A Meme to Pass the Time at Work

I'm at work today and I am extremely bored. It's pretty outside. Who wants to be in a library on a beautiful Saturday? Hence, the meme, which I got from Hilda:

1. If you were stuck in traffic, who would you want to be stuck in traffic with? My friend Sabrina -- she'd make funny comments and be entertaining
2. Would you rather be late to the party, or the first person to arrive? First to arrive
3. Be honest, have you ever sung into your hairbrush like it was a microphone? Of course -- I can't imagine anyone who hasn't, except maybe my husband.
4. What is the first thing you do when you come home from work? Take off my bra -- I hate bras.
5. Can you be found blogging in your pajamas? Yes
6. Be honest, have you started to save money for Christmas yet? No -- that would be planning ahead -- we can't have that.
7. Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola? Coca Cola
8. What concession stand snack(s) must you have at the movies? I don't buy concession stand snacks -- I'm too appalled at their prices.
9. What do you call your TV's remote control? The flipper
10. If you could work for any company in the US (without having to relocate if you didn't want to), what company would you want to work for? I'm not sure, but I'd want to work for a library that would let me work from home at least a few days a week. Preferably everyday, so I could go to the beach and do my work.

Friendly Differences and a shuffle

I thought this was interesting because sometimes our differences from our friends can be illuminating. This is from Hilda:

• Name a CD you own that none of your friends do - I have a weird, eclectic collection but the one cd I own that my friends don't is Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP
• Name a book you own that none of your friends do - La Vendee by Anthony Trollope. Not a good Trollope novel but part of my thesis was about it.
• Name a movie you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that none of your friends do - Starship Troopers. I recognize that this is a bad movie but I still like it anyway.
• Name a tourist attraction in the US that you have visited that none of your friends have - the Vulcan statue in Birmingham, Alabama

Friday Shuffle

1. Blues Power: Eric Clapton from The Cream of Clapton
2. Blame it on the Stones: Kris Kristofferson from Kristofferson
3. I Found My Everything: Mary J. Blige from The Breakthrough
4. World Without Sound: Roseanne Cash from Black Cadillac
5. A Change is Gonna Come: Aaron Neville from Bring It On Home
6. A Song for You: Gram Parsons from G.P./Grievous Angel
7. Fame Infamy:Fall Out Boy from Infinity on High
8. Let's Build a Home: The White Stripes from De Stijl
9. Wolves: Garth Brooks from No Fences
10. I Trained Her to Love Me: Nick Lowe from At My Age

An Arrest and a Meme

My husband works with this man who was arrested for making terrorist threats to employees of a local tv station, and he sent them from the library where I work! D says he was always a nice and quiet guy; I guess it really is true -- it's always the nice and quiet ones you have to watch out for. See the MSNBC story.

Nutmeg tagged me for this one word meme. This is going to be hard for me as I can be wordy.

1. Where is your mobile phone? purse
2. Relationship? better
3. Your hair? messy
4. Work? non-stop
5. Your sister(s)? younger
6. Your favourite thing? music
7. Your dream last night? concert
8. Your favourite drink? tea
9. Your dream car? efficient
10. The room you're in? reference
11. Your shoes? sandals
12. Your fears? unnecessary
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? fitter
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? family
15. What are you not good at? singing
16. Muffin? orange-cranberry
17. Wish list item? imagination
18. Where you grew up? Army
19. The last thing you did? emailed
20. What are you wearing? red
21. What are you not wearing? dress
22. Your pet? cat
23. Your computer? built
24. Your life? okay
25. Your mood? blah
26. Missing? watch
27. What are you thinking about? songs
28. Your car? gift
29. Your kitchen? pink
30. Your summer? rainy
31. Your favourite colour? green
32. Last time you laughed? yesterday
33. Last time you cried? month
34. School? enjoyable
35. Love? indispensable

I have to explain number 7 -- the dream. I dreamt I met Jack White of the White Stripes (they are going to be in this state next month) and he gave me four tickets to the concert in Birmingham.

Favorite books

I swiped this from Bablebabe who stole it from Naked without Books, who swiped it from Bookfool, all in a long chain of thievery.

