I think I’m hooked on memes now!! Yikes!

Bold the books you've read & liked or loved
Strike the books you've read but didn't enjoy
Italicise the books you want to read
Put a cross (+) the ones on your book shelf.

1. 1984: George Orwell +
2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The: Mark Twain
3. Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The: Mark Twain
4. Agnes the Sheep: William Taylor
5. All the King's Men: Robert Penn Warren
6. Ambush Moon: J.R. Roberts
7. American Tragedy, An: Theodore Dreiser
8. Animal Farm: George Orwell +
9. Annie on my Mind: Nancy Garden
10. Appointment in Samarra: John O'Hara
11. Around the World in a Hundred Years: Jean Fritz
12. As I Lay Dying: William Faulkner
13. Athletic Shorts: Chris Crutcher
14. Atlas Shrugged: Ayn Rand +
15. Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The: Ernest Gaines
16. Bastard Out of Carolina: Dorothy Allison
17. Being There: Jerzy Kosinski
18. Bell Jar, The: Sylvia Plath
19. Beloved: Toni Morrison
20. Beyond Belief: Brad Steiger
21. Blubber: Judy Blume
22. Bluest Eye, The: Toni Morrison
23. Boy's Life: Robert McCammon
24. Brave New World: Aldous Huxley +
25. Breakfast of Champions: Kurt Vonnegut
26. Bridge to Teribithia: Katherine Paterson
27. Call of the Wild, The: Jack London +
28. Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer +
29. Castle in the Attic, The: Elizabeth Winthrop
30. Catch 22: Joseph Heller +
31. Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger
32. Cat's Cradle: Kurt Vonnegut
33. Catspaw: Joan D. Vinge
34. Cay, The: Theodore Taylor
35. Ceremony: Leslie Marmon Silko
36. Charlotte's Web: E.B. White
37. Chocolate War, The: Robert Cormier
38. Christine: Stephen King +
39. Clockwork Orange, A: Anthony Burgess
40. Color Purple, The: Alice Walker
41. Congo: Michael Crichton
42. Crazy Lady: Jane Leslie Conley
43. Cujo: Stephen King
44. Day No Pigs Would Die, A: Robert Newton Peck
45. Death Be Not Proud: John Gunther
46. Deliverance: James Dickey
47. Don't Call Me Little Bunny (ne m'appelez plus jamais "Mon Petit Lapin"): Gregoire Solotareff
48. Dragonslayers: Bruce Coville
49. Drowning of Stephan Jones, The: Bette Green
50. Education of Harriet Hatfield, The: May Sarton
51. Education of Little Tree, The: Forrest Carter
52. Egypt Game, The: Zilpha Snyder
53. Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury
54. Fair Game
55. Fallen Angels: Walter Dean Myers
56. Farewell to Arms, A: Ernest Hemingway
57. Figure in the Shadows, The
58. Forever: Judy Blume
59. From Here to Eternity: James Jones
60. Funhouse, The: Dean Koontz
61. George's Marvelous Medicine
62. Giver, The: Lois Lowry
63. Go Ask Alice: Anonymous
64. Go Tell it on the Mountain: James Baldwin
65. Gone With the Wind: Margaret Mitchell +
66. Grapes of Wrath, The: John Steinbeck
67. Great Gatsby, The: F. Scott Fitzgerald
68. Great Gilly Hopkins, The: Katherine Paterson
69. Grendel: John Champlin Gardner
70. Halloween ABC: Eve Merriam
71. Handmaid's Tale, The: Margaret Atwood
72. Headless Cupid, The: Zilpha Snyder
73. How to Eat Fried Worms: Thomas Rockwell
74. I Have to Go: Robert Munsch
75. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Maya Angelou
76. I, Claudius: Robert Graves
77. Iceman, The: Chris Lynch
78. I'll Be Seeing You
79. In Country: Bobbie Ann Mason
80. In the Night Kitchen
81. Indian in the Cupboard: Lynne Reid Banks
82. Invisible Man: Ralph Ellison
83. James and the Giant Peach: Roald Dahl
84. Journey of the Sparrows: Fran Leeper Buss
85. Julie of the Wolves: Jean Craighead George
86. Jumper: Steven C. Gould
87. Keeping the Love You Find: Harvelle Hendrix
88. Killers, The: Ernest Hemingway
89. Killing Mr. Griffin: Lois Duncan
90. Kim: Rudyard Kipling
91. Lady Chatterly's Lover: D.H. Lawrence +
92. Last Mission, The: Harry Mazer
93. Learning Tree, The: Gordon Parks
94. Leaving the Fold: Edward T. Babinski
95. Lily: Cindy Bonner
96. Little Red Riding Hood: Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm
97. Lolita: Vladimir Nabokov
98. Lord of the Flies, The: William Golding
99. Lucy: Jamaica Kincaid
100. Maggie, Girl of the Streets: Stephen Crane
101. Matilda: Roald Dahl
102. Maurice: E.M. Forster
103. Minpins, The: Roald Dahl
104. My Brother Sam is Dead: Christopher and James Lincoln Collier
105. My House
106. My Teacher Glows in the Dark: Bruce Coville
107. My Teacher is an Alien: Bruce Coville
108. Naked and the Dead, The: Norman Mailer
109. Naomi in the Middle: Norma Klein
110. Naked Lunch: William Burroughs
111. Native Son
112. Night Chills: Dean Koontz
113. Nightmare: Marjorie Dorner
114. Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck +
115. On My Honor: Marion Dane Bauer
116. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
117. One Hundred Years of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
118. Out of Control: Norma Fox
119. Phantom Tollbooth, The
120. Pigman, The: Paul Zindel
121. Point Counter Point: Aldous Huxley
122. Portnoy's Complaint: Philip Roth
123. Postman, The (Ardiente Paciencia): Antonio Skarmeta
124. Probing the Unknown: Stephen Tchudi
125. Queen of the Summer Stars: Persia Woolley
126. Rainbow, The: D.H. Lawrence
127. Return of the Indian: Lynne Reid Banks
128. Revolting Rhymes: Roald Dahl
129. Run With the Horseman: Ferrol Sams
130. Runaway Sleigh Ride, The: Astrid Lundgren
131. Samurai's Tale, The: Erik C. Hauggard
132. Scarlet Letter, The: Nathaniel Hawthorne +
133. Schindler's List: Thomas Keneally
134. Separate Peace, A: John Knowles
135. Short Takes: Elizabeth Segel
136. Sister Carrie
137. Skin Deep: Isaac Asimov
138. Slaughterhouse Five: Kurt Vonnegut
139. Sons and Lovers: D.H. Lawrence
140. Sophie's Choice: William Styron
141. Studs Lonigan: James T. Farrell
142. Sun Also Rises, The: Ernest Hemingway
143. Tar Beach: Faith Ringgold
144. Tex: Susie E. Hinton
145. Then Again, Maybe I Won't: Judy Blume
146. Tintin in America: Herge
147. To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee
148. Tropic of Cancer: Henry Miller
149. Turn of the Screw: Henry James
150. Ulysses: James Joyce
151. View From the Cherry Tree, The: Willo Davis Roberts
152. Wayside School is Falling Down: Louis Sachar
153. When the Legends Die: Hal Borland
154. White Ninja: Eric Van Lustbader
155. Witches of Worm, The: Zilpha Snyder
156. Witches, The: Roald Dahl
157. Wizard in the Tree, The: Lloyd Alexander
158. Women in Love: D.H. Lawrence
159. Wrinkle in Time, A: Madeleine L'Engle

