A Bookish TMI Tuesday

1. What was your favorite book as a kid?

Oh, any in the Black Stallion Series by Walter Farley. And anything to do with ancient Egypt.

2. If you were stranded on that proverbial desert island (again!), what book or books (up to 5) would you want to have with you?

Only five?! This is why I do dream of endless amounts of time to just read, I do not dream of isolation which would limit my reading.

This is question is not only an exercise in emotional torture, but an exercise in memory as well. And, I must also state as a disclaimer, that this list is also based on today's mood. (We'll not even go into the matter of what mood would I be in stranded on the island.)

1 Temple of My Familiar, by Alice Walker
2 Beloved, by Toni Morisson
3 Tad Williams Otherland series, any book in the series would be fine.

(Because of their rich layers and ability to make one think long after reading them -- which is important when I only am allowed 5 books!)

4 The Island Stallion, by Walter Farley. (Because now that I'm thinking of my younger days and horse love, why not relive it here on the island and have the story of a boy equally stranded who finds a dream horse?)

And 5, James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, by Julie Phillips -- because I've just started it and I have to finish it!

3. What was the first "naughty" book you read and in what way was it naughty?

The Summer of '42, which I've written about here.

But I do also remember reading the Flowers in The Attic series too -- with a much different reaction. It was a very popular series -- even my non-reading friends were all reading it. I remember reading of the love affair between siblings and feeling quite torn, nearly ill, over making the choice to surrender to it. Not just to surrender to suspend belief, but to actually submit to the notion of romance and longing over such a relationship. It made me feel dirty when I did so; or like I let the author down when I didn't. Reading can be a complicated business.

4. If you were to publish your autobiography today, what would be the title?

Hubby and I joke all the time about this. I'm constantly finding phrases which would be an excellent title for my biography and have decided that my biography would consist of nothing but these titles -- arranged as chapter titles and subtitles. Hubby says at this rate that the book would still be a tome. *wink*

Given the sheer volume of such potential titles, and the fact that I'm gonna use them somehow, someway, someday... I'm not sharing them now. :p

5. Would you rather look at nude pictures/pornography or read erotic fiction and why?

Do I have to choose?

I love the written word, but sometimes a photo is rather grand. The two mixed, well, that's distracting. If I must comply, I'll say the written work. But I do collect both.

Bonus (as in optional): Do you know the whereabouts today of the first person with whom you had sex?

No. Last I heard he was in Chicago, working as a tailor or tailor's apprentice. But I had no interest in looking for him then; and none now. However, if I did bump into him, I would enjoy a catch-up conversation. I have no ill-will; just not enough interest in looking for that conversation.

You can play along with TMI Tuesdays #119 here.