The Blography Tag

What ho, readers all! I have been atrociously bad at blogging of late, and I apologize…I have multiple posts in various stages of completion, which will hopefully some day translate to multiple actual completed blog posts. Only time will tell. In the meantime, however, the Maidens of Green Gables have kindly tagged me for the Blography Tag. Thank you very much, Maidens! This looks like a very enjoyable tag (and one I’ve never seen before!) so this should be a lot of fun.

Here are the rules:

1) Link back to the original site. (Sadly inactive now, it seems.)
2) Mention the one who tagged you. (Thanks again, Maidens! :))
3) Write an autobiography in seven words. (For this, they do not need to form a complete sentence.)
4) To make it more interesting, answer seven-word questions.
5) Tag seven other bloggers.
6) Think of seven-word questions, or use the same ones as you answered.

My Seven Word Biography

It’s messy, but it’s in God’s Hands.

The Seven Questions

1) What is your favorite Biography or Autobiography?

Truth be told, I don’t usually like reading biographies and autobiographies – I tend to find it just stressful, because I don’t like hearing about the less-than-perfect aspects of people’s lives. Obviously I don’t expect people to be perfect or feel that I can’t like them if they aren’t (I am most certainly not a perfect person myself!)…but at the same time, if reading about it is just going to stress me out and be un-enjoyable, why would I read it at all?

There are certainly exceptions, though. Probably my favorite autobiography I’ve read is The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, which is such an engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable read. I’ve also read quite a few saints’ biographies…one that I especially enjoyed is Padre Pio and America by Frank M. Rega, a biography of St. Padre Pio which especially focuses on his relationship with the American GIs during WWII. It was absolutely fascinating, and made me admire Padre Pio even more – God truly granted him immense spiritual gifts.

(Oh, and I almost forgot, I also love the James Herriot books!)

2) Whose autobiography is on your TBR list?

As aforementioned, I don’t usually like reading autobiographies…but I will say, I was very intrigued by what Cecilia said about Memory Hold-the-Door by John Buchan, so I might read that, and I also might read Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis at some point too. (If you have any other recommendations of autobiographies that you think I’d like, please pass them along!)

3) Have you any passed down family stories?

Quite a few! I’ll tell one funny little story from when my dad was a kid. His dad, my grandfather, was buying the kids ice cream, and my dad requested any kind of ice cream EXCEPT butterscotch, which he disliked. Just before ordering, my grandfather turned to him and said, “So, nothing but butterscotch, right?” My dad, assuming he was kidding (since that’s exactly the sort of joke my grandfather likes to make), jokingly assured him that he definitely wanted nothing but butterscotch. But as it turned out, my grandfather was not joking and had just misremembered…so my poor dad did indeed end up with nothing but butterscotch. (He did still eat it, though.)

4) What person’s biography would you enjoy writing?

I think I would really enjoy writing a biography about Helen Keller, or her teacher Anne Sullivan. I’ve always found their whole story so fascinating.

5) Could your life be a believable novel?

…maybe? Kind of? Would I read a novel about my life? I do not know.

6) What’s the theme song of your life?

I’m not sure if this quite fits, but for some reason I really want to pick “The White Cliffs of Dover” by Vera Lynn. I’ve been listening to it a lot recently, and I really love it…it’s one of those WWII songs that’s sober and wistful but ultimately very hopeful, and I would be quite happy for it to be the theme song of my life. (I also love Vera Lynn’s voice…there’s just something about it that makes me feel like I’m breathing in pure clear air on a wooded mountaintop or some such.)

7) What 7 books retell your life story?

Ooof, this is hard, and I feel too lazy to try to answer it properly. How about this: I’ll list books where there was some insight/character which impacted me deeply, or else in which I deeply relate to a character in it. How’s that?

The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
Apple Bough (aka Traveling Shoes) by Noel Streatfield
The Jeweler’s Shop by Karol Wojtyla
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
He Leadeth Me by Fr. Walter Ciszek
Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Now, for seven bloggers to tag – I’ll tag

Hannah at Inkling Corner
Autumn at Shades of Art
Ruth at The Bend in the Road

which, as you may notice, is not seven bloggers at all. But I haven’t been that active in the blogging world of late and I’m not sure who else to tag who hasn’t been tagged already. If you aren’t tagged but would like to fill this out, please do so! I’d love to see your answers 🙂

And I’ll do a mix of creating new questions and re-using some of the Maidens’ questions:

(And by the way, this is a friendly reminder to learn from my mistakes and always read directions thoroughly. I did not do this, glossed over the ‘seven-word’ part of the creating new questions, and then had to reword all the questions I had thought up. Oh well. My brain is not braining these days, I guess.)

1) Have you read any ‘children’s literature’ biographies?
2) Whose autobiography is on your TBR list?
3) Have you any passed down family stories?
4) What person’s biography would you enjoy writing?
5) Which author would write your biography well?
6) Do you prefer introspective autobiographies, or factual?
7) Biographies to get people into the genre?