| By L.A. Mitchell | June 22, 2009 |
Summer is the perfect time to revisit favorite books. When else can you walk past your to-be-read pile guilt-free knowing extra daylight and lazy heat leave enough minutes in the day for them all? And who cares if your damp swimsuit soaks the bottom of your well-worn Knight in Shining Armor copy while you’re soaking up rays? It’s already dog-eared on the three dozen best parts, right? The mere fact that its folds contain more sand than your own is like comfort food and Hugh Jackman rolled into one.
To kickstart us into thinking about which book we’ll revisit like a forgotten love, I give you the celebrity match game. Match the celebs to their all-time favorite book and you’ll receive 007 bragging rights for the day. Have fun!
1. Will Smith
2. Catherine Zeta-Jones
3. Alec Baldwin
4. Matthew McConaughey
5. Kate Winslet
6. Russell Crowe
7. Beyonce Knowles
8. Michael Eisner, CEO, Walt Disney
9. Stephen King
10. Diane Sawyer
11. Nicole Kidman
12. Angelina Jolie
13. Mel Gibson
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- a. Therese Raquin by Emile Zola
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- b. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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- c. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
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- d. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino
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- e. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
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- f. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
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- g. Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula by M.J. Trow
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- h. Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillian
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- i. Fahrenheit451 by Ray Bradbury
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- j. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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- k. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
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- l. All books by Studs Terkel
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- m. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Answers are posted in the comment section. Let us know how you did and which of your favorites just might end up on that beach towel alongside you this summer.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:48 am
Dog-earred favorites around here include Julie Garwood’s Lion’s Lady, Karen Marie Moning’s Immortal Highlander, How the Irish Save Civilization, and numerous others. I haven’t read any of those you’ve shown since forced to do so in High School. Lord of the Flies still skeeves me out! LOL
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:04 am
Morning, everyone!
Here are the answers:
1. Will Smith – (f) The Alchemist
2. Catherine Zeta-Jones – (e) The Great Gatsby
3. Alec Baldwin – (j) To Kill a Mockingbird
4. Matthew McConaughey – (d) The Greatest Salesman in the World
5. Kate Winslet – (a) Therese Raquin
6. Russell Crowe – (l) Any book ever written by Studs Terkel
7. Beyonce Knowles – (h) Waiting to Exhale
8. Michael Eisner – (m) The Scarlet Letter
9. Stephen King – (c) Lord of the Flies
10. Diane Sawyer – (b) Huckleberry Finn
11. Nicole Kidman – (k) The Chronicles of Narnia
12. Angelina Jolie – (g) Vlad the Impaler: In Search of the Real Dracula
13. Mel Gibson – (i) Fahrenheit 451
How did you do?
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 am
Good morning – I didn’t do very well. I got one. LOL
#7 Beyonce Knowles – H Waiting to Exhale.
Summer is a time of relaxation. I’m looking forward to doing just that–AND CONFERENCE. And visiting my son in Oregon, and, and, and. Oh well, so much for the relaxation part. I do hope to read.
Fun post, L.A.!
~Caroline
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:10 am
@Gwynlyn – I just knew Lord of the Flies would be an easy one to tie to Stephen King. Explains quite a bit. I missed that Julie Garwood somehow, but she is on my keeper list. I’ll have to check it out.
@Caroline – One is good
I look forward to seeing the Bond girls in D.C. Oregon sounds great right about now. It’s almost 100 here every day.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:24 am
One of my favorite classics is of course Jane Austen’s P&P, but too LADY CHATTERLY’S LOVER by D. H. Lawrence. I had picked that out to read once seeing it on display in the public library and I ended up getting my own copy and reading a few times. Since then its disappeared! Now thinking about it, I have to rent it again.
I had fun doing this! I found all of it on the internet at some of their sites and too their was one place I went to (I wished I remember, but its a news place, like People maybe) that had alot there that I could find. I remembered too that the RT magazine had this theme but atlas, none were in that, LOL. But I knew NONE of the answers and thank goodness for the internet, LOL. The hardest to find was Eisner’s which I ended up matching from what was left over.
1. F
2. E
3. J
4. D
5. A
6. L
7. H
8. M
9. C
10. B
11. K
12. G
13. I
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Arn’t you in Texas?
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 am
I also loved Lion’s Lady. Unfortunately, I nolonger have a copy of it on my keeper shelf. Other favorites in my house are anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips or LaVyrle Spencer–although LaVyrle can’t go to the beach. Even on a tenth or twelfth reading, I become too engrossed in her work to appreciate the sun, the surf, and the sand.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:49 am
I’m with Laurie in that anything by SEP or LaVyrle is on the keeper shelf. I’ve got Then Came Heaven in my TBR pile and it should have a box of Kleenex beside it!
And I’ve always loved summer reading, ever since those junior high days where I’d take the bus to the library and spend the day there. Then I’d be up until 2 in the morning reading a newly checked-out treasure. Ah, bliss!
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:50 am
Great post, L.A.! I didn’t guess any right, but Stephen King and “Lord of the Flies” makes sense. As do a few others–Mel Gibson and “Fahrenheit 451″ (conspiracy and all that). In my ongoing love/hate fan-state with Alec Baldwin, I’m happy to know he loves “Mockingbird.” He gets points for that, but maybe not enough.
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
@Caffey – what a hard worker you are! There is a sight run by a cute little librarian in New England who has been writing to celebrities since forever and she’s collected their faves.
Here’s the site:http://www.gpl.lib.me.us/wrwind.htm
Most of what you’ll find there aren’t the most current celebrities, but some old favorites. It is fun to check them out.
