Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Using only this year’s books

From 20th Century Vox through Victorian Geek and on to The Little Professor, where I first encountered it, comes a little literary game.

Using only books you have read this year (2009), answer these questions. Try not to repeat a book title. I have changed the rules a little, using only books that I have discussed in A Commonplace Blog so far this year.

Describe yourself: The Hack (Wilfred Sheed).

How do you feel: Heir to the Glimmering World (Cynthia Ozick).

Describe where you currently live: The End of the Road (John Barth).

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: The Cannibal Galaxy (Cynthia Ozick).

Your favorite form of transportation: Breath (Tim Winton).

Your best friend is: The Ghost Writer (Philip Roth).

You and your friends are: Amateur Barbarians (Robert Cohen).

What’s the weather like: The Middle of the Journey (Lionel Trilling).

You fear: Endless Love (Scott Spencer).

What is the best advice you have to give: Keep the Aspidistra Flying (George Orwell).

Thought for the day: Literary Criticism: Plato to Dryden (Allan H. Gilbert).

How I would like to die: Full of Life (John Fante).

My soul’s present condition: Somebody’s Darling (Larry McMurtry).

2 comments:

R/T said...

Well, in the order of your prompts, here are my responses:
1) Child of God by Cormac McCarthy
2) Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
3) Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
4) The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason
5) The March by E. L. Doctorow
6) Flannery by Brad Gooch
7) Voices by Arnaldur Indridason
8) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
9) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
10) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
11) The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor
12) Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
13) Fearful Symmetry by Northrup Frye

Anonymous said...

Fun! My responses:

Describe yourself: The American (Henry James)

How do you feel: Everything Matters! (Ron Currie Jr.)

Describe where you currently live: In the City of Fear (Ward Just)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Crossing the Hudson (Peter Stephan Jungk)

Your favorite form of transportation: The Way Home (George Pelecanos)

Your best friend is: A Reliable Wife (Robert Goolrick)

You and your friends are: Perfecting Sound Forever (Greg Milner)

What’s the weather like: Hard Rain Falling (Don Carpenter)

You fear: Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Wells Tower)

What is the best advice you have to give: Every Man Dies Alone (Hans Fallada)

Thought for the day: Let the Great World Spin (Colum McCann)

How I would like to die: Miles From Nowhere (Nami Mun)

My soul’s present condition: Lost in the City (Edward P. Jones)