Thursday, April 20, 2006

Six More Degrees of Booking




Laura, over at Booking Through Thursday picked up my suggestion to do Six Degrees of Booking, so she recommended I play again this week along with everyone else. So, here goes:

1. Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll about an architect dealing with the consequences of his actions in WWII. Billiards are a game which leads to. . .

2. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. On Ender’s game-playing capability rests the salvation of Earth. Another game player is Gurgeh in. . .

3. The Player of Games by Iain M Banks whose title character must play the ultimate high stakes game to save his life. Gurgeh wins his game unlike Dr. Moreau whose game of playing with creation goes awry on. . .

4. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells which, as we studied in Reading andWriting Texts at UT Dallas, is really just a retelling of. . .

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley which is classified in the horror genre at Amazon.com like. . .

6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski which is considered a post-post-modern horror novel.

Now, I need to confess three things:

1. I'm functioning on very broken up sleep. So, I think these make sense, but who knows, maybe not.

2. The Player of Games is not my book. It belongs to Glyn at thoughtsbyglyn. It is only a long-term visitor to my library who should have gone home ages ago.

3. I have not read House of Leaves. It was recommended by my brilliant friend Ed. When I say brilliant, I don't mean shiny. He is one of the smartest people I've ever met. So, I bought it and it has completely intimidated me. It stared and I blinked. That doesn't mean I won't ever read it but I thought you should have full disclosure.

Until next time. . .

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mary, Mary, Mary... I recently had the pleasure of hearing a lecture given by Orsen Scott Card. I totally disagree with this writing style and beliefs! Who am I to say that right? But I really did find him to be a very boring and driven by the conventions of writing.... maybe that is why so many like him??? Who knows.... keep reading!

Unknown said...

Sadly, the rate at which I "consume" books is actually much less than I would like. Two kids, a travelling husband, etc., has really diminished my "capacity." I do have times where I can really dig in and read a lot and, I have noticed, that if I don't get in any reading at all, it affects my worldview in a very negative way. Ultimately, I have to read.

Anonymous said...

I don't have anyplace to leave my list, so I'll add it here!
1. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, which naturally leads to her inspiration of ...
2. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. Boats remind me of water which leads to ...
3. Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner. This is about the politics of water in the West which leads me to ...
4. Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey who writes about his time in Glen Canyon before the dam went in and destroyed this canyon which leads me to ...
5. Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams the naturalist who beautifully intertwines her nature writing with thoughts on family and place. Most of the women in Ms. Tempest's family have died of breast cancer, including her mother, and in Refuge she incorporates her thoughts on loss and grief. This leads me to ...
6. The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett, another writer who has captured the grief of loss in her writing. Her characters explore what it means to be "family" (among other things; I don't want to spoil it!).
Terri

Unknown said...

I think Connie Willis and To Say Nothing of the Dog has featured in one or two of the other Six Degrees posts. I think I'll add The Magician's Assistant to my list. Thanks for playing! I need to go and check out the "game" for today.

Anonymous said...

Mary,
Hope you read The Magician's Assistant. I can't believe how beautifully Ann Patchett writes! I just kept re-reading passages at times and sometimes it was so beautiful it made me cry. I also read her book Bel Canto which is also truly special. David read Bel Canto, and when he finished it all he could say was "wow" and that he wants to get all of Patchett's books.
Terri