NBLB Weekend Survey #6: A Drink With Your Book, Sir?

Now that both of us are way past the legal drinking age, we can now gleefully admit to enjoying our favorite books with our favorite tipples. Some of our beloved book-and-drink pairings are definitely unassailable (e.g. A Room with a View and a glass of Tuscan red); some are painfully obvious (e.g. Ulysses and a dram of absinthe with a Xanax chaser), and some... well, you obviously weren't there when Meimei tried to convince The Happy Scribe that Chianti tastes best with fava beans, even without the liver of one's preferred frenemy.

Here are some of our favorite combinations, along with some helpful serving suggestions and kind warnings in case you find yourself in the middle of a Hunter S. Thompson monologue....

Meimei: A good sip of whisky can't be that hard to find.

10 –
BOOK: Any of Nick Joaquin’s work
DRINK: San Miguel Pale Pilsen - ice cold in a bucket and straight from the bottle, just the way Nick himself would've liked it
SERVING SUGGESTION: Beef tenderloin tips sautéed with tons of garlic, salpicao-style (save the exotic meat for the repeated viewings of Andrew Zimmern and Tony Bourdain instead)
NOTES: Joaquin was the closest thing the Philippines would get to their very own Hemingway – next to the post-war dandies who tried to rewrite the Western canon, he had an unmistakable swagger and a streak of originality – and his romanticism for Old Manila calls for something equally sophisticated, yet still meaty enough to keep the tunog kalye credibility.

9 –
BOOK: A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor
DRINK: Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Sour Mash
SERVING SUGGESTION: On the rocks, if you can’t handle drinking it straight up
NOTES: You would never expect good ol’ JD to be the kind of booze that goes with everything, but it does. It’s great in barbecue sauce, it puts the edge back in chocolate… and, in combination with the iron-knuckle-in-Red Velvet prose of O’Connor’s stories, it may even bring you one step closer to Jesus.

8 –
BOOK: Thousand Cranes, by Yasunari Kawabata
DRINK: Matcha or hojicha – no milk, lemon, or teabags
SERVING SUGGESTION: Try to see if the Japanese ceramics store near you will sell you a mug-size cup to serve the tea in; trust us, you’ll need it
NOTES: Thousand Cranes may be one of those books about cultural repression that will make you want to slap every single character in the face, but one vignette stands out: the discovery of a white tea cup with an unwashable lipstick stain, belonging to a character’s mistress. That one passage alone is enough to sum up the whole book: outwardly irredeemable, even in perfection.

7-
BOOK: Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
DRINK: Single malt scotch
SERVING SUGGESTION: Plate up some Ritz crackers on the side; avoid all cigarettes and tobacco products while reading
NOTES: John Grisham and Po Bronson could only dream of serving up a work of fiction that comes anywhere near this real-life tale of leveraged buyouts and corporate backstabbing, made even more delicious when you consider that none of the players in the story would even think of serving up revenge, or anything else, on a Ritz cracker.

6 and 5 –
BOOKS: Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley Fitch; and Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
DRINK: This year’s Beaujolais… or vermouth, if you’re feeling particularly frisky
SERVING SUGGESTION: Coq au vin – a la Julia Child, of course – and some crusty bread
NOTES: You will definitely want to read these simultaneously. The critics are justified in taking Julie Powell to task for her self-centeredness – seriously, love her, but she can be whiny enough to make Elizabeth Gilbert sound like Anne Frank – so you will need Fitch and her deliciously detailed passages from the scandalous life of the former Julia McWilliams. Who knew that the Amazonian TV chef we knew and loved was actually a former employee of the OSS… whose sensual and culinary awakenings collided with each other, upon her marriage to a sexy older man?

4 –
BOOK: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
DRINK: Mango lassi
SERVING SUGGESTION: Potato samosas and chutney
NOTES: Think Indian literature is too intimidating and rich for your palate? Start here with Jhumpa Lahiri’s little slices of subcontinental angst, served with tiny dashes of East Coast attitude.

3-
BOOK: Of Love and Shadows, by Isabel Allende
DRINK: Chilean red wine, of course
SERVING SUGGESTION: The book’s meal of choice is mondongo, the scent of which drives one character to proclaim that he can recognize it “from the bottom of the sea”… but if you’re not a big fan of tripe, a nice bowl of sancocho should do in a pinch.
NOTES: Despite the ominously romantic undertones of the title, there’s something comforting about Of Love and Shadows – especially when you read Allende’s descriptions of quiet family dinners and impromptu picnics, sandwiched between all the socio-political nastiness.

