Tag! I’m It!

The Bookshelf Meme

I was tagged for this meme by Alyce ~ At Home With Books

Tell me about the book that has been on your shelves the longest…

I have a collection of books that I started receiving from my parents when I was a toddler.  My parents are big book people and all about nice collections so I have a number of books that are “Illustrated Junior Library Edition” books. 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Aesop’s Fables

The Wizard of Oz

Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

The Swiss Family Robinson

King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table

Heidi

Little Women

Tell me about a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (i.e. a person, a place, a time, etc.)…

The copy of The Wizard of Oz that I listed above was given to me for Christmas or my birthday when I was four (I think, but I may have been five) by my parents.  My parents took turns reading it to me under sad circumstances.  My little sister was very sick with a body retching and depleting flu when she was 2’ish and was in the hospital for a week.  Well, Daddy would read to me at home in the evenings before bed and when we went to the hospital to visit my sister and my mom, who was sleeping in my sister’s room throughout the whole hospital stay, Mom and I would go to the cafeteria and she would read to me while she ate some lunch.  Though it was a scary time for us, Sis did get well, I will always remember the time my folks took to read The Wizard of Oz to me.  The Wizard of Oz is also my favorite childhood film of all time.

Tell me about a book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used book store, prize, etc.)…

I have received numerous books as gifts, prizes and through life’s little surprises but none really stand out more than others.

Tell me about the most recent addition to your shelves…

I just received a book of short stories as a birthday present from my friend Kelly the other day.  It’s called Runaway by Alice Munro.

Tell me about a book that has been with you to the most places…

I have taken my books with me on most of my moves and since I also take the book I am currently reading with me when I go out during the day, you never know if you will get stuck in line somewhere.  Again, there is not one book that rises to the top of the list of the ones I own.

Tell me about a bonus book that doesn’t fit any of the above questions…

I do have travel books for Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong and Singapore that I took on my visits to their title names.  All are from the Lonely Planet series and are incredible travel guides. 

The Rules

1. Tag 3-5 people, so the fun keeps going!
2. Leave a comment at the original post at A Striped Armchair, so that Eva can collect everyone’s answers.
3. If you leave a comment and link back to Eva as the meme’s creator, she will enter you in a book giveaway contest! She has a whole shelf devoted to giveaway books that you’ll be able to choose from, or a bookmooch point if you prefer.
4. Remember that this is all about enjoying books as physical objects, so feel free to describe the exact book you’re talking about, down to that warping from being dropped in the bath water…
5. Make the meme more fun with visuals! Covers of the specific edition you’re talking about, photos of your bookshelves, etc.

 

I am tagging:

Sonja @ AudioInput 

Nick @ People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading

Lady T @ Living Reading Girl

Lisa @ Books and Cooks

Amanda @ Life and Times of a “New” New Yorker

It’s Time To Play Along

Ti over at Book Chatter & Other Stuff tagged me on a meme so I decided to play along.  I also took the liberty of borrowing Ti’s write-up of the rules for this particular meme.

Here are the rules: I am going to list three categories of books. 3 MUST Read Books, 3 Keep Your Eyes on These, and 3 Look For These Soon. Keeping with the theme, I am going to tag at least 3 bloggers. They should put these same lists on their blog but SUBTRACT one book from each list and ADD one of their own. Then they should tag at least 3 more bloggers. It will be fun to see how the lists change as they go around the blogosphere. Please come back to this post and leave a comment so I can see how the lists are changing. Since this is Book Buzz…please keep your lists to titles released in 2007-2009.

3 MUST Read Books:

Resistance, by Alice Humbert

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones

Keeping the House by Ellen Baker (my choice)

3 Keep Your Eyes on These:

Driving Sideways by Jess Riley (my choice)

Out Stealing Horsesby Per Petterson

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

3 Look For These Soon:

Between Here & April by Deborah Copaken Kogan (my choice)

The Prudent Mariner by Leslie Walker Williams

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson

3 Tags to keep this meme going:

Lisa @ Books On The Brain

Lady T @ LivingReadingGirl

Jess @ Riley’s Ramblings

Favorite Music Meme

My sister, Audio Input, took part in the author meme from this weekend that I had tagged her for and then turned around and adapted the meme questions to music.  So here are my answers!

1. Who is your all-time favorite group/singer/musician?

I have two!  They have been equally loved and listened to throughout my life.  Madonna and Dave Matthews Band.  As I mentioned HERE, I have loved Madonna and her music since 1984 when I was in the fourth grade.  My other musical love, DMB, is an eclectic collection of amazing musicians from the Charlottesville, VA area who came together starting in 1991.  My first exposure to their music was while I was in college at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA.  A girlfriend of mine, Jamie, was absolutely crazy about this band.  Her father had been commissioned by the band to create and design their first screen saver program.  She had a ton of live concert tapes of the bands’ shows at the Charlotesville club Trax, so because her car was the road trip car we tended to listen to those tapes a lot. 