I’m also pretty sure I’m the ONLY person on the PLANET who hasn’t read Lady Chatterly’s Lover. I’m adding it to my list
@Caroline – yes, definitely the wrong time of year for a non-native. Hot, hot, hot.
@Laurie – LaVyrle is my #1 on my keeper shelf, too. I wish she’d come out of retirement. Out of hers, Hummingbird is my favorite. Jesse DuFrayne rode in on a train…:)
@Pamela – Hi Pam. Thanks so much for stopping by. I wasn’t sure there were many people who could boldly go where The Thorn Birds did with the forbidden priest thing, but LS did it with Then Came Heaven. Loved it!
@Teresa – I guess that means you’re in the “hate” phase, right?
Here are a few more for fun:
HALEY JOEL OSMENT – SPHERE BY MICHAEL CRICHTON
REBA MCENTIRE – THE HORSE WHISPERER BY NICHOLAS EVANS
WHOOPIE GOLDBERG – TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD BY HARPER LEE
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Two right!!!
Ah, who can figure out those crazy celebrities.
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
L.A.,
You’ll love Lion’s Lady. It takes a deft hand to make me laugh at something I read, but I’ve read this book more times than I care to count (usually when I’m having a tough go), and it still has the magic.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@Todd – some of them really surprised me, too. Like I would have pictured Matthew McConaughey as The Great Gatsby or Huckleberry Finn. And the head of the Walt Disney empire I’d have guessed the Chronicles of Narnia.
@Gwynlyn – wow, what a great endorsement. I’ve added it to my TBR list. The beauty of doing a favorite reads post
Two more:
NATALIE PORTMAN – THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
DENZEL WASHINGTON – SIDDHARTHA BY HERMANN HESSE
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
L.A., the only one I knew before today was that Matthew McConaughey was a fan of Og Mandino…
As for the beach this summer, I have *stacks* of books I’m anxious to start on, but I’ve been wanting to re-read an Alice Hoffman fave, “Practical Magic,” so I may have to begin there
.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:38 pm
L.A — My favorite LaVyrle Spencer novel is The Fulfillment. The characters GMC (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict for you non-writers) in that book blows me away every time I read it.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Ack, my brain ached trying to figure out which book was which celeb’s fav. Great game, L.A.!
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Wow, another reminder of how many books i have NOT read. Sheesh.
I didn’t do very well, but I did guess the stephen king one. I think I’ve read about 4 of these books.
Lots of fun, L.A.!
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Wow, I’ve read like 3 of these books. I guess my beach reads are much lighter reads than most celebrities.
Every June I reread several of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich since that’s the month the latest in the series is pubbed. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen is out tomorrow so I am rereading Fearless Fourteen right now so I can refresh my memory! To me, this is the best beach read series ever!
Beth
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Hi All-
Late posting as usual. My dog-eared collection includes any Mary Stewart and Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword which I think I’ve just about memorized.
Reading over the celebrity list I have to say my tastes definitely lean lighter and fluffier.
Alix
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Hey L.A.!
Count me in as someone wishing for something light and fun as a beach read! I’d rather laugh on vacation than cry or think too hard!
One memorable exception: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came out the night before we left for the beach. I took the kids to the midnight party, we had a great time, then I spent several days with my nose in that book! And yep, I cried at the end. Sob!
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:49 pm
What a fun game, LA!
I have too many favorite books to count. But Fifth Business by Robertson Davies (or Rebel Angel also by him) and anything by John Irving would be high on the list.
I’ve re-read their books a few times.
I borrowed my CP Molly O’Keefe’s copy of Welcome To Temptation by Jennifer Crusie a few years ago, and it was already so well loved/read by her, it literally fell apart as I was trying to read it.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
My thanks for including Og Mandino’s book. I am prejudiced as I was honored to have him as a personal writing mentor and a father image. After we lost him, I adopted Bette as my Big Sister (as she was several years younger than Og Please check out The Greatest Miracle in the World as my fave of his stuff. Og, and Johnny Cash’s favorite Og book was Christ Commission.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
What a terrific idea, LA. I really enjoyed reading through this.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 am
@Marilyn – I guess you know your McConaughey. Alice Hoffman sounds like a perfect place to start
@Laurie – The Fulfillment, for me, was Spencer at her most basic. Some of her later novels were-more lush, more descriptive, maybe?- but this first one of hers was all emotion and relationship and fabulous.
@Cindy – Glad you stopped by!
@Theresa – Though I’ve read about half, I can’t say I remember much about most of them.
@Beth – That thought did occur to me–when celebs are asked this, they give the highbrow answers, what fits their image or what they want people to *think* they’ve read.
@Alix – Ah…I forgot about Mary Stuart. Love, Love, Love her, though I don’t have any copies of her novels.
@Deb – Hey back at you, Deb
Are you going to sneak away in DC to see the HBP?
@Maureen – that went well beyond dog-eared, then. That’s awesome for a book to be so loved.
@Pierre – welcome to the blog! How fantastic it must have been to have such an inspirational mentor. I absolutely will take your suggestion and look into his novels. Thanks for the recommendation
@Tina – Thanks, Tina. Glad you had fun.
Last two I have before the day wraps:
MILEY CYRUS – DON’T DIE, MY LOVE BY LURENE MCDANIEL
MIRA SORVINO – A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME BY STEPHEN HAWKING …A girl after my own heart
June 23rd, 2009 at 7:25 am
What a list! I couldn’t have guessed any of these…
Interesting!
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Gosh, there are so many books I want to reread that I don’t know where to start! Which means I’ll probably continue on with the many, many books in my TBR pile.
Fun game! My match game skills were sorely lacking here.
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
par for the course, i got none, lam
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