2 –
BOOK: High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
DRINK: Bass Pale Ale
SERVING SUGGESTION: Order takeout and play all your records at top volume
NOTES: Reading this book will not only give you a better appreciation for pop music and relationships, but will cause massive snorting of any liquid up your nose. I also would recommend reading the book before watching the movie, lest you find yourself plagued by people who use the words “sonic death monkey” out of context.

1 –
BOOK: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, by Dr. Seuss
DRINK: Asti Spumante – chilled all day and served liberally in fluted glasses
SERVING SUGGESTION: Molten chocolate cakes and a MythBusters marathon on HDTV.
NOTES: Tradition from la Hacienda de Meimei dictates that this book should be passed on from generation to generation (or at least sibling to sibling) upon completion of any degree or education program that requires marching down a crowded aisle in a tasseled hat. Then again, any grown-up occasion that calls for readings of Dr. Seuss will always be a good occasion for a little Asti, and vice versa… as long as you make sure that all children under the age of 18 have been put to bed, or at least sequestered in their rooms with YouTube and a Nintendo DS.


The Happy Scribe: Green Swizzles and Cosmos for everyone!


10 -
BOOK: The Forsyte Saga, by John Galsworthy
DRINK: A glass of tawny port
SERVING SUGGESTION: With a nice cigar, in your well-appointed study filled with leatherbound books
NOTES: You can't read the Saga in big gulps - like port wine, small sips are required, the warm flavor rolled around the tongue. Imagine Soames Forsyte with a similar glass in hand, simmering over his wife's rejection.


9 -
BOOK: Any Jeeves and Wooster story by P.G. Wodehouse
DRINK: A Green Swizzle

2oz rum
1oz (green) crème de menthe
Juice of 1 lime
1tsp fine sugar or sugar syrup
2oz soda water
2 dashes bitters
Crushed ice
Swizzle stick

Save the soda water for later. Pour all other ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Play some 1920s tin pan alley piano as you shake it up. Top it off with soda water in a Tom Collins glass. Don't forget the swizzle stick.

SERVING SUGGESTION: Make sure you have Jeeves' hangover elixir ready in the morning.

NOTES: "If I ever marry and have a son, Green Swizzle Wooster is the name that will go down in the register." -- Bertie

8 -
BOOK: A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth
DRINK: A cuppa hot Darjeeling tea, brewed strong from leaves (not of that sachet sacrilege) with honey
SERVING SUGGESTION: On a beautiful tray, with sliced lemon pieces and saffron garam masala cookies.
NOTES: This 1471-page novel about the caste/class struggles in newly independent India requires a lot of stamina, hence the caffeine and cookies pairing. You won't regret taking a few afternoons off to find out if Lata gets the right boy - the descriptions are beautiful, like that perfect sip of bittersweet tea.

7 -
BOOK: Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
DRINK: A shot of Tequila Rose
SERVING SUGGESTION: Have paints and a blank canvas nearby
NOTES: Anyone who has seen the movie starring a hirsute Salma Hayek will remember scenes of the painter/feminist chugging tequila like water. Yet the artist herself was a beautiful mixture of toughness and gorgeous femininity - a color warrior clad in flowers. Watch for the burn down your throat amidst the strawberry sweetness of this shot...much like viewing a Kahlo painting.

6-
BOOK: The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy, by Nick Bantock
DRINK: Parrot Bay Breeze (with a straw) - coconut rum with pineapple and cranberry juice
SERVING SUGGESTION: You need one hand free to open up the letters in these beautiful books.
NOTES: Otherworldly romance requires an escapist drink.

5 -
BOOK: A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle
DRINK: Pastis
SERVING SUGGESTION: He does describe a fox stew. May I suggest some yummy cheese and pate instead?
NOTES: Mayle fulfills a long-cherished fantasy: to live and write in the South of France. This light yellow drink, usually served in a squat glass, evokes that cliched vision of France - old men idling with glasses of star anise liqueur sparkling in the late afternoon sun, waiting their turn at petanque.

4 -
BOOK: Sex and the City, by Candace Bushnell
DRINK: A Cosmopolitan
SERVING SUGGESTION: Wearing cute shoes, surrounded by your besties
NOTES: Obviously, this is a toast to the upcoming film release of New York's favorite fictional columnist. Fashion and girls' nights out were never the same after Carrie and company dominated our screens.

3-
BOOK: Brain Droppings, by George Carlin
DRINK: Just a plain ole cuppa black coffee
SERVING SUGGESTION: No frills, no Starbucks frou-froofiness
NOTES: Warning - you may want to stay away from other irritating human beings after this book.

2-
BOOK: Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
DRINK: Currant wine
SERVING SUGGESTION: Don't mistake it for raspberry cordial.
NOTES: Even clean-cut Prince Edward Isle teens get drunk. Eyeloveet. One of the best coming-of-age stories ever.