On Wednesday, February 15th, 1995 I went with Jamie to Richmond, VA to see Dave Matthews Band live in concert with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra at the Carpenter Center.  We sat front row, first balcony, center stage and my life changed that evening.  I was swept away by the complexity of the music.  Even the simplest tune had depth to it.  Lyrically, the songs were interesting and had great hooks and musically they were beautiful.  Since that night I have collected all of their studio albums, nine of their live concert recordings and I have seen them in concert in Denver and Virginia, at least a dozen times. 

2. Who was your first favorite group/singer/musician?

I was born January 1st, 1975 in the hay-day of Olivia Newton-John’s country music career.  My dad LOVED (and still does) Olivia.  It didn’t hurt that she was gorgeous and had a pretty voice but he was first drawn to her when he discovered who her grandfather was.  He was Max Born, a German Nobel prize-winning physicist.  My dad is a physicist and a musician so the attraction was obvious, to my mother’s dismay I think.  So, when I was born Olivia’s records are all I heard really.  There are pictures of me at probably two and three in pig tails, standing on the hearth in the family room and singing into my jump-rope to Olivia Newton-John records.  My dad says that she was my first voice teacher.  I know those songs like the back of my hand.  My favorite song back then was “If You Love Me Let Me Know (If You Don’t Then Let Me Go)”.  I actually sang this song for a record contract audition in Nashville, TN in 2003.  Nothing came of that but to sing that song in Nashville was a dream come true. 

When I was twenty-nine, I dragged my hubby to Tunica, MS (we were living in Arlington, TN at the time) where we saw Olivia Newton-John live in concert at one of the hotel casinos.  It was so surreal to be hearing this voice that I had known all my life, live and seeing Olivia on stage about fifty feet away.  She sounded great and looked fantastic.  My dad’s favorite song by her is “I Honestly Love You”.  I sang it for him at karaoke when my parents came to visit us here in Okinawa a few years ago, but actually hearing the song live and performed by the original was just amazing. 

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite albums?

After looking through my Purchased list on iTunes, the album I have listened to the most since buying it a few weeks ago is Aretha Franklin’s 1970 release, “This Girl’s In Love With You”.  Lately I have found that my singing style has become much more soulful in sound.  Even when I sing country tunes at karaoke, there is a new sound coming out of me that wasn’t there before.  I think it has to do with what I’ve been listening to.  Aretha, Sharon Jones, Duffy and even Barbara Streisand. 

4. If someone asked you who your favorite groups/singers/musicians were, which ones would be the first to pop out of your mouth?

OK, here we go:  Madonna, DMB, Pat McGee Band, Olivia Newton-John, The Carpenters, Barbara Streisand, Harry Connick, Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, 311, Martina McBride, The Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, GarthBrooks, Faith Hill, Travis Tritt, Heart, Belinda Carlisle, The Beatles, Celine Dion, Counting Crows, The Black Crowes, Eva Cassidy, Jack Johnson, Lenny Kravitz, Lyle Lovett, Patsy Cline, Pat Benatar, Pink Floyd, Sugarland, The Barenaked Ladies, The Indigo Girls, Susan Tedeschi, Renee Fleming, Sarah McLachlan and Mary Chapin Carpenter. 

OK, now it’s my turn to tag someone! 

VERBATIM

BEASTMOMMA

BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

VEGAS, BABY – AND A TODDLER TOO

BOOKS AND COOKS

BOOKING MAMA

Tag, You’re It!!

Tagged: A Little Something About Me

Traci over at “Traci’s Book Blog” tagged me with this meme this morning, so here goes:

1. Who’s your all-time favorite author, and why?

I think I would have to say that L. Frank Baum is my all-time favorite author.  “The Wizard of Oz” is my all-time favorite movie and when I was little my folks would read the book to me.  Later my dad bought my sister and me some of the books from the OZ series.  I have a couple of them still but haven’t revisited them in forever.  Maybe I’ll put them on my TBR shelf. 
I love how Baum created a world of friends and places I can visit as easily as opening the book.  Dorothy has been a life long friend of mine and I feel that I know her as well as myself.  The Scarecrow, Tim Man and Cowardly Lion are some of the most loved characters on my shelves and who can forget Toto.  Dorothy’s relationship with her dog is what initially inspired me to beg my parents insesintly for a dog when I was a toddler.  They gave in after three years or so when I was five and we got Maxwell, my first Cocker Spaniel.  The Wicked Witch of the West will forever strike fear in my heart.  To me she is the most powerful and evil villain in American literature. 