A book that made you cry: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

A book that scared you: Stephen King's Salem’s Lot and Scott Smith's The Ruins -- I'm still creeped out by any mention of Mayan ruins and any mention of vines.

A book that made you laugh: You Suck by Christopher Moore. Also Lamb by Christopher Moore. Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's novel about the Apocalypse, Good Omens, practically had me rolling in the aisles. How can you misplace the anti-Christ?

A book that disgusted you: Bentley Little's The University. Although I've read and enjoyed many other books by Little, I just found the violence and mayhem in this one too gratuitous and too gross.

A book you loved in elementary school: The Little House books, Caddie Woodlawn, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Harriet the Spy. And almost any biography -- I read so many biographies at this age that other kids preceded my first name with Biography.

A book you loved in junior high: The Faraway Lurs by Harry Behn -- if the Jean Auel books had come out then, I would have read them -- I liked books involving prehistoric people when I was this age. I also loved and kept rereading Andre Norton's Daybreak 2250 A.D.

A book you loved in high school: Meet the Mob and, in keeping with that theme, The Godfather. In a complete switch in tone, I also loved James Herriot's books.

A book you hated in high school: I can't come up with one I just really really hated, although I wasn't fond of The Great Gatsby.

A book you loved in college: Oddly, I think because of the English major (which sounds contradictory but really isn't) I didn't read much in college but I did go through an Anthony Burgess phase and loved Devil of a State.

A book that challenged your identity: This is a hard one. Ann Coulter's Treason, not much but still it made me wonder.

A series that you love: Anne Perry's William Monk series, Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series (except the last three books) and Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

Your favorite horror book: Still after all these years, I think it's SK's The Stand. Also Richard Laymon's The Traveling Vampire Show.

Your favorite science fiction book: Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Anthony Burgess' The Wanting Seed and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Your favorite fantasy book: Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.

Your favorite mystery book: Anything by Michael Connelly.

Your favorite graphic novel: The Sandman series is my absolute favorite although I do like Marvel 1602 and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Your favorite biography: In a total reversal of how I was as a kid, I rarely read biography even though I enjoy it when I do. So this one is not strictly biography -- Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

Your favorite “coming-of-age” book: This is not really a coming of age book; it's more an understanding your identity book but the character is young and her understanding of her heritage makes her grow up -- Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic.

Your favorite classic: Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. I know many people who love or hate Tess but for me it was always Jude.

Your favorite romance book: I don't read romance much but when I was young, my aunt sent me Victoria Holt's The Shadow of the Lynx. I loved that book -- I love it still.

Favorite kids’ book: I like Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are and this book I used to read to my daughter -- it had a great mother/daughter relationship in it -- Big Big Sea by Martin Waddell and Jennifer Eachus.

Favorite cookbook: The River Road Cookbook -- Louisiana cooking

Your favorite book not on this list: Possession by AS Byatt -- this is one of my favorite books ever. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.

Friday Shuffle

1. Dirty: Christina Aguilera from Stripped
2. Low Down Freedom: Waylon Jennings from Honky Tonk Heroes
3. Somebody More Like You: Nickel Creek from Why Should the Fire Die?
4. Anyone Can Play Guitar: Radiohead from Pablo Honey
5. Boulder to Birmingham: Emmylou Harris (with Herb Pederson) from Heartaches & Highways (I have tickets!)
6. Summertime in Wintertime: Badly Drawn Boy from One Plus One is One
7. I'm Not Afraid: Jill Scott from Beautifully Human
8. Moonshiner: Uncle Tupelo from March 16-20, 1992
9. Prayer for New Orleans: Charlie Miller from Our New Orleans
10. David Had the Blues: Rory Block from From the Dust
    

Tagged!

Sari has tagged me with a musical meme, and you know how I like music. Here are the directions:

List seven songs you are into right now...no matter what they are. They must be songs you are presently enjoying. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to. I'm listening to:

1. What Light: Wilco from Sky Blue Sky (can be downloaded from Wilco's web site)
2. Bell Bottom Blues: Eric Clapton from The Cream of Clapton (all Rogue Librarian's fault for reminding what a great song it is)
3. Change: Tracy Chapman from Where You Live
4. Think I'm in Love: Beck from The Information
5. Rehab: Amy Winehouse from Back to Black
6. Windowsill: Arcade Fire from Neon Bible
7. Gonna Move: Paul Pena from New Train

I pretty much know the same people as Sari does -- she knows more -- so I'll just tag Rogue Librarian (sorry about that!) and Exena. I'm interested to hear what they're listening to.

