so here's my firepit candidate

I said I'd post my answers, and momma always taught me to do what I said I'd do. (The fact that I didn't always listen could have affected a couple of job performances in the past. Mommas really do know these things.) So here they are:

• What was your favorite assigned book from high school?

A tie between Merchant of Venice and Great Gastby. Sure, the first is not really a "book." But I can still recite quite a bit of Portia's mercy speech for you, if you like.

• What was your least favorite/most detested/one you burned in the fire pit just as soon as you finished the final exam on that puppy?

Can you believe I don't really remember? I did truly loathe anything Steinbeck. Oh, I know, I know. A Farewell to Arms. How repetitive and depressing can one man get?

• And what book did you discover later in life that you learned to love or wished you had discovered earlier?

So many. It was not until freshman year of college that I discovered The Chronicles of Narnia (via my Jewish roommate--how funny is that?). I quickly made up for lost time.

A few years later, another friend introduced me to Anne of Green Gables. How did a girl who grew up devouring Little House books miss that? I adore Anne, and I think I gave birth to her as well.

A Wrinkle in Time. One of the best children's books ever. Ever. And adult as well.

Finally, sometime in high school my brother gave me a book and told me, "This is the best book ever written. You have to read it." I dutifully read a few chapters and said to myself, "This is the most boring book ever written. I could not finish it if you threatened to pull out all my teeth." It was The Silmarillion, by J.R.R.Tolkien.

Years later, when the first Lord of the Rings movie was scheduled to appear, my husband, also a huge Tolkien fan, decided to read the books aloud to our girls. My husband. My brother. Must be a guy thing, right? After seeing the movie, I went home and read all three books straight through. They are now three of my top five favorite books of all time. That's a pretty good standing for an author I considered boring as heck years ago.

So now you know my reading likes and dislikes. You also know, never judge a book by how you felt about it, or its author, a long time ago. Give everyone a second chance. Except James Joyce. I will never give him a second chance. One bout of torture in college was enough.

Anyone else brave enough to share?