Press poll turns a new page

Well, goodness, we haven’t a fun-and-giggles poll in this space for a while.

You admirable readers voted in the hundreds for the best song in 60 years (Unchained Melody) and the best movie line (“I’m your huckleberry …”), plus you even agreed that the James Bond franchise represented the best in adventure movies.

We need to do another poll, and I’ve been thinking about one pretty seriously.

Bette Ammon, director of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, will be proud of this poll.

(Hopefully!)

So …

Our question: What’s your favorite book?

Yeah, yeah, I understand. Picking out one book over a lifetime of reading is almost unfair — so I’m going to give everyone a break.

Seriously, how can we nail you down to a single book?

Therefore …

You can actually pick TWO books!

OK, but here are the rules: If you choose two, one of your entries should be what we’d all classify as an “airplane book.”

You know, a quick but enjoyable read that you might breeze through at an airport or during a flight. Some people call them “vacation books.”

In other words, not exactly heavy reading.

It’s unlikely that you’d lie on a beach and read all four volumes of Winston Churchill’s “A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.”

Seems like a million words, more or less.

Maybe two million.

That sort of thing is out, but hey now, you might read a mystery — maybe with a little sex thrown in to keep the plot from going stale.

Not to mention, some “airplane books” are pretty darn good, actually, so don’t feel embarrassed to vote for one as a favorite.

ON THE other hand, though, we also want you to recall and name a book that actually had a deep impact of any kind at all — something that perhaps made you think about society, or your life, or your marriage.

Or whatever.

For lack of a better term, “a meaningful book.”

And yes, I understand that sometimes certain books can overlap both genres.

For me, the first one that comes to mind is “Eat Pray Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert.

It’s a book (incorrectly dismissed as “chick lit” when it was published) that’s plenty of fun to read, but also contains a lot of little life lessons you might remember.

Look, we’re not going to be like your high school teacher here. No judgments.

Just throw out a couple of books, and if you’re pretty sure one of them was the quick and enjoyable sort, just say so.

Or don’t.

If your all-time favorite was “The Grapes of Wrath,” we won’t have to guess the category.

WE GET IT that different books have meaning to different people.

One of my own impact entries might be “Watership Down,” for all sorts of reasons too complicated to explain today — but yeah, it’s a book about some rabbits.

This isn’t a test.

We just want to find out what North Idahoans have read — and either enjoyed as entertainment or remembered as something that had a real meaning.

Or both.

C’mon, just throw them out there. I know darn well there are some books you loved, no matter what the subject matter.

So fire away!

You can email me, or post a response on Twitter.

My various addresses are right below what you’re reading now.

Let us have your favorite books, folks!

•••

Steve Cameron is a columnist for The Press who promises to reveal his own favorite books in good time. Oh, and who will soon release a novel which you can mention the next time we do this.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com.

Twitter: @BrandNewDayCDA