Dead Trees

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It’s rare that one can actually track down a meme. This one I’ve picked up from who in turn got it from – see his original post yesterday. Since then I see it has been picked up by (in chronological order) liz_lowlife, tvor, abishag, sunflowerinrain, siren_songs, neilh, captainblue, rhapsody9, lucifein, diffrentcolours, and finally (for now) mistressmalaise. It’s a very infectious meme – several second-generation answers there in less than 24 hours, including this one. I haven’t really looked at other people’s anwers before doing my own, but will do so later.

  1. What did you last read? Gateway by Frederik Pohl
  2. What are you reading now? Eats Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss; also in the middle of a William Hope Hodgson collection and Claire Tomalin’s Samuel Pepys, also rereading Sandman vol 7 (Brief Lives, the best of the ten), and also started but not finished Mary Gentle’s 1610, but Truss is the one I most recently looked into. Some people are polyamorous; I have a similar relationship with books.
  3. What do you plan to read next? The English by Jeremy Paxman.
  4. What would you like to read, but don’t have? Crime and PunishmentMaus.
  5. What would you recommend for others to read? Depends on the person, of course. I’ve been very impressed with SandmanSandman and liked it I’d recommend Ash by Mary Gentle.
  6. What’s your favourite book from childhood? The Lord of the Rings – sorry, but it’s true.
  7. What book last made you laugh Eats Shoots and Leaves – lots of good one-liners.
  8. What book last made you weep? Probably Lois McMaster Bujold’s short story The Mountains of Mourning.
  9. What book last made you angry? Hmm. I read an awful lot of inflammatory political material, but usually manage to avoid it in book form. The last book I read that I really didn’t like was Ersatz Nation by Tim Kenyon, but that’s not quite the same. Michael Moore’s description in Stupid White Men of how the Bush family stole the 2000 election in Florida did outrage me. (I discussed this with a friend from Florida whose repeated requests for an absentee ballot in 2000 got no response whatever, though none of her Republican-registered compatriots had any problem. My friend is registered as Independent rather than Democrat but I doubt she’ll be voting Republican in a hurry…)
  10. (extra question inserted by ) What book have you tried to read, perhaps several times, and never managed to finish? A couple of books by colelagues or former colleagues (who will remain nameless) which I started out of politeness and just wasn’t interested enough in to see through to the end.

One thought on “Dead Trees”

  1. I thought it was a take-off on Charles Williams and/or C.S. Lewis. Which Williams book was it that had the girl channelling her ancestor from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs?

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