Geekage and Meme

[muchabstracted]

First, cut for the Meme from rymenhild and navelofwine.



1. Name a book you love no matter what anyone says.
Chrome Circle by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon.

2. Name a book you loathe no matter what anyone says.
The only book I recall having that negative a reaction to was D.H. Lawrence's Friends and Lovers. Such an irritating man, D.H. Lawrence.

3. Name a book you think is undeservedly obscure.
You know, there used to be a lot of obscure books that I thought should be famous. But I eventually figured out that they were obscure for good reason.

Lord Dunsany's story, Kith of the Elf Folk.

4. Name a book you think is undeservedly famous.
I agree with navelofwine on the subject of Jane Eyre. Haven't read Rebecca, so I can't comment on that. Hmmm. So many bad books to choose from...

I have it! Dr. Atkins's book!

ETA: I don't, as it turns out, agree with navelofwine on the subject of Jane Eyre. I misread her sentence: she appears to like it. Ooops.

5. Name a book you think you ought to read.
Oooh, one of Heinz Kohut's books on self psychology. And Swann's Way by Proust, I bought that a year ago and haven't picked it up yet.

6. Name a book you think I ought to read.
Will anyone believe me if I say anything other than Paradise Lost? Well, I seem to be pimping Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers a lot recently, so I'll put down that as an alternative to the Great Pre-Woolf Love of My Life. Oooh, and Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie!

*forcibly restrains self from typing more book names*


And onto the Geekage. Last night, I was reading a book by William Bright entitled A Coyote Reader. It had the following lines:

Yet the trickster is not the ideal heroic type: If he slays monsters, it is through guile rather than bravery.

And I realized: if trickster went to Hogwarts, s/he would be sorted into Slytherin.

The main difference between Slytherin and trickster that I see is that Slytherins appear to have a lot more focused ambition and clear goals, where tricksters just seem to screw around. Possibly this is why I am fascinated with tricksters and generally bored with Slytherins. Of course, Rowling's probable dislike for most Slytherins does not help matters.

Comments

[navelofwine.livejournal.com]

I don't think I said what you think I said about Jane Eyre.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Oops. Just reread. I think I just saw the words Jane Eyre and Rebecca, and ran to conclusions. Sorry about that.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

I think a Trickster would be sorted into Ravenclaw. My reading of the four dominating characteristics of the four houses is: Gryffindor-Courage, Ravenclaw-Intelligence, Slytherin-Ambition, Hufflepuff-Loyalty. I think of guile as much more closely linked with intelligence than ambition, though it's certainly debatable.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. This is true. Trickster does some pretty dumb things, but then, so do intelligent people. Like when Michael Dukakis decided to prove he was as manly as George Bush by jumping into a tank. I don't remember what he looked like, because I was too young to care, but my parents assure me it led to nothing but bad PR.