cross-posted at Blogging Bookworms
I was very pleased to be tagged with this Book Meme by Midwesterntransport.
1. One book that changed your life?
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach. There are many others, but I read illusions at a time when I seemed to have acquired very strong convictions about my place in the world and the very rigid limitations that I faced. Illusions changed that.
(WARNING: That book does involve one rather problematic portrayal of disability.)
2. One book you have read more than once?
A Christma Carol gets read most Decembers. It is the story of Christmas for me and a fantastic story in its own right.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
On Desert Island Discs they always allow one book plus The Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare. So I will pretend I have those (although I might use Leviticus and Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3 as kindling for my camp fire).
Uh... odd choice but Lolita. Nabokov writes so beautifully, this is a book I can pick up and read a delicious passage at random.
4. One book that made you laugh?
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaimen. I haven't read it in a while but I remember that being a really very funny book. And I'm not usually very keen on Terry Pratchett.
5. One book that made you cry?
Skallagrigg was the last book which really opened the flood gates. I am outraged at this point as I have just discovered that you can't currently buy Skallagrigg on Amazon.co.uk or com. Here is my review of it from last November.
6. One book you wish had been written?
I wish I had finished my novel before now. It's working title is To Fear The Light.
7. One book you wish had never been written?
Midwestern had Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus and whilst I can't say I've ever wished that a book hadn't been written, those sorts of books certainly annoy.
8. One book you are currently reading?
Honestly? Okay, it's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg. I'm not getting on with it, to be honest, but I am curious about the subject matter, which is the concept of Calvinism, predestination and so on at the time of the Jacobite rebellion. Yeah, I know.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Not so much meaning to read, but meaning to finish. I received Lord of the Rings for my twenty-first birthday which is now approaching years ago. I am about three-quarters through at my last attempt but I am determined to finish it. Similarly with War and Peace which I quite enjoyed in parts up until page eight hundred and something when I could simply go no further.
10. Now tag five people.
Naturally, I tag all the other members of Blogging Bookworms - which is currently six, but I'm sure I shan't get into too much trouble for that.
6 comments:
I never finished "Lord of the Rings" either and I agree with what you said about "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus". A book that made me cry was "Hotel New Hampshire" by John Irving and a book that very much impressed me was "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee. I am currently reading "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher" (The City of Dreaming Books) by Walter Moers. It is about bookworms, living in a city in which reading and the knowlegde about books is everything. It is very exciting as the books there turn out to have a life of their own, sometimes being up to no good.
I would not necessarily take the whole work of Shakespeare to an island, but I may consider taking his sonnets with me. I like them. Shakespeare was one of the subjects I was questioned about in my final examination in English at University. The last question was:"Do you think, Shakespeare was gay?" A quick glance at my watch told me that there was no time to go deeper into that, so I decided to put on the most girlish expression I could come up with and exclaimed:"But he was married!!". The professor's final word was:" God safe your innocence!" and the exams were over.
Wow, I haven't read many of the books you note, either. Which means it's more for the reading list! Yippee!
Thanks you so very very much for your posts.
My book of the moment is Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban my blog explains it all I hope! http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-8qgR2AE_YaP9d1nG8Lm84PfCx.oRfZq6PdQ-?cq=1
I find them refreshing and oft times amazingly covering points I at the very same time at the oposite side of the earth in my dedcrepit old age am wondering about.
I hope you find the following as amising from the point fo view of a person who should have been considering himself dissabled since birth does
Keep up the inspiration and brilliant posts
From ACC forum.org!
Here's the story from todays Otago times:
ACC calls for earlier return to work
Tuesday, 15th August 2006
Auckland: Doctors are being urged to take a tougher approach in signing accident victims off work.
The Accident Compensation Corporation wants to reduce the time some injured claimants have off work for their own benefit and to save money.
“It’s well recognised that work is something that keeps people healthy,” the ACC’s interim manager of health purchasing, Anne O’Connell, said.
This week, the corporation is sending copies of its new 124-page Return to Work Guide to the country’s 3000 GPs.
It says: “Some GPs and patients mistakenly believe that rest and reduced activity . . . will accelerate or help recovery largely because of an historical and incorrect concept that extended bed rest and/or immobilisation helps to heal injuries, relieve pain and recover patient function.
“However, evidence now clearly indicates that prolonged rest may be harmful that it not only delays recovery and increases the risk of chronic pain, but increases the risk of adverse complications from prolonged inactivity.”
The guide cites research findings that someone who does not return to work for six months has only a 50% chance of ever returning. After a year, this shrinks to a 10%-25% chance.
Prolonged incapacity puts injured workers at risk of depression, increased drinking and job loss, it says.
“After about three weeks of employees having certificated incapacity for work, their employers become increasingly reluctant to keep their jobs open for them.”
The guide suggests considering a graduated return to work for certain claimants, possibly on alternative duties.
But the ACC wants to avoid having the document seen as an attack on workers.
“This is not about forcing people back to work before they’re ready,” corporation spokesman Laurie Edwards said.
ACC chief operating officer Gerard McGreevy said the corporation wanted to rectify the wide variations it had found in the length of work absences some people had for similar conditions. Some were too long, others too short. The final decision remained the doctor’s.
Employers and Manufacturers Association northern occupational health and safety manager Paul Jarvie said he would welcome an attempt to get employees back to work more quickly after an injury since previous gains in this area were being lost.
“While most employers and employees would expect staff to return to work under some form of rehabilitation or alternative duties, the push from GPs is not as strong as it used to be.”
The association was in “extended dialogue” trying to change doctors’ issuing of medical certificates for sick leave. On an average day, 5%-7% of employees were away from work on sick leave, of whom a fifth had no good reason they were taking a “sickie”.
The ACC does not pay compensation for sickness except in some work-related cases.
Medical Association GP council chairman Peter Foley said doctors’ skills in getting accident victims back to work as soon as appropriate probably varied and the new guide could help some. The New Zealand Herald
Blogging Mone, Shakespeare gay? We were asked to question whether he was one person or several people and all sorts. But I can't imagine why someone would think he was gay, from his life story or his work.
Midwesterntransport Thanks again for tagging me. :-)
Pete Thanks for your kind words and the article.
It sounds like they are doing the same thing over there as they are here - only here it is being pushed by the government, to get people off incapacity benefits. It is pretty depressing - especially the concept of GPs having old fashioned attitudes to rest and recovery, whilst Insurance Brokers or Government Agencies, with no medical qualifications, apparently know better. :-(
Good luck with your own claim - I will try to register with Yahoo in order to comment over at your own blog.
Cool list Goldfish and thanks for the tag. I'm pondering mine. I'm having trouble with the 'Book that changed your life' entry and I'm not sure that my idea of 'The Bible' as the book I wish have not been written will go down well in some circles.
I wouldn't worry about the Bible, Marmite - if you follow the course of the Meme back through the blogosphere, the Bible has been placed in that category more than once. ;-)
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