In honor of Ray Bradbury: What book are you?

[elegantlion]

I read Fahrenheit 451 a few years ago. I was an adult. Afterwards, I couldn't fathom why I had waited so long. I immediately read it to ds, who was about 10.

 

Part of what struck me was knowing what book you are. I've pondered that many times through the years. What book am I? Obviously I am writing my own story, my own journey, but what if I had to choose from off the shelf. So what book are you? It can be metaphorical, it can be a book you love so much you've memorized the lines. What story defines you?

 

I'll add my answer in a few.

[elegantlion]

I'm still pondering this, as I tend to get absorbed in a book.

 

Lately I've been feeling like The Road. It's just me and the boy and we're walking. Everything else in the world has fallen apart, but we still have to walk. Everything I do is about getting the boy safely to his destination, including avoiding the crazy people along the way. Once he's there it may not matter because my job will be done. I know *I* matter, but getting the boy safely there (wherever my proverbial "there" is) is all that matters for the next few years.

[TheReader]

Now I want to re-read Fahrenheit 451 because I do not remember this concept of what book are you....

 

As for answering, that is tough! So many books have touched me, deeply....but which one sums up who I am at this point in time.....hmmm. I will have to think on that and come back later. Interesting idea, though, and maybe my "bump" will get more folks playing along....

[elizabeth]

I loved The Road, it is an incredible audiobook as well. It is so hard but for fiction I would become A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving or A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O Toole. Non fiction anything by Max Scheler or Edmund Husserl. Great question. I want to read what others would choose.

[Farrar]

I don't know what book I am now... I'll have to think on that more.

 

But I will say that "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury is probably the story that I carried closest to my heart as a child. I read it when I was very young and it effected me deeply. I think it's probably the best story about bullying ever written.

[elizabeth]

Now I want to re-read Fahrenheit 451 because I do not remember this concept of what book are you....

 

As for answering, that is tough! So many books have touched me, deeply....but which one sums up who I am at this point in time.....hmmm. I will have to think on that and come back later. Interesting idea, though, and maybe my "bump" will get more folks playing along....

 

See the film it is wonderful, as the moment in which we see people wandering around seeming to mutter to themselves in a forest glade is one of the most moving scenes on film. I literally collapsed in my desk sobbing when I understood what these people were willing to do to save civilization. Great movie. Great book.

[Sugarfoot]

What story defines you?

 

 

 

A Wrinkle in Time.

[JFSinIL]

I may well be A Tree Grows n Brooklyn, I have reread it so often....or the entire Master and Commander series by Patrick O'Brian.

[Food4Thought]

This is a fascinating question. I was greatly saddened to hear of Ray Bradbury's passing. Not only was he a wonderful, imaginative writer, but he was also one of the most encouraging to other writers. I've read several of his works.

 

I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what book I would be. The first that came to mind was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engel because I resound so strongly with Meg in that series. If I think harder, I think A Wind in the Door is a better choice. I cried as I read that book, about the interconnectedness of things and the size of things, and the work of love to heal all ills. I want to live as though I believe it.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Food4Thought
Google+ formatting doesn't work here. :P

[swimmermom3]

I'm still pondering this, as I tend to get absorbed in a book.

 

Lately I've been feeling like The Road. It's just me and the boy and we're walking. Everything else in the world has fallen apart, but we still have to walk. Everything I do is about getting the boy safely to his destination, including avoiding the crazy people along the way. Once he's there it may not matter because my job will be done. I know *I* matter, but getting the boy safely there (wherever my proverbial "there" is) is all that matters for the next few years.

 

:grouphug: Oh honey, I have not read The Road, but will have to now.

 

I don't have the brainpower left to decide which book I am. Well, things do feel a bit like Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. Each chapter is different in feeling and in style and promises big things but goes nowhere.

 

I know which character I am. I think I told you that Swimmer Dude chose to read Fahrenheit 451 because his siblings told him that I am like one of the characters, you know, the one who burns up in her house full of books rather than relinquish them.:tongue_smilie:

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I was The Moorchild in elementary school.

I was The Bluebird and the Sparrow in high school. (I was the Sparrow.)