1-
BOOK: Any of the Twisted series, by Jessica Zafra
DRINK: San Miguel Cerveza Negra

SERVING SUGGESTION: Dress up in your old alternative rock tribute t-shirt, wriggle into something flannel and forget about the Internet, ipods and SATC for a day or two. The earlier collections of Zafra's columns brings me back to my teen years. Her later works still keep me grounded. Good times. :)
NOTES: If you have any Pinoy rrrrock at hand, play it loud and proud.

NBLB Weekend Survey #5: Book Fiend Confessions

You can run. You can hide. But that tell-tale bulge in your book tote speaks volumes. You gave in. Your library card's scanned heat burns through your wallet. Your Mastercard digits are fresh in your mind after a hasty purchase on Amazon.com. Books are falling out of your shelves. Your nightstand looks like the display case at Borders.

We know what you did.

We did it too - and we're telling all on this weekend's NBLB Survey #5...the Book Fiend Confessions edition.

The Happy Scribe: Undead Histories

1) What books did you buy recently? I seem to be on a history and politics binge lately: Daniel J. Boorstin's The Seekers and The Discoverers; along with Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance and The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.

2) What's on your Amazon wish list? I want a Kindle. Badly. It's probably another gadget I won't use after its novelty wears off in six months...but I covet it every time I check my account. Though the price tag will keep my reading to paper-based books for a good long while. I can't deal with iPods, but I'm a-tremble over the Kindle. Whadyya know.

3) Complete this sentence: "If I had an unlimited book budget, I would acquire _____" ...A leather bound set of the classics, just like my mom had in her library while I was growing up. There's just something about gilt-edged paper and the smell of leather while reading Cervantes, Thucydides and Shakespeare.

4) Name one hard-to-find book you would love to see on your shelf. I have been hunting for a copy of Eleanor Hoffman's Mischief in Fez for YEARS. I can't just settle for the text version. The original illustrations were so beautiful. Love of that delicate fennec drawing could quite possibly be the root of my infatuation with fluffy, sharp-eared animals.

5) Name one book on your shelf right now, that you would NEVER SELL. My copy of The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain. My mother bought me this thick volume edited by renowned historian Kenneth O. Morgan at Oxford, after we saw the famous dining hall. There is absolutely no way I would part with this book. Some of the twentieth century discussions are already out of date (this edition ends with Thatcher) and I've spilled coffee on some pages (notably, the Tudor years, which were my chosen area of study in college), but no other compilation explores Britain's two thousand year old story with such aplomb.

6) What is the most expensive book (or book-related purchase) you have made? Cherry wood folding shelves for my living room. I realize my current book collection has already spilt onto various windowsills, but I will not settle for ugly shelves. Hubby has the more expensive books, since arts and photography anthologies do cost quite a pretty penny. I'm a cheap book date in comparison - most of my current collection are from my childhood/college stash, or refugees from library sales.

7) If you could design your dream library, what would it look like? Cozy - full of pillowy couches and arched reading lamps in worked nickel, all four walls reaching ceiling-high in books. Huge windows for daylight reading, with a fat, purring cat in the corner. Oh...and all the time in the world to read every single volume.

8) Complete this sentence: "When I walk into a bookstore, I save my wallet from impending doom if I bypass the ___________ shelf/section." The bargain history book pile, especially those big discounts on DK books with all the great pictures. If it's under $15, I'm stuck to it like mud on a farm horse.

9) List ALL the books you currently have on loan from your local library. Deep breath: Eight Laurell K. Hamilton books (Anita, you saucy minx), Mary Janice Davidson's Sleeping with the Fishes, Shobhaa De's "sari-ripper" Bollywood Nights, Duncan Sprott's ancient family saga The Ptolemies, Meg Cabot's Queen of Babble in the Big City, Hester Browne's The Little Lady Agency and the Prince, and several art compediums. I read them simultaneously, so I could dabble in a little Hamilton paired with MJD (because I need her humor to wash down all those leather pant descriptions), or some Cabot spiced with Bollywood adventures. All those Anita Blake books lately? My librarian thinks I'm doing research on vampires. I don't correct her.

10) "I love my local library because...." It's my sanctuary away from my distractions. And my librarians are pretty cool, despite all that vampire literature they've had to stack for me in the holds' shelf.

Meimei: Wine and Coelho on Loan

1) What books did you buy recently? My parents are reading this blog, so you won't find out here about the trashy bodice-rippers I just purchased on the sly. Apart from that... I just picked up Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die, which I will get around to reading soon.

