My Life as a Book 2010

Last year, I did this fun meme in which I described myself by completing sentences using only titles of books I read in 2009. It was based on something I’d seen at Reactions to Reading. I’ve finished more than 50 books this year and thought I might have enough choices to do it again, making up my own sentences this time. (I did it before reviewing my list of books so I wouldn’t tailor them to my titles.) I’d love to see your answers in the comments or on your own blog.

In high school I was: Girl in Translation (Jean Kwok)

People might be surprised I’m: Innocent (Scott Turow)

I will never be: Caught (Harlan Coben)

My fantasy job is: Messenger from Athens (Anne Zouroudi)

At the end of a long day I need: Drink the Tea (Thomas Kaufman)

I hate it when: They’re Watching (Gregg Hurwitz)

Wish I had: The Cleaner (Brett Battles)

My family reunions are: The Survivors Club (Ben Sherwood)

At a party you’d find me with: The Imperfectionists (Tom Rachman)

I’ve never been to: London Boulevard (Ken Bruen)

A happy day includes: 61 Hours (Lee Child)

Motto I live by: My Name is Memory (Ann Brashares)

On my bucket list: Love in Mid-Air (Kim Wright)

In my next life, I want to be: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Stieg Larsson)

OK, your turn!

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37 Comments

  • Reply
    Bernadette in Australia
    August 17, 2010 at 3:46 am

    Ooooh I like your new sentences. I will definitely have a go at these on my blog in the next few days.

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 17, 2010 at 9:45 am

      Excellent! Please post a link here so I can read it.

  • Reply
    Jen Forbus
    August 17, 2010 at 10:34 am

    I love it PCN! I’ll do it, too, especially since last year’s is how I met you (thanks Le0pard!). I’ll even avoid any of the books I read that are in your reponses. There’s only 1, so I should be good. 🙂

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 17, 2010 at 1:12 pm

      I’ve only known you for a year? Feels like much longer! (In a good way)

      • Reply
        Jen Forbus
        August 17, 2010 at 3:31 pm

        I was thinking the SAME thing! 🙂

  • Reply
    Reader#9
    August 17, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    Have to admit, this was hard. I missed one, but…..

    In high school I was: The Devil (Ken Bruen)

    People might be surprised I’m: The Man From Beijing (Henning Mankell)

    I will never be: The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)..not fast enough anymore…heh, heh, heh…

    My fantasy job is: The Tourist (Olen Steinhauer)

    At the end of a long day I need: (to) Drink The Tea (Thomas Kaufman)

    I hate it when: (I deal with) The Amateurs (Marcus Sakey)

    Wish I had: 61 Hours (Lee Child) …to a day.

    My family reunions are: The Third Rail (Michael Harvey)..gotta watch your step.

    At a party you’d find me with: Crashers (Dana Haynes)

    I’ve never been to: The Dark End of The Street (various authors)

    A happy day includes: Talking to Girls About Duran Duran (Rob Sheffield)

    Motto I live by: Trust Me (Peter Leonard)

    On my bucket list: (sorry, I got nothing….)

    In my next life, I want to be: Still Missing (Chevy Stevens)..once is enough

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 18, 2010 at 1:58 pm

      Fun list, Reader#9! I want to be a professional tourist, too. Your party answer made me laugh.

  • Reply
    Shell Sherree
    August 17, 2010 at 6:26 pm

    Was it really a year ago? Ack. Ok, PCN, I cannot come up with all of these ~ you can see my reading output hasn’t increased. But here are some:

    In high school, I was: The Undrowned Child {Michelle Lovric}
    People might be surprised I’m: The Girl With the temporary Dragon Tattoo {Stieg Larsson}
    At the end of a long day, I need: Twilight {Stephenie Meyer}
    At a party, you’ll find me with: The Catwalk Cats {Grace Coddington/Didier Malige, ok, lots of pictures, forgive me}
    I’ve never been to {the}: New Moon {Stephenie Meyer}
    A happy day includes: The War of Art {Steven Pressfield}
    My bucket list: My Life in France {Julia Child/Alex Prud’homme}

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 18, 2010 at 1:59 pm

      I’m so glad you weren’t drowned in high school, Shell! And I can personally vouch for your being the girl with that temporary tattoo. Love, love your bucket list item. I might have to read the book just to put it on mine.

  • Reply
    Naomi Johnson
    August 17, 2010 at 6:58 pm

    I could have sworn I posted a link earlier. Oh, my, it really has been one of those terrible days. Anyway, here ya go:

    My Life as a Book

  • Reply
    le0pard13
    August 17, 2010 at 8:12 pm

    Okay, I’ll take a shot. It’s posted . Thanks, Elyse… I think 😉

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 18, 2010 at 2:01 pm

      I posted comments at your blogs, Naomi & le0. You both crack me up.

      • Reply
        Naomi Johnson
        August 18, 2010 at 6:49 pm

        You’ve got the market cornered on cracking people up, PCN. I can’t even think of you without smiling.

  • Reply
    Poncho
    August 17, 2010 at 9:29 pm

    This list is great. I’ll try my list too, but I’ll post it on Sept. 2 so it’s exactly a year after the last one, and because I might have a little more titles finished from my TBR pile (I hope).

    Funny. I’ve only read about what you should be on your next life, so I think I might know you!

    Thanks for this fun stuff, PCN.

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 18, 2010 at 2:03 pm

      I didn’t realize I was close to the anniversary of the first list. I just thought it’d be fun to do it again now that I’ve accumulated enough titles for this year.

      I look forward to your list, Poncho. And since you already know me in my next life, we’ll have to hang out!

