So here goes round two of the questioning phase, this time fromuplift17.  For those who don't remember the rules...

Leave me a comment with "READING IS SEXY" in the subject line.

I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.


1) What is the ideal book?

Ha, I bet everyone expects me to put Pride and Prejudice down first on the list.  Well, not so.  It is a truly amazing book, but it is not THE ideal book.  That said, there is no definitive ideal book.  But to me, an ideal book is one that blends flawless character development and depiction with an amazing plot (believable in the universe we live in or the carefully crafted universe of the book) that adds to the human experience.  Humor, drama, romance, tragedy, it's all part of the ideal book.  From the top of my head I'd have to list the books that have moved me most deeply, the ones that I finish and go "Wow..."  A short list:

Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and We the Living
John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath
 
And there are others, though their subject matter is not as serious:

C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia
Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time quartet, esp. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Stephen Lawhead's Avalon
And yes, Pride and Prejudice, because it fulfills all the requirements.  It's just not the book that comes first on the list.
William Goldman's The Princess Bride.  EVERYONE should read this book (and it's back in print!!)

Well, Brendan, ask me a literary question and you get a hell of a long answer!

2) What are the top five countries you haven't visited that you would like to, and why?

Britain (including Scotland and Ireland): Why?  Because I'm a huge freakin' Anglophile.  I could trace my favorite authors (and their stories and the attendent film adaptations) all over the country if I had the time and money!  I've already made myself a bet: in five years I want to have the vacation time and money to take my mother to Britain for a literary vacation.  That would be wonderful.

France: Because I didn't study five years of French to avoid the country!  I'd like to go all over the country...and see if the people are as rude as I've heard and read.  And the Loire valley looks sooooo pretty!

Italy: I've had a small obsession with Italy for a few years now.  Italian is the next language I'll study, but I think I'm in love with the country because of the Italian Renaissance and the architecture.  I have whole books on Italian architecture.

Germany/Austria: Castles.  Honestly, I'd like to just hang out in Europe for a few years.  I wonder if someone would pay me to do that...>_>  <_<  >_> hmm...
 
Thailand: I'd need other people to go with me, because I don't think I'd be brave enough to go alone, but traveling to all the ancient monasteries and temples would be lovely.

New Zealand: For the scenery, hiking, and honestly...just maybe because they filmed The Lord of the Rings there.  I'm sad, I know.

Oh, that was six.  Oh well!

3) What's your current favorite running TV show?

Um, running?  Well, it's not a sitcom or anything...I've never really followed TV shows religiously because when I was a kid we never had cable, so all we got was reruns.  I guess What Not to Wear would be the only one that I will tune in for every Friday.  But that's only if I remember. 

Of course, the MINUTE Project Runway comes back on the air, I'll be a die-hard fan again!

4) Name a historical figure you would like to meet and why.

This question used to be of more interest to me, but now I realize that meeting a historical figure would probably less inspiring than one thinks.  I would really like to meet Queen Elizabeth...she seems an incredible character.  Such acerbic humor, but I guess it's the only natural product of her childhood and upbringing.  Jane Austen, of course, but it wouldn't be to learn the secrets of her writing.  I think she was an incredibly practical closet romantic.  I wonder if I'm right.  Joan of Arc.  Leonardo da Vinci.  Albert Einstein.  Ayn Rand.

5) Come up with a funny anagram for your name :P

This is a question?

Christine: Incites h(e)r!

With one more 'e', that might have been kinda cool.  How did Lord Voldemort do it!  Well, he used his last and middle name, but I haven't got endless time to waste!