2) What's on your Amazon wish list? Since it's freshly updated: My Life with The Saints, by James Martin (highly recommended by my sister); some yoga DVDs; a couple of books by GK Chesterton and Scott Hahn; Harry Wong's The First Days of School (more on this later) and Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears. Also, LOVE (the Beatles/Cirque du Soleil collaboration), Cranium, and Living Language's In-Flight French in CD form.

*Cue Meimei's sister reading this and thinking: Girl, you have GOT to start editing that list already.*

3) Complete this sentence: "If I had an unlimited book budget, I would acquire...." Great Tastes Made Simple, by Andrea Immer (now Andrea Immer Robinson). This is the book that got me really interested in wine. Immer has an engaging way of writing about wine that doesn't make you feel stupid if you can't tell your Barbera apart from your Barolo. It's a pity this book is way too heavy and pricey for me to keep!

(Note from NBLB: Andrea Robinson also wrote Everyday Dining with Wine. Prepare to part with more of your money, Mei.)

4) Name one hard-to-find book you would love to see on your shelf. In a just world, I would have owned a decent Filipino cookbook - a well-written one with amazing pictures, sturdy paper stock, and great recipes that won't leave my Mom screaming bloody murder for suggesting such insane substitutes should I decide to make the dish outside of the Philippines. It's a pity that Jessica Zafra can't cook and Clinton Palanca is way too high on his own self-importance to write down a decent recipe!

5) Name one book on your shelf right now, that you would NEVER SELL. The Soul of Education, by Rachael Kessler. This was the book that really got me revved up about teaching; it's up there with Parker J. Palmer's The Courage to Teach and Harry Wong's The First Days of School (which I also haven't purchased) as the Holy Triumvirate of Books No Teacher Should Leave Behind, Ever.

6) What is the most expensive book (or book-related purchase) you have made I remember paying upwards of $25 for Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces when I first bought it here in Honolulu. Worth every flipping penny.

7) Close your eyes: if you could design your dream library, what would it look like? (Erm...you can open your eyes to type the answer...) I'm the kind of person who never leaves her books in the same place, ever... but if I must, I definitely can imagine a Victorian-style personal library, with floor-to-ceiling shelves. Not a lot of hardcovers (unless you count some of my ED textbooks, which I refuse to part with), but you'd best know that the ones I reach for the most would be the ones that are within eye level. No "airplane books" or double-shelving, just my fiction, nonfiction, and cookbooks mingling together. Also, hidden compartments for my respective stashes of booze, herbal teas, and fine dark chocolate.

8) Complete this sentence: "When I walk into a bookstore, I save my wallet from impending doom if I bypass the ___________ shelf/section." I don't have to worry about the romance and fiction sections any more than I have to worry about the cookbooks and DIY crafts! The bargain bins at B&N and Bestsellers are lethal, though: quickie gifts, gag books, gorgeous journals, anthologies of the trashiest bodice-rippers and canned-soup recipes ever written... not to mention $2 Sudoku compilations not edited by Will Shortz. Ay naku!

9) List ALL the books you currently have on loan from your local library.

From the Hawaii State Library System:
- Isabel Allende - Zorro (yes, it sounds cheesy, but I'm curious about how Allende managed to class up the joint here)
- P.G. Wodehouse - Carry On, Jeeves and The Code of the Woosters (a little British humor, for a change of pace)
- Flannery O'Connor - A Good Man is Hard to Find (I much prefer her dry Catholic wit to the balmy Southern Gothics of Faulkner)
- Ian McEwan - Saturday (I hear that this one is much better than On Chesil Beach, but I'm not touching this until after all that Wodehouse and Allende)

Also on loan from Chaminade's Sullivan Library: Coelho's The Alchemist and Allende's Of Love and Shadows, which I still need to return on Monday.

10) "I love my local library because...."

- They ENCOURAGE you to sit down and read, just about anywhere you can grab a book. It's a refreshing contrast to Barnes & Noble, where you get sales clerks every five minutes looking down their nose to tell you to stop lingering so much in the aisles and/or buy a Frappuccino if you intend to finish your book and still keep your seat in the cafe.
- In the same vein: Librarians won't give you that empty stare when you ask them for a book that you can't find anywhere, or give you a condescending sneer if they catch you with a particularly dirty title in your hands.
- Most of the public libraries that I frequent in Honolulu (Hawaii State, McCully-Moiliili, Manoa and Aina Haina) are air-conditioned in a way that's comfortable and doesn't require an extra layer of clothing.
- If there's a kids' event, you get free pizza coupons if a staffer mistakes you for a teenager. (Yes, it has happened to me!)

