BBAW Day One: Introductions

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is back! The event runs from the 15th to the 19th, and is all about sharing the bookish love. There’ll be Twitter parties on Tuesday and Thursday (at 9pm EST and noon EST, respectively), with daily posting topics. I'm traveling this week with my departure scheduled for early Wednesday morning, but I’ve scheduled a few posts and hope to get around to other peoples’ blogs as often as possible.

Today we’re tasked with introducing ourselves by sharing the five books that represent us as people. I had a lot of trouble with this question because I strongly suspected the answers wouldn’t be flattering, but I consulted Twitter and decided on the four (not five) novels below. In the order they entered my life, they are:

THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER by C.S. Lewis

The ultimate road trip book, except for how it’s a sea trip book. I read this one over and over and over and over and over when I was a kid, and it left me convinced I was destined to sail the high seas and have scads of epic sword fights (even though Reepicheep, the super-awesome mouse pictured above, doesn’t actually duel all that often).

The Dawn Treader made me love the sea so much that I was beyond shocked to realize I’m batshit terrified of deep water. It makes no sense, since I can swim and I really do love everything about ships--except a couple years back, I reread the book and realized it’s probably the reason I’m scared of water in the first place. There’s some seriously creepy stuff going on underneath the Narnian waves: sea serpents and mermaid civilizations and foggy ghost people. Shudder.

I'll just have to make sure any ships I eventually captain never sink or anything unpleasant like that.

TARAN WANDERER by Lloyd Alexander

I became totally obsessed with the Prydain novels when I was ten years old, and TARAN WANDERER was always my favourite. This one, too, is a road trip book in which the titular Taran wanders around the country, searching first for his parents and then for something to do with his life. I wanted to copy him, but since ten-year-olds aren’t really allowed to wander from place to place by themselves I contented myself with trying the various occupations Taran takes up. I didn’t get very far with pottery, probably because I didn’t have anything resembling the proper supplies, but I figured out small-scale weaving and I became a total packrat as I started to see the possibilities inherent in items others might toss away.

That one's caused me a lot of grief, actually, as my current owning-stuff-sucks self sorts through the things my past stuff-is-fabulous-keep-all-of-it self laid by against future need.

On the plus side, I still look at any object I might require--a display stand, or a tablet sleeve, or a windmill--and think, "Y’know, I could make that." And I usually can.

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT by Anne Rice

All but the most groundbreaking of vampire stories divide their principal vampires into two categories: the jackass vampire and the mopey vampire.

I’m under no illusions here. I’m snarky and argumentative and loud and flamboyant. I have excellent taste in music. Velvet and silk are my favourite fabrics. I’m more inclined to see the future’s promises than its failings, I’m damned sure I could be friends with a bacon cheeseburger as long as the bacon cheeseburger could talk back to me, and I’d quite like to live forever if you could assure me I wouldn’t physically age.

I’d be a jackass vampire. And I’d be awesome at it.

I wouldn’t go around eating people willy-nilly, though. I’d be a responsible jackass vampire, thank you very much.

THE PRIVILEGE OF THE SWORD by Ellen Kushner

I have Anastasia to thank for this one. When I bemoaned today's topic on Twitter, she stepped in to say I was probably one of the Swordspoint books. And y’know, she was right.

I grew up longing for what society in general and books in specific told me were Boy Things: swordfights and chivalrous actions and the freedom to dress however I pleased without people commenting on it. At the start of TPoTS, Katherine doesn’t think she has the slightest interest in living outside her prescribed gender role, but as the plot sweeps on she realizes traditional femininity isn’t the be-all and end-all of who she is. I love her, and this book, very much indeed.

And we'll leave it there. If you've answered today's prompt on your own blog, please link me to your post in the comments so I can be sure to read it! If not, I'd love it if you shared a couple of your defining books in the comments.