go, let’s suffer through the last book meme of November.


Day 01 – A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!) I always look for new Mary Russell novels from Laurie King.
Day 02 – A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. But I don’t know if people were talking about it or not.
Day 03 – The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months I haven’t read as many as I would have liked. I enjoyed Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I think I’m really going to have enjoyed March when I finish that one too.
Day 04 – Your favorite book or series ever Here’s why I don’t like this question: I think that books have to find us at the right time. Sometimes you read a book and it’s the right time and you like it; sometimes it’s the wrong time and you hate it.
Day 05 – A book or series you hate Invisible Man, but only because I was asked to read it so many times. I started out liking it but it got tedious.
Day 06 – Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time How is this different than Day 04? Okay, let’s say my favorite series is the Mary Russell books by Laurie King, I’ll say Justice Hall, but I’m a bit behind on this series.
Day 07 – Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise “Reader, I married him.” I hate when everyone ends up married. Oh so happy.
Day 08 – A book everyone should read at least once The dude is helping me with this and he’s being silly. He’d probably offend half of you with his sarcasm. Neither of us thinks there is a book that everybody has to read. That’s why they wouldn’t let us be English professors.
Day 09 – Best scene ever I don’t tend to think in pictures when I read, so this is hard. I would say that I love Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Darcy but only because I’ve seen it performed.
Day 10 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving I’m not sure I can come up with a second one so I’m sticking with Ivanhoe. No, that’s no fun. How about Bleak House? It’s big and fat and “bleak” is in the title. But it’s a page turner…eventually.
Day 11 – A book that disappointed you Surfacing, Margaret Atwood but maybe I just didn't get it?
Day 12 – A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times I don’t think I have ever read a book that many times—there are just too many books that need reading! Sula, I may have read that many times; it's short.
Day 13 – Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!) I really like Amelia Bedelia. My current favorite children’s books are pretty much anything by Mo Willems. I discovered his books while looking for gifts for my nieces (unlike many adults, I always read the children’s book before buying it to make sure the story is tolerable and matches the illustrations). I bought Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, but I didn’t realize how Knuffle Bunny was the story of Lala’s life. A runner-up in the story matching the illustrations is The Adventures of Taxi Dog. Buy it for all your friends who rescue animals.

Day 14 – Favorite character in a book Elizabeth Bennett
Day 15 – Your “comfort” book Whatever I am reading now.
Day 16 – Favorite poem or collection of poetry “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning 
Day 17 – Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.) Self Help by Lorrie Moore.
Day 18 – Favorite beginning scene in a book Honestly this is not how I remember books. I remember themes, quotes, ideas. 
Day 19 – Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!) Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers because I wrote the book jacket. (Well, I wrote a lot of them but this was the most successful.)
Day 20 – Favorite kiss what kind of books do you think I read? Okay the Princess Bride (from the movie, anyway, “Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind. The End.”) The dude argues for Romeo and Juliet, "My lips two blushing pilgrims, ready stand/To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss." 
Day 21 – Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships) I don’t understand people who say Wuthering Heights. I think I like my sexual relationships without all the passion that makes people hateful, violent, and crazy. According to the dude, when I finish Possession, I’ll say Roland and Maud, and I can certainly see his point.
Day 22 – Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships) Kinsey Millhone and Henry Pitts from Sue Grafton's mysteries.
Day 23 – Most annoying character ever Angel Clare in Tess of the D’urbervilles, but you might know someone I’m forgetting
Day 24 – Best quote from a novel “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
”Day 25 – Any five books from your “to be read” stack How about five books I am reading?

1. March, Geraldine Brooks
2. At Home, Bill Bryson
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
4. Inside of a Dog, Alexandra Horowitz
5. Possession, AS Byatt

Day 26 – OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending I’m a little annoyed because I just recently finished something and as I closed the book, I said to the dude, “what an awful ending.” Neither of us can remember what it was. I think it was something from the library, but I can’t access my account history.
Day 27 – If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)! Filicide: Beloved, Sula, The Bacchae, Sophie’s Choice
Day 28 – First favorite book or series obsession I can’t remember my first favorite book—that’s over 40 years ago—but my first favorite series was Encyclopedia Brown (as an adult, I think it was Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone series).
Day 29 – Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!) I cried when Dumbledore died. Look, I cry when pretty much anyone dies in a book.
Day 30 – What book are you reading right now? I am most actively reading At Home, by Bill Bryson, which is fascinating. I’m in the cellar.