NBLB Weekend Survey #4 (FINALLY!): Literary Smackables Galore

Finally, after letting Real Life get in the way of blogging during this weekend, the readers of No Book Left Behind have managed to sit down and unleash their anger issues on ten literary characters of their choice. We've both had so much fun trashing our least favorite characters throughout the week that unleashing the can of Literary Whup-Arse on more of our non-favorites would be apt.

Special thanks to the American Library Association for their "Read" posters, and to Tim Gunn for holding the fort and "making it work."



The Happy Scribe: Whiny vampires and milksop heroines need not apply.

10) Fanny Price. Can. Not. Deal. The only Austen heroine who I feel needs a backbone transplant.

9) Bridget Jones. Liked the movies better than the books. Heroine is v. v. annoying. Smoking and kvetching gets old, especially in second book.

8) Louis. Yes, his immortal whining launched Anne Rice's career. But oh my god...someone stake him already if he's so unhappy with his sucky immortality.

7) Edmund Pevensie. I really hoped all that Turkish Delight would make him explode.

6) Fleur Forsyte. Egh. Why in the world she had Jon AND that budding baronet around her spoiled little finger was beyond my comprehension! Maybe because Soames was already a pill...his daughter was just...too much!

5) Dorothy. I loved Baum's other characters. Dorothy was just a little too self-righteous for my taste.

4) Briony Tallis. Too many exclamations from my reading corner on how her dangerous fancies and childish ignorance ruined her sister's chances at love.

3) Bertie Wooster. I adore P.G. Wodehouse's class romps, but in fairness, I feel Jeeves should've filled stupid Bertie's socks with jelly and left to serve the Queen.

2) Fred the Mermaid. Mary Janice Davidson wrote a mermaid series as well. Sometimes I wish Fred would stay underwater. Not my favorite MJD heroine.

1) Any Bertrice Small heroine. See Mei's bodice ripper cliches. (Though in hindsight, these ladies might actually get turned on by a smacking.)


Note: I did not mention Anita Blake because she could probably kick my ass with all her limbs tied together.



Meimei: Shut up, Daedalus. (You too, Judith Krantz and Jean Rhys.)

Before I begin with my list, I have to explain that these characters represent the tip of the iceberg as far as slap-worthy characters are concerned. I’ve already explained Bridget Jones last week; I was also tempted to add Anita Blake, but that’s more of a hate-on-sight (without having read a single book) than a genuine kind of hate. And, while both Agatha Christie and Ian McEwan have written slap-worthy characters, I can’t put them on the list because none of them inspire me to bring on the Slapsgiving that these have.

1) Stephen. Freaking. Daedalus. No other character has ever deserved such a violent smacking – and not just because anyone who has ever gone to the same high school as myself and The Happy Scribe has Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to blame for turning our otherwise fun IBH English classes into depressing slogs. I can’t remember having read Portrait without repeating the words “shut up” so many times - sometimes loud enough to scare my parents - and as much as I actually tolerated Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, I still have Daedalus to blame for ruining the rest of Ulysses for me.

2) Holden. Freaking. Caulfield. The runner-up to Stephen Daedalus in the “Stream-of-Consciousness”/ Douchebag division, easily beating out both Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise from Kerouac’s On the Road (talk about two people who just won’t Shut Up). The only saving grace I could find for Holden comes towards the end of Catcher in the Rye, when he takes his sister to the carousel… but other than that? Grow up, already!

3) Goldilocks. Just because there’s a successful Filipino bakery with your name on it doesn’t make it OK for you to barge into a stranger’s house unannounced and make catty, unwarranted comments about their food and furniture. I hope those three bears caught up to you.

4) Jewel Bundren, from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. In a book full of slap-worthy characters – including poor dead Addie – Jewel stands out as the whiniest and most incompetent of them all… and that’s saying a whole lot, without giving the “plot” (ha ha) away.

5) Mama Elena, from Like Water for Chocolate. Unlike her fellow archetype Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mama Elena’s cruel hounding of her own biological daughter seems way too telenovela-ish for me. Did Laura Esquivel really need to manifest her as a vengeful ghost and a hypocrite at the same time? At least Elizabeth Bennet got to dispatch of Lady Catherine with one of the best smack-down monologues ever written; Mama Elena’s come-uppance, on the other hand, comes a few chapters too late, and even then – both in the book and the movie - it’s handled way too abruptly.

6) The titular character from How Stella Got Her Groove Back. It didn’t take me too long to realize that this Stella was Terry McMillan’s version of a Mary Sue… and that’s before she realized that her Hot Jamaican Mandingo Lover Man was actually a gold-digging little queen.

7) Every single female lead character in the Danielle Steel oeuvre. “Hi, I can’t decide what I want for myself because my mother was too frigid to love me as a child, and Danielle thinks that giving me an actual personality would ruin all those dramatic ‘scenes’ and ‘monologues’ she wrote for me. Watch me as I screw my way through this book like a dispassionate sexbot!”

