Fifteen Books

This is an extension of a note I posted on Facebook today. I saw that my friend Elaine had posted it in her notes and felt compelled to do a similar note.

The task: Don’t take too long to think about it. List fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes . . .
1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Jane Eyre
4. The Poisonwood Bible
5. Little Women
6. Beau Geste
7. Ender's Game
8. Three Cups of Tea
9. Foundation Trilogy
10. As You Like It (started my love affair with Shakespeare)
11. A Prayer for Owen Meany
12. Rebecca
13. QBVII (and more by Leon Uris - Exodus, Mila 18)
14. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
15. Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Here I get a chance to express a little more about these choices because asking me to make a list like this is very difficult especially when I consider the thousands of books I have read and the hundreds that are favorites.

Over the next fifteen days I want to write a bit about why I selected these fifteen books.

First up, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R.Tolkien.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I love The Lord of the Rings. I have Leonard Nimoy to thank for this. When I was 11 years old and a devotee of Star Trek, my friend Celeste and I discovered an article in a teen magazine in which Leonard Nimoy expressed that a favorite book of his was The Hobbit, also by Tolkien. Nothing would do but for us to read The Hobbit as well. Once we read and enjoyed that book, we had to move on to The Lord of the Rings.

While The Hobbit seemed to be written more as a children's book, the trilogy was definitely not. Many people experience difficulty with the length of the trilogy (which is formidable) and with Tolkien's tendency to include lengthy bits of poetry. Personally, I enjoy long reads and have no problems with stylized writing. The themes of good vs. evil, nature vs. industrialization, moral strength vs. weakness, sacrifice and dedication to doing what is right, and the bonds of friendship and love paired with an epic tale of quest and adventure made this an immediate favorite of mine.

I've lost track of the number of times I've read these books. Each time I read them I fall in love with Middle Earth all over again. I worry about the hobbits as they leave the Shire behind and set forth into a strange new world. I long to wander through the wonders of Rivendell. I'm on the edge of my seat as the Fellowship enters the Mines of Moria and tear up when Gandalf falls in the battle with the Balrog. I wonder what I would see in Galadriel's mirror. I shiver as Aragorn leads the army of the dead to battle and thrill when the Riders of Rohan arrive at the Pelennor Fields to save Gondor. I cheer on Sam who so bravely does whatever he can to help Frodo carry out his mission. I am so happy when Aragorn is crowned as King Elessar and finally receives the hand of his fair lady, Arwen. Finally, I cry when Frodo leaves his friends behind and sails from the Grey Havens.

These books are timeless. They have been, and will always be, a top book pick for me.

Blog Challenge - Scentsational Memories

From Tracilouwho: I read recently that our sense of smell is much stronger than we realize. For many people a specific scent can trigger nostalgic memories from years and years ago. For others, a whiff of a specific scent or odor for that matter can bring back awful memories. Is there a scent that does this for you? Talk to me about smells that you remember, from childhood, your teenage years, or even more recently, and be sure to tell what these scents mean to you when they resurface in your life now.

Just yesterday I was standing outside and smelling fall. There's just a certain scent in the air for this season. I'm not sure whether it's partly due to people burning leaves, fires in fireplaces or what, but I know it's fall when I smell that scent.

The scents that evoke memories of the past are so often associated with food. I can't prepare Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner without being reminded of the past. The cloves in the Christmas ham, the nutmeg on the brandy alexanders, the cinnamon of the pumpkin pies always make me think of my mother and all the times I helped with preparing our family feasts.

Sometimes, the scents take you back to special places. When we were on vacation in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this summer, at one point we were at a beach on the shore of Lake Superior. I told Michael that it smelled like the Great Lakes. It's a different smell from the ocean. It was the same scent I remember from going out on the boat with Dad on Lake Erie.

Blog Challenge - catch-up mode

From Sarah: What is your favorite color and why. Add a picture so we can get the "feel" for your favorite color.

RED is my favorite color. I call it my power color. Whenever I wear red, I always get lots of compliments. Consequently, there's a lot of red items in my wardrobe.

Reminding myself that Autumn in Wisconsin is beautiful...

I love the trees whose leaves turn a shimmering golden orange-red.

Pumpkins and apples at a harvest festival

Leaves at The Ridges Sanctuary in Door County

It's a New Look!

Thanks to a thread on ScrapShare, I checked out Pyzam.com and decided to go with a more colorful look for my blog. Let me know what you think.

I don't want it to be October yet!

It's dark by 7:00 p.m.

The temperature outside this morning was 48 degrees.

The leaves are changing color.

Freaky signs that point to it actually being autumn. And we all know what that means...

Winter will be coming right after that.

Blog Challenge #32 -Countdown list

This was posted by Joan and was a fun way to get back into the blog saddle again.

10 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1-Complete a Book of Me scrapbook
2-Complete my family heritage scrapbooks
3-Travel to France, the UK and Australia
4-Travel to each of the 50 states
5-Visit every US National Park
6-Read all the books I have waiting to be read
7-Reach my goal weight
8-See my children happily married
9-Welcome grandchildren to our family
10-Learn to play the piano

9 Places I Last Spent Money:
1-Barnes & Noble
2-Michaels Crafts
3-JoAnn’s fabric & crafts
4-Waldenbooks
5-Subway
6-Scheel’s sporting goods
7-Pick ‘n Save grocery store
8-Custom Crops online scrapbooking supplies
9-Creative Memories

8 Sounds I Routinely Hear Around My House:
1-Husband snoring
2-Cats meowing
3-The television
4-The radio
5-The dishwasher running
6-The washer & dryer
7-The telephone
8-The rattly noisemaker inside the fake ferret cat toy

7 Real Restaurants Where I Last Ate Out:
1-El Azteca
2-Subway
3-TGI Friday’s
4-Third Street Diner
5-Applebee’s
6-Wendy’s
7-Perkins

6 Things I've Recently Scratched Off My To-Do List:
1-Order my SSTX5 t-shirt
2-Daily household chores
3-Prep for CM conference call
4-Run errands
5-Work on updating Outlook contacts
6-Finish a double page spread

5 People I Don't Know but would Like to Hang Out With:
1-Tom Hanks - I’m dying to ask a question about “That Thing You Do”
2-Steve Carell & the cast from The Office – I bet the laughs never end.
3-Ellen Goodman &…
4-Leonard Pitts – I would love to sit down with these two columnists & discuss social issues in the USA
5-Bunches of people from ScrapShare – too numerous to mention

4 Songs That Make Me Happy:
1-Charmed Life by The Divine Comedy
2-I’m a Believer by The Monkees
3-Hey Jude by The Beatles
4-Hollywood Nights by Bob Seger

3 Things I Hate To Do:
1-Work in Quicken
2-Change the cat litter
3-Clean out the refrigerator

2 Things I'm Really Good At:
1-Logistical planning
2-Organizing

1 Bad Habit:
Procrastination