A Reader's Meme

Swiped from Hilda by way of Dixie. It's a bit long but it's my second favorite topic.

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? I almost always prefer hardback but usually can afford the trade paperback better. I also like it better than mass market because the printing is bigger.
Amazon or brick and mortar? All of them.
Barnes & Noble or Borders? We don't have any Borders stores here, so it would have to be B & N.
Bookmark or dogear? Bookmark -- I'd cringe at a dogeared book.
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I want to alphabetize by author and then alphabetize by title within the author when I have more than one by the same author, but my son helped us move in and just chunked all the books in the bookshelves randomly and we haven't changed them, so they are random.
Keep, throw away, or sell? I never throw away a book. I will give away books or I'll keep them. I use Bookcrossing to help give away some books.
Keep dust jacket or toss it? Keep it. Dust jacket art is like album art to me -- I love it -- especially the good ones.
Read with dust jacket or remove it? Usually I read with the dust jacket on but sometimes it won't stay in place, so I remove it.
Short story or novel? Mostly novels but there is a real art to a good short story.
Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?
Collections usually.
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. I immediately got sucked into the Harry Potter mythos where I have tried to read The Bad Beginning several times and never finished it.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Chapter breaks.
“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Either
Buy or Borrow? Buy and borrow, although sometimes I can't seem to finish a book I checkout from the library. In Cold Blood was that way for me; I was never able to finish it until I bought it.
New or used? Preferably new but I'll buy used too.
Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All of them. Lately, I've been buying books based on recommendations.
Tidy ending or cliffhanger? I don't have a preference as long as it fits in with the story. Some endings make no sense in terms of the character or the storyline; those are the ones I hate.
Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Usually nighttime, but I read all hours of the day.
Stand-alone or series? I love both.
Favorite series? Harry Potter, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, Stephanie Plum
Favorite children's book? From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Daybreak 2250 A.D. by Andre Norton.
Favorite books read last year? Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christoper Moore, and A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.
Favorite books of all time? To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -- the list goes on and on.
Least favorite book you finished last year? The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King and My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
What are you reading right now? The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and The Lost by Daniel Mendelsohn.
What are you reading next? The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

Musical Fun

It's music -- I couldn't help myself. Swiped from Dixie.

1. Go to Pop Culture Madness. Click on "pop music" on the left sidebar. Scroll down a bit and find the hits for the year you turned 18 years old.

2. Copy and paste the top 75 songs of that year.

3. Bold the ones you liked; strike the ones you disliked; and italicize the ones you knew but didn’t exactly like or dislike. The ones you don’t know will stay plain text.