8) Billy Ikehorn, from Judith Krantz’s Scruples series. “Hi, I can’t decide what I want for myself because I’m used to being a horny, power-hungry slut, and Judith’s idea of giving me a personality is to have me screw rich and powerful men so I can dump them when they get bored of me. Watch me as I sleep my way to self-esteem… through three books!”

9) Waverly Jong, from The Joy Luck Club. True, she was the uppity daughter of an uppity mother, and Amy Tan did take both of them down a few pegs towards the end of the book. That doesn’t make the scenes where she rubs the other Joy Luck girls the wrong way any less painful, though.

10) Bertha Rochester. Fine, I say: Mr. Rochester was an idiot to keep her in the attic. And, from having watched the first movie adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea, maybe there are a few reasons for me to be sympathetic towards her. But, c’mon – of all the interesting side characters in Jane Eyre, did we really need Jean Rhys to tell us how horrible Bertha and Edward were to each other? (And would the world be a better place if it had been Jasper Fforde’s province instead?) Extra slaptastic points goes to Bertha’s most recent adapted-for-screen incarnations – not just for getting to play “Touch My Body” with Nathaniel Parker and Rafe Spall (note to Rafe: Final season of LOST – look into it) but also for damn near defacing the lovely visage of Toby Stephens, who recently became one of my favorite OG Rochesters.

Please Stand By

Those of you who have been waiting for the NBLB Weekend Q&A may need to be patient; both of our reader-bloggers have been incredibly busy lately with non-blog-related business, which means that our regular weekly feature may be a tad delayed in posting. Fret not, however - there's a lot more reading and reviews in store over the weekend!

In the meantime, you can get your own Tim Gunn poster - and other celebs, too - at the online store for the American Library Association.

NBLB Weekend Survey #3: Questions of Character

An early start to your weekend this time around - pardon us, we here at NBLB have had an eventful week, and are ready to curl up with stacks of library finds until the next Monday. Friday cannot come too soon!

This week's survey takes on literary characters - those you love, and those you love to hate...as well as the ones you wouldn't want to touch with a ten-foot pole. Here's a questionable list from your NBLB-ers - copy, paste and post your own!

Meimei: Rumplestiltskin gives her the shivers.

1) Who is your all-time literary villain? This is difficult for me. Experience tells me that villains are merely characters who cannot overcome flaws; my upbringing, on the other hand, has taught me not to love a villain. So, because I'm hard up for an answer... Rumpelstiltskin. (Don't look at me like that. The Brothers Grimm do count as literature, y'know.)

2) On the opposite end - who is your all-time fictional hero? Fitzwilliam Darcy may be THE template for the ultimate romantic lead - and I'm not denying that - but my heart has been irrevocably claimed by George Emerson, from E.M. Forster's A Room with a View. Who can't resist a free spirit who loves without pretense?

3) Who would you date? NOT Rumpelstiltskin, obviously.

4) Which fictional gal/guy would be your best pal? Miss Jane Marple! She may be an old biddy, but I do have to admire someone who relies on her knowledge of human nature to solve mysteries. We'd spend endless hours knitting, gossiping, and refilling bottomless cups of Earl Grey. Come to think of it, I could plan an entire dinner party with Agatha Christie's detectives. It would be worth it just to hear Hercule Poirot say, "Zees CSI Miami - eet ees nonsense!"

5) Which fictional monster creeps you out the most? Here's an unpopular opinion for you: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. Will somebody PLEASE tell me what's so romantic about him? I understand that he was heartbroken, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it... but, really, now, all that crap he pulled after losing Catherine Earnshaw? Way past pathetic.

6) Who do you want to give a good smack? Another unpopular opinion: Bridget. Freaking. Jones. Sorry, but she lost my sympathy during Edge of Reason... so imagine how happy I was when I realized that the movie did not follow the book.

7) Which hero/heroine is YOU - like "whoah, took the words outta my mouth" sort of YOU.. I have to say this without having read the book: Catherine Morland from Austen's Northanger Abbey. Trashy novel addiction? Check. Inquisitive nature? Check. Strong yearning for love conquering all? Obviously. Now I want to know more about her story.

8) If you could have an hour long interview with a great literary character, who would it be? Mr. Rochester, from Jane Eyre. Just so I can ask him about those WTF questions (see #10).

9) Who would you lock in a room with your worst frenemy? The Devil, of course - preferably Milton's, from Paradise Lost.

