What book would you become?

Earlier today I reviewed Fahrenheit 451, and mentioned my mom's assignment for her English class - we talked about it a couple of months ago, and it has been brewing in my head ever since. I'm intrigued by the idea of a group of people dedicated to keeping the ideas of books alive by "becoming" those books - actually memorizing, word for word, the books they are most passionate about, to keep them from being forgotten. And so I have asked myself:

What 5 books do you believe are important enough to be saved, and why?

I'll be the first to admit it's hard to make a book list that includes only five titles. Selfishly, I've decided not to include any "important" works - you know, the stuff that ends up on the Top 100 Books of All Time type lists. I figure someone will inevitably have chosen those already, right? So I'm making a list of books that are important to ME.

1 - Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - there is so much to this novel, but I love it for its thoughts about the nature of mercy and forgiveness
2 - Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - for its humor, and honest portrayal of the difficulties of growing up
3 - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - because of its wonderful allegory for the sacrifice of Christ
4 - The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel - for its beautiful writing, and the idea that the differences between us are not as big as we think
5 - The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay - because I just love it!

Which book would you choose to "become"?

Again, it's hard to choose one out of that list. There are many things to consider, not the least the fact that Les Mis would be a pain to try to memorize! Ultimately, the book I would choose to become is Anne of Green Gables. I have loved Anne for so long, and I think this book is about so much more than a young girl growing up. It's about friendship, and love, and choosing to care about people even when it's not easy. It's about embracing your imagination, and the value of ideas, and being proud of the differences that make you unique. This is the book I would want to share with the generations to come.

Here are a couple of quotes from the book, to show why I love it so much:

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"

"There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"


So is there any one else who would like to answer these questions for me? I think the book blogging community is so interesting, with such varied reading tastes, that finding out other people's ideas about this would be fascinating. I'd like to start a weekly feature here, with
a new blogger answering these two questions each week. See, I even made a little button for it!
(Thanks to BethFishReads for the tutorial!) I'm calling it 451 Fridays, because I like the alliteration. =) And since it was my mom's idea, I'm hoping to convince her to be my first participant. Is there anyone else interested? Leave me a comment, or send me an email, and we will talk!