Yea, though we have frolicked in glee through these ten weeks, the time has come to put away the meme and go on with life.
It has been quite fun, and rather surprising. I learned a great many things about my fellow muses and even about myself:
Thalia wept over Julius Caesar!
Terpsichore finds Narnia to be the pinnacle of World Crafting.
Urania believes Captain Hook to be the most perfect of Villains.
Calliope would honeymoon with Kipling, of all authors!
And I would save political books from the World’s End. Huh.
But most surprising was the amount of fellow bloggers who graciously did this meme with us!
David of the The Warden’s Walk who, even though he is a tad bit behind, always presents his choices with a thoroughness and intensity that pits me to shame. His thoughtfulness and good taste are highly appreciated!
Anne, of Jubilare, has not only joined in this endeavor, but spurred many passionate and detailed discussions.
Emily Kazakah at Wander Lust took the time to play around with us as well, and contributed some wonderful ideas. And expanded my “to be read” list!
The Golden Bookwyrm at The Bookwyrm’s Lair. True to the name, the Bookwyrm brings the charm of biblophilia to the meme.
And, of course, our brother site, The Egotists Club over at blogspot. K cheerfully went along with our silliness, and offered some excellent reviews!
And it is quite likely that there were others as well. If so, please let us know! We would love to read what you have to say!
Also, in the interest of continuing this annual tradition, what suggestions do you have for next year?
- Any new way of organizing?
- Ideas on subjects? Preferably, next year’s will not be so “romantic” . . . .
- And can we find another name for it than “meme”? It just sounds silly and take too much explanation.
In case you missed any of our posts that you were absolutely dying to know about, have a recap.
Cheers!
Book Meme 2012
Week 1: Book Crush(es)
Thalia: The Scarlet Pimpernel
Urania: Morpheus
Terpsichore: Bean
Melpomene: Benedick
Calliope: Richard Winters
Week 2: Books I’d give a theme song to
Thalia: Wooster & Jeeves & Stephane Grappeli
Urania: Hero & Endless Dream, and Twilight & Angels
Terpsichore: Many Lists
Melpomene: Dark Waltz & Melian and Thingol, Debussy & Woolf
Calliope: Make Way for the Ducklings & Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto
Week 3: Best villain
Thalia: The Man in the Brown Suit, from . . . . The Man in the Brown Suit!
Urania: Captain Hook, from Peter Pan
Terpsichore: Moriarty etc., from Sherlock Holmes, etc.
Melpomene: Mr. Jackman, from Old House Of Fear
Calliope: Edmund, from King Lear
Week 4: Best love story
Thalia: Our Mutual Friend, by Dickens
Urania: Gwyneth and Judd, from The Bell at Sealey Head
Terpsichore: A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken
Melpomene: John and Abigail Adams, in their letters
Calliope: Sir Conan and Lady Anne, from The Red Keep
Week 5: Characters and literary figures I’d name my children after
Thalia: Quentin
Urania: Miranda
Terpsichore: Many Names
Melpomene: Beatrice & Benedict
Calliope: Edmund & Lucy
Week 6: The author by whom you own the most books
Thalia: Agatha Christie
Urania: Lewis & McKillip
Terpsichore: Lewis
Melpomene: Terry Pratchett
Calliope: Lloyd Alexander
Week 7: Favorite words and phrases, or lines and literary allusions that would win your heart.
Thalia: Tasty Words
Urania: As You Wish
Terpsichore: Lists of Allusions
Melpomene: Song of Songs
Calliope: Supercalifragilisticexpialidosious
Week 8: Best Story Settings
Thalia: Shakespearian Rome
Urania: Sci-Fi
Terpsichore: Narnia
Melpomene: The Inferno
Calliope: Mistawis
Week 9: Book(s) that you would bring on your honeymoon. (ie; so intrinsic to your life that it MUST be shared with your life partner as soon as possible. Or just fun to read together.)
Thalia: Poetry!
Urania: The Sandman
Terpsichore: A Library
Melpomene: Heart of the World
Calliope: Rudyard Kipling
Week 10: Books that I would bring if the world was going to be destroyed by aliens/cylons and we had to restart civilization as we know it. (ie: the basis of human knowledge and thought and civilization.)
Thalia: History
Urania:
Terpsichore: Fiction
Melpomene: Political Thought
Calliope: Theology
calliope7
egotistsclub
Melpomene
Terpsichore
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Urania
June 20th, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Man, I was the epitome of indecision this year, wasn’t I. Good heavens.
July 13th, 2012 at 12:33 AM
Boy was I ever behind — I just finished today! Haha, dear me. Well, it has been a joyous and profitable project, it has. Especially glad that networking has brought in a few other bloggers to join us. I do think we could make this an annual thing. If you don’t like the term “meme” (since it does sound rather trendish and unlovely), we could call it a “challenge,” or a “project,” or even a “marathon,” maybe. I’m still brainstorming ideas for one on movies, but I’m sure there are plenty more questions to be asked about books as well.
I think the subjects that work best are the ones that bring out a personal experience that we’ve had — i.e. what books make us especially happy, or sad, or in love, or awed, etc. Hypothetical exercises like the apocalypse are fun, too, so we can find some more of those, but it’s easier to find a book that I already know has done something for me rather than trying to figure out which book might be helpful in a hypothetical circumstance. For the hypotheticals, the more extreme is probably the better. Like, I dunno, if you were being chased by a monster that ate books and was affected by the contents of the books it eats, which book would you throw at it to defeat it/get it off your tail, and how would that affect the monster? (I might throw David Eddings’ Belgariad, because the character of Ce’Nedra might make the beast sick to his stomach!)
Anyway, this is all just distraction. Having finally written my postapocalyptic post, I should go and read yours!