My very first meme...

I feel so officially bloggish! To be honest, when I got tagged for this meme, I was a little intimidated. After all, my sister the librarian tagged me. I have to be honest, I don’t read nearly as much as I should or used to simply because of time constraints in my life now. Someday (soon) I hope the time constraints will be lifted and I’ll have time to really read. For the time being, I read fluff – pure brain candy – because I have to think enough in my real life!

So…

1. The three most influential books in my life are:

• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  This was an influential book simply because it was the first challenged book I ever read and I read it because I was told not to. It was the book that above all has made me think about what causes people to challenge books.
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorn
  This was first read as a class assignment when I was a freshman in high school many, many years ago. I reread it a few years ago and it was interesting to read it with the eyes and experiences of an adult. It was influential because it made me realize how much society has changed and it made me sad because high school freshmen today wouldn’t see a big deal with what Hester Prynne did.
• The Left Behind Series by Tim Lahay and Jerry B. Jenkins
  This series, while not necessarily great literature, did make me think about what and how I believe about the end times.

2. Three books I’ve read more than once.

• The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• The 3 longer novels in the Anita Blake series
• What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson

3. Three great books I personally hated.

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Hate may be too strong of a word here, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I know it is a great work of literature and has a wonderful story and moral, but I just didn’t like it! (Sorry, Carrie.)
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  I know, I know, but it was pure torture to me!
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  I see a Steinbeck pattern forming here.

4. Three pure pleasures.

• The Anita the Vampire Slayer series by Laurell K. Hamilton. (Falls into the pure fluff category. This is my current book obsession and also part of the reason I hate series of books and waiting for the next one to come out.)
• Chick Lit
• Sci-Fi or Fantasy novels

5. Three great books I should have read but haven’t yet.

• For Whom the Bell Tolls by Earnest Hemmingway
  Or really anything by Hemmingway. I have started FWTBT, but I’ve never finished it. I should.
• The Harry Potter series. And I plan to when she finishes it. There is nothing more infuriating and frustrating to me than to have to wait six months to a year between books in a series.
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I could actually list many, many more. It is embarrassing how many classic works of literature I’ve not read.

6. The last three books I ordered. (Since I don’t generally order books, I go to the bookstore instead, I’ll list those. Hey, where else can you eat a Rice Krispy treat the size of your head and drink a cup of way overpriced coffee?)

• The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper (Initially published as Passion’s Reign.)
• Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton
• 12 Choose Your Own Adventure books for my roommate’s classroom. (I did order these -- Or rather won them off of eBay.)

The question is who to tag now. I don’t know if there are actually any “regular” readers of my blog to tag. So, I’ll tag Princess Mindy and hope for the best.