I am what I read

A few months ago I joined the "Something About Me" Reading Challenge. This is what it's all about:

"This challenge will start on August 1st, 2007. To join, you will choose up to 5 books that represent you in some way...if you are a stay at home mom, maybe the main character does that, too. If you are a scientist, maybe the main character is one. Or maybe you live in New York City and it's such a part of who you are that you choose a book set in the city. In any case, you will choose some books that would help us get to know you.

"Then, on or by August 1st, you will choose a personal list of the books you want to read from everyone's lists of books. You could choose because the book sounds like a good choice for you, or because you want to get to know another blogger a little better. This blog will provide the forum for discussions about the books we are reading. Therefore, even if you don't choose a particular book, you might still follow the discussion about the book and get to know your fellow bloggers a bit that way, too!"


I had a hard time coming up with the five "about me" books. But then when I started to relax and decided to just have fun, choosing became easier. Here's my five:

1. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. Because this is how I love, with a fiery passion that lasts and lasts and lasts. I've actually watched the movie before I was able to read the book, and when I finally got the book and was ready to read it, I hesitated. I wondered how I would react if the book would come across as very different from the movie. Indeed it was different, and I loved the book more than I loved the movie! Funny thing is, I don't know how to cook at all. This is one of the books that made me realize that the best cooks of all are the ones who cook with love.

2. The History Of The Siege of Lisbon by Jose Saramago. Because I'm working on a book of history at the moment, and I am also plagued by the issues that the main character was worried about. I'm hoping to triumph in the end, like he did! Women writers are said to view history differently, and ask different questions, no matter if they were trained the same way as the men. Right now I'm deep in the work, and although I am currently on a much-needed break, everyday I stop and wonder about all the books of history out there, and how our lives would have been different had they been written differently.

3. How To Walk In High Heels by Camilla Morton. Because I'm a single girl living alone in the big city. I also have a thing for shoes. This is really a how-to book, which I found so endearing, because it provides instructions for everything, including how to unwrap a cd, how to hire a plumber, and how to burp in public!

4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. Because when I was young I used to believe in vampires and ghosts. There was a period in my young life when, during summer, I'd pretend to fall asleep and then when everybody else was asleep, I'd get out of bed and peer out the window towards the lot of our next-door neighbor, about 300 kilometers away on the farm, and try to see those strange lights that old wives used to talk about. In the farm, where I grew up, everybody believed in ghosts and spirits and superstitions.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Because I simply looove chocolate!

And here are the five that I will be reading:
1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, from Rhinoa's list
2. On Writing by Stephen King, from Jill's list
3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, from Stephanie's list
4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck, from Vasilly's list
5. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote, from
Lucca's list

And here's one more, in memory of Nattie, who is no longer with us: An Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler.

As I finish reading each book, I'll be posting a mini-review in the reading challenge blog, in the context of the "Something About Me" Reading Challenge.

Happy reading to all who have taken the challenge!



[Thanks to Abelardo Morell for the fantastic book image.]