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!
37 Comments
Bernadette in Australia
August 17, 2010 at 3:46 amOoooh I like your new sentences. I will definitely have a go at these on my blog in the next few days.
Pop Culture Nerd
August 17, 2010 at 9:45 amExcellent! Please post a link here so I can read it.
Jen Forbus
August 17, 2010 at 10:34 amI 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. 🙂
Pop Culture Nerd
August 17, 2010 at 1:12 pmI’ve only known you for a year? Feels like much longer! (In a good way)
Jen Forbus
August 17, 2010 at 3:31 pmI was thinking the SAME thing! 🙂
Reader#9
August 17, 2010 at 5:48 pmHave 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
Pop Culture Nerd
August 18, 2010 at 1:58 pmFun list, Reader#9! I want to be a professional tourist, too. Your party answer made me laugh.
Shell Sherree
August 17, 2010 at 6:26 pmWas 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}
Pop Culture Nerd
August 18, 2010 at 1:59 pmI’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.
Naomi Johnson
August 17, 2010 at 6:58 pmI 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
le0pard13
August 17, 2010 at 8:12 pmOkay, I’ll take a shot. It’s posted . Thanks, Elyse… I think 😉
Pop Culture Nerd
August 18, 2010 at 2:01 pmI posted comments at your blogs, Naomi & le0. You both crack me up.
Naomi Johnson
August 18, 2010 at 6:49 pmYou’ve got the market cornered on cracking people up, PCN. I can’t even think of you without smiling.
Poncho
August 17, 2010 at 9:29 pmThis 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.
Pop Culture Nerd
August 18, 2010 at 2:03 pmI 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!
jenn
August 17, 2010 at 10:06 pmThis 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.
Bernadette in Australia
August 18, 2010 at 2:35 amThat was fun again http://reactionstoreading.com/2010/08/18/my-life-in-books-redux/
Pop Culture Nerd
August 18, 2010 at 2:15 pmjenn & Bernadette—I’ve left comments at your blogs, too. Love the creative things you did!
Eddy
August 19, 2010 at 8:29 amIn 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)
Pop Culture Nerd
August 19, 2010 at 12:59 pmYes, 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!
Eddy
August 19, 2010 at 2:00 pmActually, 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.
Naomi Johnson
August 19, 2010 at 12:51 pmEddy, how was that Howard Waldrop book? I haven’t read anything by him in years, but I always like his short stories.
Eddy
August 19, 2010 at 2:09 pmAlmost 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
Naomi Johnson
August 19, 2010 at 2:11 pmOh, I remember The Ugly Chickens, that was the first story I read by him. And his novel, Them Bones, shortly afterward.
Eddy
August 19, 2010 at 3:21 pmPlease 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.
Naomi Johnson
August 19, 2010 at 7:35 pmYou are a much more savvy grammarian than I. I didn’t notice.
Rachel
August 19, 2010 at 1:51 pmI love your bucket list title! 🙂
Eddy
August 19, 2010 at 2:01 pmThe title or the book?
Gina
August 20, 2010 at 1:47 pmOoh, 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…. ^_^
Pop Culture Nerd
August 20, 2010 at 1:50 pmHi Gina, no digging necessary; feel free to use these sentences. Look forward to reading yours!
Cathy
August 21, 2010 at 12:16 pmHere’s my effort. I had a blast with it!
Pop Culture Nerd
August 21, 2010 at 12:29 pmHi 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!
le0pard13
August 21, 2010 at 3:00 pmLove those answers, Cathy.
Jose Ignacio
August 22, 2010 at 4:17 amFunny 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
Pop Culture Nerd
August 22, 2010 at 12:48 pmHi 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!
Jose Ignacio
August 23, 2010 at 11:13 amAfraid I’m much too crime fiction aficionado. I’ll have to check that with my doctor. Regards
Bibliophile
August 25, 2010 at 2:40 amSome 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.