 

I don't know what I am right now (mid 20's.)

[laughing lioness]

Great ? but Paula, I just can.not think about you as The Road. I hated.hated.hated that book. It's one of the few I truly hate.

[Word Nerd]

I'll have to think about it, but I love the question.

[tex-mex]

This sounds terrible, but our local WFAA news did an error while reporting on the death of Ray Bradbury. You saw the screen displaying "GONORRHEA" and the symptoms of it with the audio of the newscaster announcing Mr. Bradbury's death.

 

I starting laughing as all I could think was the book, "Something Wicked This Way Comes." And the error was still displayed as I told my 17 yr. old son why I was cracking up. He then said, "STDs. Something Skanky This Way Comes. Don't date that girl." Ds and I were rolling with laughter. :lol:

Edited June 6, 2012 by tex-mex

[elegantlion]

:grouphug: Oh honey, I have not read The Road, but will have to now.

 

I don't have the brainpower left to decide which book I am. Well, things do feel a bit like Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler. Each chapter is different in feeling and in style and promises big things but goes nowhere.

 

I know which character I am. I think I told you that Swimmer Dude chose to read Fahrenheit 451 because his siblings told him that I am like one of the characters, you know, the one who burns up in her house full of books rather than relinquish them.:tongue_smilie:

 

Yeah, that would be me too. :tongue_smilie:

 

Great ? but Paula, I just can.not think about you as The Road. I hated.hated.hated that book. It's one of the few I truly hate.

 

It hit at the right time. I found it a Melancholy symphony. I thought Viggo and Charlize brought exactly the right tone to the movie.

 

Here's some of the lines I underlined.

 

"Are we still the good guys? he said.

Yes. We're still the good guys.

And we always will be.

Yes. We always will be.

Okay." - sometimes in life you wonder if you are. If a child has to ask, well...

 

"What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not."

 

"This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don't give up."

 

"I could be anybody. I think in times like these the less said the better."

 

I cried when I finished it. It was like a call to humanity, imo. It's not my favorite book, but it was a point of light for me during a weird time. When everything in life, literally everything is turned upside down we will still strive to be the good guys, we will strive to be the best of humanity.

 

There's a scene in the movie, I forget if it's in the book, where Viggo enters a house and stands in front of a couch. It has a dirty floral pattern. He turns it over. Even in the grey of the movie you can see that underneath it is bright and the flowers look new, not old. He gently places the cushion down, bright side up. It was poignant point in the movie for me. Again, in those times when everything is grey, maybe you're the couch cushion. All it takes is one person to pick you up and turn you over, letting your brightness shine through the chaos, decadence, and decay. It may be one move, but it's one that steps people back towards humanity. I've been the couch cushion and I've been the Man. Maybe it's one of the "sensitive people" things, but it has remained with me.

[Sugarfoot]

 

My DH is reading this right now and loving it. He's always buried in medical journals' date=' so fiction is sort of a treat for him, and he's savoring it. I'm waiting patiently for him to finish so I can read it.

 

The first that came to mind was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engel because I resound so strongly with Meg in that series.

 

Me, too. I LOVED to read as a child and had read many good books before this one, but this was the one that I could feel myself sort of falling into...

[Guest inoubliable]

See the film it is wonderful, as the moment in which we see people wandering around seeming to mutter to themselves in a forest glade is one of the most moving scenes on film. I literally collapsed in my desk sobbing when I understood what these people were willing to do to save civilization. Great movie. Great book.

Just a quick mention - the movie is on Netflix streaming.

[Robin M]

Interesting question and it just made my brain go splat. I can't think of a single fiction book that defines me. I would be a village of books probably. I had an epiphany during Upside Down Brilliance - a wow, that's me thing that changed my outlook on life.

 

So now that you've mentioned The Road I'm going to have to read it. Plus add a few more Ray Bradbury titles to my library.

[Hen]

I don't know what book I am now... I'll have to think on that more.

 

But I will say that "All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury is probably the story that I carried closest to my heart as a child. I read it when I was very young and it effected me deeply. I think it's probably the best story about bullying ever written.

