a blog about books

i got tagged for this meme by BookWormMom a few days ago and have been pondering the answers to the questions ever since. here's 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.


The books that’ve been on your shelves the longest: my mother's copies of Little Women and Little Men. printed during ww2, the paper is brittle and yellow, and the typeface is teeny-weeny. Little Women is the first story that made me cry and was the first time i realized i could find friends on the pages of books that i could not find anywhere else.

A book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time, etc.): Secret Sins by Lorraine Stanton. lorraine was my best friend for a very long time at a time when i needed a really good friend. she walked me through some of the darkest places of my life, and when she died, i lost someone i truly loved. i cherish the one book she published. when i read it, as occasionally i do, i never fail to hear her voice rising off the page.

A book you acquired in some interesting way (gift, serendipity in a used bookstore, prize, etc.): my Medieval Wordbook by Madeline Pelner Cosman. this was a gift from Beloved last year for christmas. i wasn't expecting it, hadn't asked for it, didn't even know such a thing existed. but i love words, and, as Beloved said when i opened it, "i bet you know a lot of these." and i did, but there were a few i didn't know and those were so much fun to find.

A book that’s been with you to the most places: Ancient History, 2nd ed by Charles Alexander Robinson, Jr. i acquired this book in Latin I in high school, and it has been an invaluable resource throughout my entire education ever since. encompassing the history of western civilization from the earliest egyptians through late antiquity and the final collapse of the roman empire in the west, it sketches enough a skeleton that whole ages of history hang together in the sort of big-picture way the trilogy-writing novelist in me really appreciates. and while its point of view is undeniably mainstream patriarchal wasp, it provided the framework against which i could come to my own understanding of the flow of history. it came with me to college, to grad school, and constantly at my fingertips depending on children needing information, and what sort of world i might be building.

The most recent addition to your shelves: A Question of Guilt by Julianne Lee. this is a novel about mary queen of scots... i bought it right before christmas on a shopping trip, and since its hard for me to read fiction while im writing fiction, haven't yet had the chance to pick it up.

so here's who i tag... Shades of Scorpio, Patrice and Veggie Mom!

and furthermore, the war must end. blessed be.