2. Who was your favorite first author?  Do you still consider them among your favorites? 

You may think that I’m going to say L. Frank Baum again but actually the most influential author on my adolescent years, starting in the fifth grade, was Francine Pascal’s hit series, “Sweet Valley High”.  I know now that Pascal was the creator and had a team of ghost writers actually writing the books but man, did I love Elizabeth and Jessica and all their friends.  I remember being so addicted to those books that I would ask my mom to leave the light on in the hallway and my bedroom door open so I could hang over the side of my bed and read with the help of the hallway light.  In book #3 (I can’t remember the name of it) Jessica was swimming in the lake with the popular boy in school and he felt her up!  Well, that kick started my boy crazy period (that finally came to a wonderful conclusion on my wedding day).  I loved these books and though I also loved such titles as “A Wrinkle In Time”, “Where The Red Fern Grows” and the Sunfire Romance book series, it is the SVH books that hold a very special place in my heart.  In the end I think I had at least thirty starting with #1. 

3. Who’s the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors, and why?

When I look at my shelves and think about this question, my first answer is Tom Perrotta.  The two books of his that I have read and thoroughly enjoyed were “Little Children” and “The Abstinence Teacher”.  These books engulfed me and took me into the next neighborhood, filled with drama and great characters.  Perrotta writes about everyday America and what lays under the surface but easily surfaces and makes life interesting and challenging.  In “Little Children” he asks us to think about the kiddie play park and what can happen when a parent is away from their spouse and realizes they have more fun and more in common with someone else than with their own wife/husband.  Also, we are witnesses to child predator living among the community and the hatred that is seething from those in it who just want to protect the children.  “The Abstinence Teacher” brings us the huge church in the strip mall with the overbearing congregation and church leaders who think they have the answers and the people who aren’t them who think for themselves and know there is a better way though it may be controversial. 

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which ones would be the first to pop out of your mouth?  Are there any you would add on a moment of reflection?

OK!  Tom Perrotta, Jennifer Weiner, Jeffrey Eugenides, Arthur Golden & Elizabeth Noble.  After thinking about it for a moment I would have to add Jodi Picoult (Change of Heart), Michael Connelly, Margaret George, Caleb Carr, Dan Brown, Tracy Chevalier, Elizabeth Kostova, Koji Suzuki, Richard Preston & Lauren Weisberger. 

Now, I guess I get to tag someone!   

AUDIO INPUT

BIRDLASHES

BOOKS ON THE BRAIN

BEASTMOMMA 

WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE COZ & CARA

SO MANY BOOKS

You’re IT!!

A Favorite Book meme!

Care’s Online Book Club over at http://bkclubcare.wordpress.com posted this MEME about Favorite Books.  I thought I would join in on the fun and see what answers I come up with.  If you would like to play either cut and paste the meme to your own blog and link back here or cut and paste the meme to the comment section of this post and answer there.

MEME:  A FAVORITE BOOK meme!

1. A book that made you cry: Marley & Me: Life & Love With The World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan

2. A book that scared you: The Ring by Koji Suzuki

3. A book that made you laugh: Candy Girl: A Year In The Life of an Unlikely Stripper by Diablo Cody

4. A book that disgusted you: Nothing’s popping up in recent memory

5. A book you loved in elementary school: Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls (5th Grade)

6. A book you loved in middle school: I don’t remember junior high… because it SUCKED!!!

7. A book you loved in high school: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

8. A book you hated in high school: Beowulf

9. A book you loved in college: College was a mix of music and partying.  I majored in Musical Theatre, Vocal Performance & Music Business and in that order but not all at the same time.  I don’t remember reading a book for fun or even for the one year of English that I had to take.

10. A book that challenged your identity or your faith: The Left Behind Series and most recently Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

11. A series that you love:  I loved the Sunfire Romance series when I was growing up.  They were books with a heroine set in different periods of American history.  My favorite that I remember was Cassie by Vivian Schurfranz

12. Your favourite horror book: Salem’s Lot by Stephen King

13. Your favourite science-fiction book: I think that Angels & Demons by Dan Brown falls under this category

14. Your favourite fantasy book: The Heavenly Horse of the Outermost West by Mary Stanton

15. Your favorite mystery book: The Alienist by Caleb Carr

16. Your favourite biography: It’s an autobiography and it’s called The Inner Voice by Renee Fleming

17. Your favourite coming-of-age book: The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger

18. Your favourite book not on this list: So many books to list here…. Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden,; The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Mermaid’s Song by Alida Van Gores… just to name a few.