Hmm…I’ve read very few of these books! I should start reading more banned books! Though, I do wonder why some of these are banned…

I had such fun doing the last book meme that I went searching the web for more! I found this here, and liked it so much I decided to do it. =)

The rules are: Using only books you have read in the last year (365 days, obviously, since we're barely over the threshold of ought-ten), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. It’s a lot harder than you think!

1. Describe yourself: The Book Thief (This is me, alright! Except that I don’t actually steal books…)
2. How do you feel: Quirkology
3. Describe where you currently live: The Last Summer (Well, it’s always summer here, and I’m hoping it’s my last year here!)
4. If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Brave New World
5. Your favourite form of transportation: The Host
6. Your best friend is: Dear Enemy (something like that…=D)
7. You and your friends are: Finding Your Mojo 
8. What’s the weather like: The Mist (Not really, like I said, always summer here, but I didn’t have any better book title!)
9. You fear: Night Mare
10. What is the best advice you have to give: Handle with Care (Really good advice for everything, I think)
11. Thought for the day: Harvest for Hope
12. How I would like to die: The Most Wanted (in a good way, I hope!)
13. My soul’s present condition: Keeping Faith

I did this back in 2007, but I’ve since read more books and acquired some and changed my mind about reading some of these books, so I thought I’d do this again. =)

INSTRUCTIONS:
Bold the ones you’ve read,
Italicize the ones you want to read,
Cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole,
Put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and
Asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

+1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

+2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

+3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)

+4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) - and the sequel too!

+5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) - I don't plan to read the LOTR series, but I *would* touch them with a 10 foot pole...

+6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)

+7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)

+8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) - and all the sequels!

9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)

*10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)

+11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K Rowling)

12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)

13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)

14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)

15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)

+16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)

*17. Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)

+18. The Stand (Stephen King) – loved it loved it!!

+19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling) - stop it with the Harry Potter already! Just becoz I read them doesn't mean I loved them.

+20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)

+21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)

22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)

+23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) - I read it and I had the book, but I didn't like the ending, so I gave it away.

+25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)

26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)

+27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) - read it twice already, but don't remember it. I was very young when I read it.

+28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)

29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)

30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) - I read this, but it didn't impress me and I wouldn't read any of his other books ever.

+31. Dune (Frank Herbert)

32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)

+33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)

+34. 1984 (George Orwell)

+35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) - read it twice and loved it so much I went and got two copies! (by mistake =P)

36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)

*37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)

+38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) - really intense, not an easy book to read emotionally.

+39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)

+40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

+41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) - and the sequels too!

42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) - I like her other books, but I won't read the shopaholic series.

44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) - Never ever ever!

