14 15 16 for the bookish question meme
What book gives you happy memories?
A lot of the books I read as a child, for sure. Specifically, though, huh... I remember meeting my best friend as a child when she was reading Book 9 of A Series of Unfortunate Events in the pick-up line after school. The one where they go to the carnival. And whenever I was sad as a kid, I used to read this children's book called The Lambkins. It always made me feel better somehow-- funny, because I guess it was kind of a horror for kids? It was about a group of kids that were kidnapped by this lonely old lady, and shrunk down so they could fit in a dollhouse. It sounds weird, but I remember it being weirdly dark in retrospect. Like, it was definitely for young elementary kids, but one of the kids (not while the main character was there) had died during their time stuck there, and they dubiously killed the antagonist to escape in the end? (It's ambiguous).
For more adult books, Perdido Street Station is one of my favorite books in general, but I remember always reading it when I had to fly anywhere-- so it has a lot of good travel memories. Similarly, I remember reading Doctor Sleep while on a roadtrip...
15. What book made you cry?
This is hard. I don't cry a lot... not at books, at least. I think I remember tearing up while reading The City We Became? Something about all of the characters coming together at the end.
And... I think I cried reading House of Leaves, actually. Specifically at one of the segments near the end, the story about the woman and her premature baby. The whole section builds up the idea that this miracle is coming, that even though the baby shouldn't live, it's going to, because she's sat and talked with it for so long day and night, and it's holding on despite everything. Like, a miracle has to come, because she worked so hard for it, and loved so hard for it. And all the doctors and the nurses who thought the baby was surely going to die start to believe. So, by the end of the segment, when they all gather together to take the baby off life support, to see if it can survive without it, you really think-- or at least, I really thought-- there was a chance. And with everyone standing around, believing, the mom touches her newborn's face and says "It's okay. You can let go now."
And he dies. It was such a small segment of the book. But even thinking about it now is making me tear up.
16. What book made you laugh?
...this one is even harder actually. Um... I think The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter light novels are actually pretty funny at times. I think The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet had some moments? And as a kid I remember the Percy Jackson books making me laugh.
I don't... read enough light-hearted fiction.
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