  • Reply
    jenn
    August 17, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    This has been such fun! Here’s mine, with running commentary: http://wp.me/pOBfK-aU

    I can’t wait to look through everyone else’s. Thanks for the fun.

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 18, 2010 at 2:15 pm

      jenn & Bernadette—I’ve left comments at your blogs, too. Love the creative things you did!

  • Reply
    Eddy
    August 19, 2010 at 8:29 am

    In high school I was: Motor Mouth (Janet Evanovich)

    People might be surprised I’m: In at the Death (Harry Turtledove)

    I will never be: Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King (Brad Matsen)

    My fantasy job is: California Fire and Life (Don Winslow)

    At the end of a long day I need: The Way Home (George Pelecanos)

    I hate it when: Coyote Waits (Tony Hillerman)

    Wish I had: A Dozen Tough Jobs (Howard Waldrop)

    My family reunions are: Flashback (Nevada Barr)

    At a party you’d find me with: The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas)

    I’ve never been to: The Wild Blue (The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45) (Stephen E. Ambrose)

    A happy day includes: The Free Lunch (Spider Robinson)

    Motto I live by: Gone Tomorrow (Lee Child)

    On my bucket list: Last Night in Twisted River (John Irving)

    In my next life, I want to be: The Man Who Sold the Moon (Robert A. Heinlein)

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 19, 2010 at 12:59 pm

      Yes, a free lunch always makes me happy!

      Your answers are so interesting, kinda dark and mysterious. I am surprised you’re “in at the death” and a bit concerned, too. I hope none of your dozen tough jobs includes funky flying spores!

      • Reply
        Eddy
        August 19, 2010 at 2:00 pm

        Actually, I kind of ran short of book titles for the “surprised” one. My other option was, “People might be surprised I’m: Ender in Exile (Orson Scott Card).” The spores and the scars are nothing. Wait until you ask for stories about getting one’s finger caught in a door. I have two of those.

  • Reply
    Naomi Johnson
    August 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    Eddy, how was that Howard Waldrop book? I haven’t read anything by him in years, but I always like his short stories.

    • Reply
      Eddy
      August 19, 2010 at 2:09 pm

      Almost all Howard Waldrop books are short story anthologies, only a cople of novels. I think that everything he writes is great, but in order to get all his inferences, you need a good working knowledge of history, music, movies (old), folk tales, literature, and mythology. In the anthologies, his notes as to selling the stories are almost as amusing as the stories themselves. He usually finishes writing the stories moments before presenting them and conventions, finds a way to sell his stories to the lowest bidder, and gets them picked up by magazines that promptly fold.

      Here’s an online freebie: http://www.scribd.com/doc/36078410/Howard-Waldrop-The-Ugly-Chickens

      • Reply
        Naomi Johnson
        August 19, 2010 at 2:11 pm

        Oh, I remember The Ugly Chickens, that was the first story I read by him. And his novel, Them Bones, shortly afterward.

      • Reply
        Eddy
        August 19, 2010 at 3:21 pm

        Please excuse my misuse of the term “inferences”. My brain said “references” (actually it should have been “often obscure references” in Waldrop’s case), but my fingers typed “inferences”. I hate sounding stupid with such a literary crowd as PCN followers.

        • Reply
          Naomi Johnson
          August 19, 2010 at 7:35 pm

          You are a much more savvy grammarian than I. I didn’t notice.

  • Reply
    Rachel
    August 19, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    I love your bucket list title! 🙂

    • Reply
      Eddy
      August 19, 2010 at 2:01 pm

      The title or the book?

  • Reply
    Gina
    August 20, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    Ooh, I remember this meme! I’ll have to dig it out of my posts to find the original…or perhaps I can borrow your questions? *crosses fingers that’s a yes* Will definitely post in the coming weeks…. ^_^

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 20, 2010 at 1:50 pm

      Hi Gina, no digging necessary; feel free to use these sentences. Look forward to reading yours!

  • Reply
    Cathy
    August 21, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Here’s my effort. I had a blast with it!

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 21, 2010 at 12:29 pm

      Hi Cathy,

      Your answers are great! I tried leaving a comment at your blog but couldn’t do so because I don’t have a Google or Open ID.

      I especially enjoyed your answers for what you need at the end of the day (homemade sin, indeed!) and your party crowd, though I hope you’ll be among the sleeping and not the dead.

      Thanks for sharing!

    • Reply
      le0pard13
      August 21, 2010 at 3:00 pm

      Love those answers, Cathy.

  • Reply
    Jose Ignacio
    August 22, 2010 at 4:17 am

    Funny meme, I can’t resist to participate. You can see my answers at
    http://ignacioescribano.blogspot.com/2010/08/meme-my-life-as-book-2010.html

    • Reply
      Pop Culture Nerd
      August 22, 2010 at 12:48 pm

      Hi Jose,

      Thank you for sharing your fun answers! I tried to leave a comment at your blog but couldn’t because I don’t have a Google or Open ID.

      I’m so glad you’ll never be an angst-ridden executive and love that you’d be hanging with badfellas at a party, but I’m slightly concerned that at the end of the day you need to smell death!

      • Reply
        Jose Ignacio
        August 23, 2010 at 11:13 am

        Afraid I’m much too crime fiction aficionado. I’ll have to check that with my doctor. Regards

  • Reply
    Bibliophile
    August 25, 2010 at 2:40 am

    Some of the previously posted ones are hilarious.

    I tried unsuccessfully to only use the titles of Edward Gorey books I have read this year, but had to give up in the end. But I am pretty happy with the results anyway: http://52books.blogspot.com/2010/08/meme-my-life-as-book.html

    I am now considering doing another one with just titles of short stories I have read this year.

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