10) Finally, which literary side character deserves a book all on his/her own? (If it hasn't been written yet) St. John Rivers, the jilted suitor/cousin from Jane Eyre. (Note to Scribe: What is it about this book, anyway? Does that mean I now have to read Jasper Fforde?) I was disappointed that the one "legit" JE spin-off that I know of - Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea - was about Rochester shacking up with crazy Bertha (yet another character that deserves to be slapped) in the Caribbean. Why couldn't it have been St. John sailing off to India instead?

The Happy Scribe: No clowns, please.

1) Who is your all-time literary villain? Professor Moriarty tops my list - a good villain in my book needs to be able to make one think they COULD intellectually trounce the hero's ass if given more time/resources/page space.

2) On the opposite end - who is your all-time fictional hero? Granny Weatherwax of Terry Pratchett's Discworld seems to be an unlikely heroine, being a grumpy witch from Lancre. Whenever she enters a scene, I feel like everything's going to be right as rain...as long as Esme has her way (she usually does).

3) Who would you date? I've had questionable dating choices in real life. I always thought Lt. Cmdr. Data from the Star Trek Next Generation series would be a fun date - everything "old" would be new to this android who aspires to be human. (While "Number One" William Riker seems the more dishy sci-fi choice, he had a wandering eye...which would force me to fictionally smack him.) My husband thinks I would prefer Darcy...but Fitzwilliam is more of the "who would you marry" type. (And hubby is rather like Darcy...the better-looking, more talented counterpart in real life. ;)

4) Which fictional gal/guy would be your best pal? The fantastically flamboyant lady novelist of A Room with a View - Eleanor Lavish and I would share many a macintosh square gossiping under the Tuscan sun.

5) Which fictional monster creeps you out the most? I'm very predictable: Pennywise from Stephen King's It, hands down - el Yucko creepo del mundo! I cannot stand clowns - there's something about forced merriment that makes me cringe (Pratchett illustrates this quite perfectly with the creepy Dr. Whiteface, of the Guild of Fools).

6) Who do you want to give a good smack? I mentioned William Riker, but if I really thought about it: Briony Tallis of Ian McEwan's Atonement begs a good shake. Also: most romance novel heroines (especially the ones who seem "feisty"...but their horniness throws brain and corset to the four winds in less than four pages), Anne Rice's whiny Louis, and (if it was possible before the double suicide - the Priest and Nursey deserve added whacks for not doing the smacking themselves) Romeo and Juliet.

7) Which hero/heroine is YOU - like "whoah, took the words outta my mouth" sort of YOU.. Scarlett O'Hara's "I'll never be hungry again!" definitely echoes my current state of mind (though I kept wanting to snap her hoops at her absolute blindness to Rhett Butler's devotion), as does Shakespeare's Beatrice, who is simultaneously protective and vulnerable. Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter books is also another personality doppelganger - fiercely loyal, very nerdy, and just the right amount of scruffiness.

8) If you could have an hour long interview with a great literary character, who would it be? That's a difficult question, because one thing that makes all these characters "great" are the multitude of layers we have yet to discover from them. I'd have to start off with a classic character if forced to choose - and this is a cop out - it would be Dante of the celestial worlds and words.

9) Who would you lock in a room with your worst frenemy? I would dress him/her up as a sperm whale and put them in a pool with Capt. Ahab. Thar she blows!

10) Finally, which literary side character deserves a book all on his/her own? (If it hasn't been written yet) Yes, Mei, you must read Fforde! I always thought Lady Macbeth needed her own novel. Ah, and Wicked is such a phenomenon now...so there goes another "untold story." Villains deserve their own say, n'est-ce pas? Too many fall prey to violence and ruin while the milksop hero/heroine ride off into the sunset with all the glory.

The NBLB Survey: The Readers Answer...And Tag YOU!

As we share other people's published stories, we discover our own - through the books we've read, want to read, and wished we'd written in the first place. What books have shaped your life? And which books will you always have close to your heart...and which ones you'd rather banish to the "illegible 4evah" pile? Welcome to the first NBLB Q & A - we're kicking it off with our own answers...and want to read yours too!

Meimei: From "The Good Book" to Coelho, a Barefoot Contessa, and not drinking Jamba Juice while reading at the airport

1) First book you remember reading from cover to cover. Barring any cookbooks, magazines, and any other age-inappropriate reading material, I'd say it would be one of those Bible story collections.

2) Book(s) your parents would hand to you, as the "guide to life." I would say "the Bible," except that Mom and Dad ended up giving me a copy of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet before they let me get my hands on the NAB. For good reason, too.

3) Book(s) you read as teenage rebellion. Catcher in the Rye - the first one, and still the best - followed by the English translation of The Stranger (L'Etranger) by Camus, which FINALLY helped me understand the lyrics to "Killing an Arab" by The Cure. Oh, and Kerouac's On the Road.

