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21 June 2010

Book Survey V: What is your favourite?



1. Work of historical fiction
The Dancing Bear by Peter Dickinson, Caesar by Colleen McCullough, Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, and The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.

2. Piece of comic writing
Terry Prachett's Discworld series, Piers Antony's Xanth series, and Michele Bardsley's Broken Heart series.

3. Work of poetry and/or book of poetry
Beowulf - it is an Anglo Saxon saga. My other choices would be Dream of the Rood (also Anglo Saxon), The Last of His Tribe (Henry Kendall), Bell-Birds (Henry Kendall), La Dame Sans Merci (John Keats), My Last Dutchess (Robert Browning), The Wasteland (T.S. Eliot) and quite a few others. Realistically, I have hundreds I would like to list here, but that isn't practical. I love poetry, I love the play of words, I love alliteration, I love poignant motifs, and I love poetry that invokes wonder or thought. I also love Haiku, but there were too many of those to even consider listing.

4. Essay
A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

5. Science fiction novel
Dune by Frank Herbert

6. Fantasy novel
This question is too difficult! Some favourite fantasy authors are: JRR Tolkien, Charles de Lint, Raymond E Fiest, David Gemmell, Mercedes Lackey, Patrica Briggs, Kelley Armstrong, Kylie Chan, Suzanne Collins, Isobelle Carmody, Peter V Brett, etc.

7. Romance novel
Anything by Nora Roberts. She is the only straight romance author I read. I normally read paranormal or gothic romances.

8. Travel guide, whether formal [like Frommer's] or a traveller's memoirs
I haven't read any travel guides. I mostly read blogs when I am planning my Mexico trip. If you can recommend any travel guides or memoirs for Mexico let me know. I am not buying the Lonely Planet Guide until closer to the date, and I want to know about places a million other people won't be swarming to!

9. Book about food [cookbook or other work]
Bab's Caaking Baak LOL This is an inside joke. It is the family cook book, I don't know what it was originally called, but it is dark green and VERY comprehensive. So many recipes to use for a variety of reasons. The best thing is it has a lot of very basic recipes as well. So if you want to cook a pie it will tell you all the various pastries, how to make them etc, and then have a number of different recipes with various fillings. It is also covered in graffiti. It was originally defaced with Bob's Cooking Book but someone changed the O's to A's and now it is Bab's Caaking Baak. I keep looking out for it in second hand stores, because Dad won't let me steal his! I also have a 70's edition of The Australian Woman's Day Cookbook that I love. My much evolved spaghetti bolognaise recipe was from that. It is unrecognisable now, because I first cooked it when I was nine and have changed it constantly.

10. Epistolary novel and/or novel in diary form
So Much To Tell You by John Marsden

11. Non-fiction work in epistolary or diary form
I can't think of any!

12. Non-fiction work
Anything to do with archaeology and culture, particularly prehistory, Asia, South America and continental Europe! I also love reading about the flora and fauna of the world.

13. Murder/crime novel
Anything by Dick Francis, Agatha Christie, Victoria Holt, Mary Higgins Clarke or Nora Roberts.

14. Work of classic fiction
Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (I consider it classic fiction and convinced my lecturer is was as well). There are more, but I will try to keep these lists down in size.

15. Horror novel
Dracula by Bram Stoker, Night Shift by Stephen King, The Darkest Part of the Woods by Ramsey Campbell, various books by Tanith Lee. Would Edgar Allen Poe's Complete Works fit in this category? If so, add it to the list!

Books that scared the shit out of me as a kid: The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (read the book and pretend you are a nine year old!), The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, various Goosebumps books (it is why swamps still freak me out LOL), and some that creeped me out were by Gary Crew, David McRobbie and Isobelle Carmody's Greylands and Sonya Hart's Black Foxes.

16. Biography or autobiography
I don't read these.

17. Work of children's literature
Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, May Gibbs, Ann Martin, L.M. Montgomery, Jackie French, Paul Jennings, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, etc.

18. Piece of young adult fiction
Suzanne Collins, Kelley Armstrong, Tamora Pierce, Richelle Mead, John Marsden, Isobelle Carmody, Melina Marchetta, JK Rowlings, JRR Tolkien, Libby Hathorn, Gary Crew, David McRobbie, Victor Kellher, Gillian Rubenstien, Sonya Harnett, Catherine Jinks, Francine Pascal, Christopher Pike, Ann Martin, L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, etc.

19. Short story
Jerusalem's Lot from the Night Shift collection by Stephen King, some from Isobelle Carmody's Green Monkey Dreams collection and any of Charles de Lint's short stories. These are just from the top of my head. I have read hundreds that I could list here. When I was at university I had to ban myself from reading books. However, that was agony for the bookwyrm that I am, so I was allowed to read short stories. It meant I used to read a lot of short stories! I particularly liked the The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror collections and, by the same editors (Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow), the reinterpreted fairytales series such as Silver Birch, Blood Moon and Black Thorn, White Rose etc.

20. 20th century novel
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair




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