dolorosa_12 | Entries tagged with meme: 365 days

I will write a post about life soon, but in the meantime, have some links and meme answers.

I've done a meme about books and reading habits over on my Wordpress blog, after being tagged by

isigfethera. If you want to hear what I have to say about books that changed my life, the one book I would recommend to everyone, where I like to read, my preferred genres, the first book I remember reading, reading outside my comfort zone, and what book I would save in a Fahrenheit 451 scenario, head over there.

The meme requires that I tag seven people to answer seven questions of my own, but rather than do that, I thought I'd simply post my questions and leave it up to you if you want to answer them or not. So consider yourselves all tagged.

The questions are on the Wordpress post, but I'll repost them here:

1. How have your reading tastes changed in the past ten years? In the past five?
2. Do you read book reviews? Do you think they influence your reading habits?
3. What is your opinion of sites such as Goodreads and reviews on Amazon?
4. Do you note down quotes from books or poetry? What is a quote that means a lot to you?
5. Which fictional character did you identify with as a child or teenager? Looking back, do you think that identification was accurate?
6. What is the most important thing you learnt from a work of fiction?
7. And I’d also like an answer to the same question I was asked: in a Fahrenheit 451 scenario, which book would you save?

And here is the next installment of the massive, 365-day meme.

day 2: something that’s illegal but you think it should be legal
I feel, for the most part, very unqualified to answer this. There are many things I think should be illegal that are currently legal - I think it should be illegal to hit a child, for example. I certainly believe that far more needs to be done in terms of marriage equality (and the rights of same-sex couples more generally) and equality for trans* people, but that goes beyond any single law in any single country, and I think a lot of people act as if making same-sex marriage legal, we will magically wipe out homophobia. Same-sex marriage should be legal (or rather, to be more precise, same-sex couples should have exactly the same range of options in all areas of life as heterosexual couples), but I think it needs to go along with a lot of changes in attitude towards, and treatment of, people who fall outside the straight, monogamous 'norm'.

( the other days )

I'm thinking of doing this rather long meme that

glamjam has begun. I'm not intending to do it within 365 days - some days I'll answer multiple questions, some days I won't post at all, or I will write about stuff other than meme answers. And some of the questions are more appropriate to people at a younger stage of life than I am, so I'll modify them accordingly. But I like these inward-focused, philosophical memes. I find they help, psychologically.

day 1: hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days with a picture of yourself
My hopes, dreams and short-term plans are both small and dauntingly huge. I hope to finish my PhD by next (northern) summer, and get a job that will allow me to stay in the UK. I hope my boyfriend's life becomes less stressful. I hope that I can continue working towards better physical and mental health over the next 365 days and beyond.

More broadly and unrealistically, I dream that the powerful would think and behave with more empathy and with more of a view to the future that they are creating.