451 Fridays

451 Fridays is based on an idea from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In his novel, a group of people (Bradbury calls them Book People) are trying to keep the ideas found in books alive. Instead of actually saving the books, the Book People each "become" a book - memorizing it, word for word, and passing it down to the next generation.

451 Fridays asks what books you feel passionate about. What book do you think is so important that you would be willing to take on the challenge of "becoming"?


Today, I am so happy to welcome Lahni to 451 Fridays. Lahni blogs at Nose in a Book, which is one of the newest blogs in my google reader, although she's not new to the blogging world. She reads a wide variety of genres, and seems to have similar taste in reading material to me, so I've been enjoying getting to know her. Welome, Lahni!

The 5 books I would save are:


1. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Mostly because I love this book, but I also think it says a lot about how children (and people in general) have the potential to behave. We like to think that children are so innocent and loving, but I think the will to survive is strong in all of us. I think this book has a very similar message to The Lord of the Flies, but is a much more interesting read!

2. We The Living by Ayn Rand. This actually isn't my favourite Rand novel, but I think it's the most important. I read this when I was a young idealistic university student and it taught me a lot about how destructive that particular brand of communism is.


3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Because if we only have 5 books left, we need something fun and romantic to read, right?


4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a great story, with a great message - the triumph of good over evil.

5. The Diary of Anne Frank. We cannot forget the ability of human beings to hurt others because of differences perceived or real because this is when we start to allow it to happen again. There are many, many books that illustrate this, but I just love Anne Frank because it's so real. We need to read books like this that make us furious that fellow human beings were treated so inhumanely so we can prevent it from happening. (I almost chose The Book of Negroes for this last option, which is about slavery, but I decided that Anne Frank was just that much more poignant because it's real.)


Which of the five would I choose to become? Pride and Prejudice of course. Who doesn't want to be Elizabeth Bennet?

I think my favourite quote is Darcy's first proposal when he tells her how "ardently" he admires and loves her and then goes on to tell her how unsuitable and inferior she and her connections are. I love the way this scene is portrayed in the newest movie version of the novel. It's so funny but so sad at the same time!



Lahni, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us YOUR list of books which must be saved.

I'm always looking for more participants - if you are interested, please let me know!