Something About Me Challenge

I don’t sign up for a whole lot of challenges; I figure my life is challenging enough as it is.  But I like the idea of this one. Pick 5 books that represent myself, and post them. Then I’ll pick 5 books total from the lists posted by the other participants and read them.  So here are my 5. I’ll post them on the official blog, but figured I’d go ahead and post them here as well, just in case anyone’s interested. 

1. Grimm’s Grimmest, by Brothers Grimm, Wilhelm Carl Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, Gracy Arah Dockray (Illustrator) Maria M. Tatar (Introduction).  There’s a part of me that still somehow expects life to be like a fairy tale.  Even though there’s all the sucky unfairness of everything, somehow there’s got to be a happy ending. The good people get rewarded, the bad guys get their just desserts, and everyone lives happily ever after. Grimm’s Grimmest contains some of the darkest of Grimms’ fairy tales, and is a satisfying read.
2. Adopted Jane, Helen Fern Daringer, Kate Seredy (Illustrator). This is a book that I first read as a child. I don’t remember if I found it at the library or if I had my own copy; if I did have my own copy, it didn’t survive. Only my fondest memories did. I loved how this girl was so plucky, so hungry for love, and so worthy of love that two different families wanted to adopt her. I loved how she made the right choice. I like the book so much that when I found it in the Orange County Library when I was in my mid-20s, I wanted to steal it. But I was honourable and just checked it out, read it for nostalgia’s sake, and returned it. I was rewarded by finding it in a Goodwill for 20 cents a year later.
3. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer, Nevill Coghill (Translator).  I’m passionate about Geoffrey Chaucer and everything I’ve been able to lay my hands on by him. I particularly love The Canterbury Tales. They range from sublimely pure to delightfully bawdy to revoltingly filthy.  If you haven’t read them, you’re depriving yourself a delectable treat.
4. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. I have spoken out for years about book banning. I am vehemently opposed  to censorship. The situation described in this book is like my worst nightmare. I’ve given copies of this book away as door prizes at my banned book parties.  If I had to be a portion of a book, I could easily be the Miller’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales. J
5. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld. I love dystopian fantasies, and this is an excellent representation of its kind. I cannot deny that if someone were to give me the opportunity to become earth-shakingly beautiful, I’d want to take it. And if it were to come at the expense of my brains, would the offer still be so tempting? Knowing that fact, it would not. But the people in this world don’t know it.