4) Shakespearean play that embodies YOU. The Tempest. Poor Caliban, and not because I played him in high school.

5) That damned novel that you should've written. (Book embodying your LIFE) Love in the Time of Cholera. I fell in love with Marquez and magic realism because of this book.

6) Genre(s) you would find YOUR first novel displayed under... Asian-American Fiction, without a doubt. Too much talking for a romance novel; too much kissing to be considered mainstream Christian; too much fighting and cussing to be stocked in a Catholic bookstore.

7) Favorite non-fiction autobio/biography. A tie: Swimming with Scapulars by Matthew Lickona (one of those underappreciated Catholic Gen-X books worth reading) and What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson.

8) Book you would read on the plane to keep strangers from talking to you. He's Just Not That Into You. Ironically, this book made me laugh so hard that it did keep strangers away from me when I read this at Jamba Juice!

9) Book you would give to a potential significant other. Without a doubt, a cookbook - Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten.

10) Dream writing collaboration - who would it be? Julie Powell, of the blog-turned-book Julie & Julia. Food, blogging, autobiography - so many things to discuss! Happy Scribe and I should take her out for tapas.

11) If you were trapped on a deserted island...and you find a stash of books written by ONE AUTHOR...who would you want that author to be? Paulo Coelho. Good Lord, Eleven Minutes owned me.

12) What book/author is your reading "Waterloo"? Waterloo, meaning "I give the eff up - go away, book?" I think I did that with Smart Women, Foolish Choices - it's definitely one that has not stood the test of time, unfortunately.

The Happy Scribe: It's Pratchett Time!

1) First book you remember reading from cover to cover. I remember those Golden Book fair tales so well - those dolls dressed up as characters illustrating each page. My favorite was Cinderella in her frothy dress. I also loved the Gem Classics books, each with a color theme like Emerald or Sapphire, compilations of traditional myths and Grimm's tales. The visual impact of those stunning illustrations stay with me to this day - I wouldn't mind owning a set of these books again!

2) Book(s) your parents would hand to you, as the "guide to life." My dad handed me a copy of The Secret last year. It totally surprised me. Not because of The Secret's message. It's just that my dad is more likely to hand me the Ten Commandments DVD, being more of a movie buff.

3) Book(s) you read as teenage rebellion. Star Trek: The Next Generation novels and bodice-rippers scandalized my very conservative mother for different reasons, but ultimately, it was the parting lament: "We have a library full of great classics, and you spend your allowance on those trashy paperbacks!"

4) Shakespearean play that embodies YOU. Much Ado About Nothing. Beatrice and Benedick exchanging witty barbs in a word-filled Wimbledon are such vivid characters in my head. Peeling away the layers (and the arguments) to reveal the happy truths - I liked that.

5) That damned novel that you should've written. (Book embodying your LIFE) In my twenties, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones books encapsulated my confused existence back then. Now...probably Peter Mayle's books - life spent in quiet contemplation of the passing seasons, writing and lots of good food.

6) Genre(s) you would find YOUR first novel displayed under... It's definitely Chick Lit/Romance. I'm not going to write the Great American Novel, but I think I can amuse a few people on long flights/train commutes. Also, the comic strip aisle, because I'll always have a furry animal story in me. (Long live Tarabella...and watch out for the adventures of Lord Kittensley Furface!)

7) Favorite non-fiction autobio/biography. Technically, Jessica Zafra's Twisted books are based on her newspaper columns, but as a longtime reader I adore the little peeks into one very sharp mind, whether it's currently preoccupied with tennis, Tolkien, or Manila traffic.

8) Book you would read on the plane to keep strangers from talking to you. Anything heavy and Russian, like Tolstoy or Doesteyevsky.

9) Book you would give to a potential significant other. Hubby totally got Terry Pratchett's Mort, which means we're soul mates. He then handed Herberts Dune and Huxley's Brave New World to me...the lifelong sci-fi/fantasy fan. We're a match made in other universes.

10) Dream writing collaboration - who would it be? I would die of pure geek overload if Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett said "hello" to me, much less wanting to share a byline with my name.

11) If you were trapped on a deserted island...and you find a stash of books written by ONE AUTHOR...who would you want that author to be? Terry Pratchett, if you haven't noticed! :)

12) What book/author is your reading "Waterloo"? James Joyce's Ulysses drowned MY stream of consciousness to the point I had to call in the mental Coast Guard. I cannot finish this book!

Need something to pass the hours between the news and Lost? Did YOU finish Ulysses? We're tagging you, fellow bloggers, to answer the NBLB Q & A on your own site.

Have a great weekend...and happy reading!