45. The Bible - I want to read it just to know what's so powerful about it to Christians.

+46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)

+47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) - I love it! One of the best books ever!

48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)

49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

+50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) - another really intense book.

+51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)

+52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)

53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)

+54. Great Expectations (Dickens)

+55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)

*56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)

+57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)

58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)

+59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) - really good book, food for thought.

+60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)

61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)

62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)

+63. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)

64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)

*65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)

66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)

+68. Catch–22 (Joseph Heller)

69. Les Miserables (Hugo)

+70. The Little Prince [Le Petit Prince] (Antoine de Saint–Exupery)

+71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)

+72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)

+73. Shogun (James Clavell)

74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)

+75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

*76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)

77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)

78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)

*79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)

+80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)

*81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)

82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)

+83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)

84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)

+85. Emma (Jane Austen)

86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)

+87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

+88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)

*89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)

90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)

*91. In The Skin Of a Lion (Ondaatje)

+92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)

+93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)

+94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)

95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)

96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)

+97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)

+98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) - don't remember it though

99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)

100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Credits goes to Ugly Ogre Robert because he insisted that he wanted his name on my post, just because he pointed this meme out to me. =P =)

 

This week’s TT is based on a book I’m currently reading. Heavy Words Lightly Thrown by Chris Roberts is about the meanings behind the old nursery rhymes that we’re all familiar with.

I haven’t finished the book yet, but so far, there’s been many interesting revelations and I just had to share.

So this week’s TT is Meanings Behind the Nursery Rhymes:

 

1. Humpty Dumpty: Humpty Dumpty was actually a cannon, which broke apart and couldn’t be fixed by the king’s men. What I find funny is why everyone thinks it’s about an egg, when the rhyme doesn’t mention an egg at all.
   
2. Little Jack Horner: Apparently, “Jack” Horner was a steward to an abbot, who stuck his thumb into a piece of very lucrative pie, figuratively speaking, and pulled out a plum in the form of a title deed to a manor house.
   
3. Jack Be Nimble: Jumping over the candlestick without the flame going out is supposed to be a form of pagan sport which foretells good luck, fertility, and a prosperous year, depending on the results of the jump.
   
4. Sing a Song of Sixpence: Most probably about King Henry VIII and two of his six wives; Catherine of Aragon, and Anne Boleyn, who is the maid that got her nose snipped off (beheaded).
   
   
5. Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary: There’s a debate on whether the “Mary” in the rhyme is referring to Mary Queen of Scots or Mary Tudor, but if it’s Mary Queen of Scots, then the cockle-shells in the rhyme apparently refers to the cuckolds in her promiscuous court.
   
6. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep: One of the more straightforward rhymes if you’re looking for its hidden meaning, it’s quite obvious that it’s a complaint about taxes.
   
7. Ladybird, Ladybird: It seems that back in the days, it was popular to get rid of a witch in central Europe by telling her that her house was on fire. The rhyme may be a reference to that.
   
8. Georgy Porgy: There are a few theories to this rhyme, one of them is that it’s about George Villiers, who might have been King James I’s lover. The part about kissing the girls and making them cry is supposed to be about George ruining the King’s relationship with various women.
   
9. Rock a Bye, Baby: Of unclear origins, there are many theories to this rhyme ranging from it being a reference to baby Moses, to being about new Pilgrim settlers who used to suspend their cradles on trees.
   
10. Ding Dong Bell, Pussy’s in the Well: Surprisingly, this may be one of the more literal rhymes where the moral of the story is meant for children, teaching them not to be cruel to cats.
    
11. Jack and Jill: Very possibly about sex, going “up the hill to fetch a pail of water” may have been an euphemism for having sex, and “losing your crown” means losing your virginity.
    
12. Ring-a-Ring o’Roses: The most popular theory is that it’s about the Black Death, but another theory is that it’s actually about a children’s game that allowed young people to get around prohibitions on dancing.
    
13. Old King Cole: Two interesting theories with the pipe and the bowl; Old King Cole either really liked smoking cannabis, or the pipe referred to some kind of wind instrument, and the bowl was a kind of drum, and Old King Cole really liked music, especially with his fiddlers three.
    

I’m still reading the book and having lots of fun with it. I hope you enjoyed this week’s TT!

Recently I’ve been reviewing less books, mostly because these days I seem to be more in the mood for non-fiction than fiction.

Non-fiction, depending on the book, usually takes a lot longer to read than most fiction for me, so while I used to finish two books a week on average, now it seems like I might be taking two weeks or more to finish one book.

I don’t know why I don’t have the mood for fiction these days, perhaps it’s because I’ve been doing a lot of studying, reading non-fiction and textbooks, and really just feel like resting my brain during my study breaks, rather than reading anything.

Then again, I could probably get interested in lighter fiction, but I don’t have many of those kind of books because I don’t keep them, so find it a waste of money to buy them. I have a lot more ‘heavy’ fiction on my Mt. TBR, but don’t feel like reading them because they’re heavy.

I don’t know when I’m going to start feeling like reading fiction again, but hopefully it’s soon, because I really do need a little escapism. Maybe I’ll just read some trashy old romances I have lying around.