 

Thank you for mentioning this, it was in one of my readers when I was in elementary school, and it really stuck with me. I was thinking I wanted to share it with my dd15 who is studying short stories right now, but I didn't know what it was called.

[dangermom]

I'm also an "All Summer in a Day" person. That story hit me hard when I was a kid.

 

 

I don't know if it's the book that best fits my personality, but I would pick Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock. Or if it has to be a classic classic, I'd get in fistfight over who got to be Jane Eyre.

[KatieWonderGirl]

Derrick Jensen's Endgame (because any future civilization needs to understand the perils of civilization) with a side of My Antonia by Willa Cather.

[Kathleen in VA]

Not sure. It would have to be a book that made me feel a sense of wonder and like I had entered a world I had not known before. Right now these come to mind:

 

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

The Chosen by Chaim Potok

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

[laughing lioness]

Yeah, that would be me too. :tongue_smilie:

 

 

 

It hit at the right time. I found it a Melancholy symphony. I thought Viggo and Charlize brought exactly the right tone to the movie.

 

Here's some of the lines I underlined.

 

"Are we still the good guys? he said.

Yes. We're still the good guys.

And we always will be.

Yes. We always will be.

Okay." - sometimes in life you wonder if you are. If a child has to ask, well...

 

"What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not."

 

"This is what the good guys do. They keep trying. They don't give up."

 

"I could be anybody. I think in times like these the less said the better."

 

I cried when I finished it. It was like a call to humanity, imo. It's not my favorite book, but it was a point of light for me during a weird time. When everything in life, literally everything is turned upside down we will still strive to be the good guys, we will strive to be the best of humanity.

 

There's a scene in the movie, I forget if it's in the book, where Viggo enters a house and stands in front of a couch. It has a dirty floral pattern. He turns it over. Even in the grey of the movie you can see that underneath it is bright and the flowers look new, not old. He gently places the cushion down, bright side up. It was poignant point in the movie for me. Again, in those times when everything is grey, maybe you're the couch cushion. All it takes is one person to pick you up and turn you over, letting your brightness shine through the chaos, decadence, and decay. It may be one move, but it's one that steps people back towards humanity. I've been the couch cushion and I've been the Man. Maybe it's one of the "sensitive people" things, but it has remained with me.

 

Ahhh! Makes sense to me now. The book was just so graphic. It creeped me out. Maybe I should see the movie ; ). I love the quotes :001_smile:

[laughing lioness]

What book are you?

I loved Strong Poison by Sayers. I flatter myself by relating to Harriet Vine. In some ways my dh was/is my Lord Peter. He helped me get out of a mess- not of my own making. He loves me despite my lack of convention, doing what's expected. He pushes me to use my gifts, even when I don't believe in myself. He is respectful and kind - all characteristics of Lord Peter.

Dh is analytical and willing to wait like Lord Peter. I'm impulsive and more artistic, like Harriet. I'm sure Harriet is smarter and more analytical than I am. Sadly, neither of us is filthy rich.

fwiw; it's our 27th anniversary! Geez. During our dating life, dh had a whole reading list for me to get through - lol!

[Kathleen in VA]

What book are you?

I loved Strong Poison by Sayers. I flatter myself by relating to Harriet Vine. In some ways my dh was/is my Lord Peter. He helped me get out of a mess- not of my own making. He loves me despite my lack of convention, doing what's expected. He pushes me to use my gifts, even when I don't believe in myself. He is respectful and kind - all characteristics of Lord Peter.

Dh is analytical and willing to wait like Lord Peter. I'm impulsive and more artistic, like Harriet. I'm sure Harriet is smarter and more analytical than I am. Sadly, neither of us is filthy rich.

fwiw; it's our 27th anniversary! Geez. During our dating life, dh had a whole reading list for me to get through - lol!

 

Happy Anniversary!

 

I haven't read any Lord Peter Wimsey books but I've seen some movies. He's the paragon of patience where Harriet is concerned! (I started The Nine Tailors but didn't get very far - probably ought to pick that up again.) It's really weird watching the same actress who played Mrs. Fanny Dashwood in the Ang Lee version of Sense & Sensibility play Harriet Vine.