Your bookshelves - a scavenger hunt

[rhubarbodendron]

Dumas (senior) was a great author! I have a very old edition of the Three Musketeers and utterly enjoy the elegance of the language (at least in this translation).
What level of language is his original work? Do you think it would be a good read for an absolute beginner? (I'm just starting to learn French).

I'd love to read Bergerac in the original language but I doubt a foreigner could ever reach such a level as to be able to read Renaissance texts with their complicated grammar and entwined sentences

 

[Captain Ice]

I used to have a book that was a diary of someone who sailed on the Titanic. She was given the journal at the start of the journey, and refused to write in it afterward. In the postscript, it says that her family had it published in the 1990s. I cannot remember the title, or I would purchase another copy. The copy I had was lost when it was loaned to a friend's family member who lost it.

Do you remember if she was a child or an adult at the time of the sinking? If she was an adult was she a passenger or a crew member? There were several survivors who has diaries and knowing these questions could narrow the search for your book.

It could have been Violet Jessop. She was a stewardess on the Titanic and later she survived the sinking of the Britannic. Her memoirs (rather than a diary) were published in the mid-1990s.

There are at least two fictional diaries. One is the story of Margaret Ann Brady, the other Dorothy Wilton (no-one of either name sailed on the Titanic).

From what I remember, she was a traveling as a companion or governess for a first class child. The main character was about 15 years of age and unmarried at the time of the sinking

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc.

Unless you count biographies, I do not have any. Most of the fiction books set here are westerns, which is a genre I do not like.

Have you tried any of the Tony Hillerman mysteries?

I have never heard of him. Can you suggest a couple?

 

[Skywalker]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Star Wars: Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, among others by him.

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
A hardcover copy of The Odyssey, published in 1944.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
None that I can recall or find.

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
The Iliad by Homer.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
Hmm...probably either A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin or Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
Robert Jordan and his entire Wheel of Time series.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Bernard Cornwell. I've got most of his Sharpe series, along with many other books he's written.

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
To be honest I usually try not to spend a ton of money on a single book. But recently I paid almost $30 for the hardcover of the latest book in Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files. I was too impatient to wait for the paperback!

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc.
I actually don't think I own any books set in Maine. I've never read anything by Stephen King, who would probably be the obvious choice.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
Probably the aforementioned hardcover copy of The Odyssey. It's not my favorite book ever, but it was a gift from a friend and because of its age it's the least replaceable book I own.

 

[M'Sharak]

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc.

Unless you count biographies, I do not have any. Most of the fiction books set here are westerns, which is a genre I do not like.

Have you tried any of the Tony Hillerman mysteries?

I have never heard of him. Can you suggest a couple?

After Hunting Badger they started seeming a bit pat to me, but any of the first ten or twelve from this list, I'd recommend. The earlier ones are heavier on descriptions/explanations of tribal culture and lore (primarily Navajo, but also Hopi or Zuni in some stories); as they go on, that lessens and character/character relationship development becomes more prominent. Pretty good mysteries, but not too heavy.

 

[lurok]

Mine feels like a repeat of many here:

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Their Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
Oldest in terms of setting: The Bible, Odyssey, Illiad. Oldest in terms of age: Absolute Beginners.

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
Diary Of Malcolm X

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
The Bible

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
Dune

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
Michael Crichton

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Used to have a lot of Ed McBain and Richard Stark. Great pulp.

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
Art books. Do they count as textbooks?

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
Several. Absolute Beginners, The Drowned World, etc...

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
None of them irreplaceable apart from one on Soviet Constructivist Art which has great sentimental value (and is probably impossible to find now).

 

[RJDiogenes]

The Jameson Satellite by Neil R. Jones (and, yes, it was Rhubarbodendron who turned me on to Neil R. Jones).

AND TOMORROW THE WHOLE WORLD!!! - oops... old (German) habits...

Heh. I hope so. He definitely deserves to be better known among lovers of classic Hard SF.

 

[The Lensman]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name

Amber series by Roger Zelazny

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf

"The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen" published in 1936

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.

Not that I recall

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period

Not sure...off the top of my head I would say "Behold The Man" by Michael Moorcock.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.

E.E. "Doc" Smith's "The Lensman" series, natch.

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.

Either Asimov's original "Foundation" trilogy or Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique"

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.

Can't think of one off the top of my head

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.

Michael Moorcock

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?

Hard back edition of "Crisis On Infinite Earths" for 100.00. For some reason this monumental work took well over a decade to be collected and DC said they would never release it in soft back.....which they did about a year or two later pissing off all of us who paid the money for the hard back. I'd have been happy with the 20.00 soft back.

10) Name the latest book you purchased.

Purchased at the same time: "Le Morte d'Arthur" vol. 1 and 2 as well as "Candide, Zadig And Selected Stories"

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc

Can't think of any off the top of my head.

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?

The Munchausen book

 

[Captain Kathryn]

1) Name a book you own that is written by someone with a Z in their name
Don't think I have any.

2) Name the oldest book in your bookshelf
I have a lot of anthologies that contain literature from way back. One of them contains Beowulf, which is like...the oldest book. I also have my Shakespeare anthology from college (was an English major).

3) Do you have a book that is a diary (real or fictional)? If so name it.
"Go Ask Alice" - Beatrice Sparks
"Diary of Anne Frank"

4) Name the fictional book on your shelf which takes part in the earliest time period
Beowulf.

5) The five commonest surnames in the USA are Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones. Name a book you own that is written by someone with one of these surnames.
"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" - Betty Smith

6) Name the book that you own that you have read the most times.
"The Dharma Bums" - Jack Kerouac

7) Do you own a book that is written by an author you have a love-hate relationship with? If so, name the author/book.
Charles Bukowski. And I have all of his novels and most of his poety books. But it is love/hate.

8) Name an author who you own more than 10 books by.
Charles Bukowski
Jack Kerouac
Shakespeare
J.K Rowling (I have all the HP, some extras she wrote, and her 2 new books)

9) Excluding textbooks, what book on your bookshelves did you pay the most for?
A programming book that cost like 80 bucks (wasn't for school). Also some Korean language learning books that cost a lot (also not for school).

10) Name the latest book you purchased.
"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - Douglas Adams

11) Name a book you own that is set in your state, province, county etc
"Queens of K-Town" - Angela Hur

12) If your house was on fire and you could only save one book, which book would it be?
"On the Road" - Jack Kerouac

 

[Tora Ziyal]

^ How's The Cookoo's Calling? I'm on the waiting list at the library.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

^ How's The Cookoo's Calling? I'm on the waiting list at the library.

It's good. I'm still in the middle of reading it. It's funny you're on a waiting list... when it was first published no one even knew who the heck it was haha. So like nobody was buying it. As soon as info was leaked that it was Rowling, people were all over it (including me haha).

But yeah it's decent.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I had read a review before I knew who Robert Galbraith was and thought it sounded good. I'm disappointed that I didn't read it right away, just so I could say that I read and liked it before I knew.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Ordeal by Hunger, by George R. Stewart - not itself a diary, but consists to a significant extent of excerpts from diaries of surviving members of the Donner Party, or of persons involved in their rescue.

I own that one too. I was bored on a visit to my Uncle's when I was a kid and found a copy laying around his house and began to read it. Took it home with me so I could finish it.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

I am finally reading the VOY novels from start to finish. I have a few issues with Homecoming so far, but still am enjoying the read.