1. Get Down Tonight - KC & The Sunshine Band
2. Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver
3. That's the Way (I Like It) - K.C. and the Sunshine Band
4. Cut The Cake - Average White Band (AWB)
5. Lady Marmalade - Patti LaBelle -- I used to like it but it's been so overdone lately that now I don't like it.
6. Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees
7. You're The First, The Last, My Everything - Barry White
8. Shining Star - Earth Wind And Fire
9. Some Kind of Wonderful - Grand Funk
10. Send In The Clowns - Judy Collins
11. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder -- I like Stevie but this wasn't my favorite.
12. You Are So Beautiful - Joe Cocker
13. The Hustle - Van McCoy
14. Best Of My Love - The Eagles
15. Rock and Roll All Night (Studio) - Kiss
16. Low Rider - War
17. "They Just Can't Stop It" (Games People Play) - Spinners
18. Lovin' You - Minnie Riperton
19. Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John
20. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
21. SOS - ABBA
22. Nights On Broadway - Bee Gees
23. How Sweet It Is - James Taylor
24. Pick Up The Pieces - Average White Band
25. Saturday Night Special - Lynyrd Skynyrd
26. Wasted Days and Wasted Nights - Freddy Fender
27. Sun Goddess - Ramsey Lewis & Earth, Wind and Fire
28. It Only Takes A Minute - Tavares
29. Black Water - Doobie Brothers
30. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
31. My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli
32. Shame, Shame, Shame - Shirley and Company
33. Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) - Leo Sayer
34. Why Can't We Be Friends? - War
35. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
36. Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John
37. Harry Truman - Chicago
38. Sadie - the Spinners
39. Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company
40. Killer Queen - Queen
41. I Only Have Eyes For You - Art Garfunkle
42. That's The Way Of The World - Earth Wind and Fire
43. Amie - Pure Prairie League
44. Good Lovin' Gone Bad - Bad Company
45. There Goes Another Love Song - The Outlaws
46. Don't Call Us, We'll Call You - Sugarloaf
47. Roll On Down The Highway - BTO - Bachman Turner Overdrive
48. Stand By Me - John Lennon
49. The Entertainer - Billy Joel
50. No No Song - Ringo Starr
51. It's A Miracle - Barry Manilow
52. Magic - Pilot
53. Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me) - Doobie Brothers
54. Dark Horse - George Harrsion
55. Autobahn - Kraftwerk
56. Doctor's Orders - Carol Douglas
57. Tush - ZZ Top
58. Attitude Dancing - Carly Simon
59. Get Dancin' - Disco Tex and the Sex-O-Lettes
60 Young Americans - David Bowie
61. Black Friday - Steely Dan
62. Mexico - James Taylor
63. Volare - Al Martino
64. Bertha Butt Boogie - Jimmy Castor Bunch
65. Fire On The Mountain - Marshall Tucker Band
66. Mamacita - the Grass Roots
67. Struttin' - Billy Preston
68. Fly Robin Fly - Silver Convention
69. Part of the Plan - Dan Fogleberg
70. Fame - David Bowie
71. Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
72. Rockin' All Over The World - John Fogerty
73. Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song - B.J. Thomas
74. Katmandu - Bob Seger
75. Hey You - Bachman Turner Overdrive

Learning to Read and an Early Shuffle

Stolen from Lazy Cow:

1. How old were you when you learned to read and who taught you? I was 4; my mom taught me. I don't remember NOT knowing how to read.
2. Did you own any books as a child? I owned many books -- Dr. Seuss, Harriet the Spy, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the Borrowers books -- many books. Oddly, I don't have them anymore but I don't know what happened to them.
3. What’s the first book that you bought with your own money? I'm not sure. I think it was Jane Eyre. My parents always gave me money for books and my mother took me to the library every week.
4. Were you a re-reader as a child? If so, which book did you re-read most often? Oh, yes, I was a re-reader. I think it's a tie between Meet the Mob and Daybreak 2250 A.D. (also called Star Man's Son) by Andre Norton. I read each of these at least 20 times. My parents hated seeing me reading Meet the Mob all the time; they thought my interest in the Mafia was a bit strange. I also re-read Little Women at least 15 times and Jane Eyre.
5. What’s the first adult book that captured your interest and how old were you when you read it? It was Jane Eyre and I was probably 11 or 12. I was always fascinated by my dad's history book (he was in college when I was a kid) and I read it all the way through -- I thought it was just a bunch of stories. I think I was 7 or 8.
6. Are there children’s books that you passed by as a child that you have learned to love as an adult? Which ones? I never read either The Wind in the Willows or A Wrinkle in Time as a kid. I've read A Wrinkle in Time since and loved it but have yet to read The Wind in the Willows. I've also never read the Narnia books -- I've started The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe several times but can't seem to get past chapter one.

Early Friday Shuffle

Because I won't be in town or near a computer this weekend -- an early shuffle.

1. Run Devil Run: Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins from Rabbit Fur Coat
2. Navigator: The Pogues from Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
3. By Myself: Carly Simon from Clouds in My Coffee
4. The Heart of the Matter: India.Arie from Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
5. I Am Not My Hair: India.Arie featuring Akon from Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship
6. Ravens: Patti Smith from Gone Again
7. One Love: Bob Marley from Legend
8. Crazy People: The Wreckers from Stand Still, Look Pretty
9. Fax Machine Anthem: Beck from Guero
10. Around the Sun: R.E.M. from Around the Sun