My Fresh Hell
Life in Scribbletown.

A Boring Entry About Books

2006-08-10
Took this meme from midlife mama � also the source of all things feminist and motherly (she writes for Literary Mama). She is the original source (for me) of the original Motherhood is Boring article, upon which I�ll elucidate further at another time.

Right now, let�s just have a little fun:

One book that changed your life: I have two (I can never stick to rules about The Best, The Only, etc.): William Goldman�s The Princess Bride and Orwell�s 1984.

I read The Princess Bride in 7th grade. My paperback copy was my mother�s. The cover was lurid � a stylized naked woman with lots of flowing hair and creatures all around her. Passages � the narrator breaking into the narration � were in red ink. I don�t know if that�s done now in newer versions, probably not since the movie came out. The book, needless to say, is loads better than the movie, though it�s a good movie. I remember finding it (speaking of boredom, I spent many hours simply wandering through the house poking into stuffed closets and piles of things � my mother never threw anything away) in my mother�s studio and I opened it up, despite the cover, and began to read. I�d never read anything like it before. I�d thought adult books were boring (there it is again, that word!) and here was something like a fairytale. And it was hilarious. I couldn�t put it down and remember reading it on the school bus trying to hide the cover from the other kids for fear they�d think I was reading porno.

With 1984, it was assigned reading. Maybe 8th grade or 9th? I had the flu and was home for a week. I began to read and, I couldn�t tell whether I was hallucinating from the fever and medications or if this book was�.freaking me the hell out. I�d never read any futuristic, sci fi-type novels before this one. It was thrilling and scary and again, I couldn�t put it down. I�m still not really a big �The Future Could Be Scary and The Future Is Now! Be Paranoid!� fan. I prefer mysteries and literary fictions where the characters live in the now and are believable. Stephen King excepted (though frankly, I think I�ve outgrown him. Or his writing is suffering. Or something).

One book I�ve read more than once: There are so many. I�m pretty sure I�ve read all of Dorothy Sayers�mysteries at least twice. I love me some Lord Peter Wimsey.

One book I want to take on a desert island: All the Nancy Drew books, a reference book like this one, and perhaps The Bible.

Does that last choice surprise you? I�ve never read much of it and if I were all alone for an indefinite period, it would be nice to see what all the fuss is about. At least on an historical level. I�d take notes, you can be sure, and poke holes in all the arguments for God. But, at least I could then (assuming I was rescued) have some intelligent conversations with believers. Because, frankly, I don�t get it. I probably never will but I�d be interested in knowing all the stories within. Never hurts to learn something new.

One book that makes me laugh: Everything ever written by Donald Westlake and Handling Sin by Michael Malone.

This last is probably the funniest and most painful book I�ve ever read. It was given to me by a wonderful old couple � friends of my mother�s � she�s a pinhole photography artist and he was a Westlake-like character who wrote hardboiled fiction (he�s sadly dead now) � when I was recovering from having a benign tumor removed (the size of a grapefruit, I�m told) from an ovary. The book nearly killed me and pulled out all my stitches. I highly recommend it.

One book I wish I�d written: Geez, I gotta limit myself to one? Jane Eyre. I never tire of re-learning that people never change. They have always felt the same kinds of feelings about things: sadness, boredom (!!), loneliness, love, fish-out-of-water isolation, being misunderstood, being intrigued by mystery. Hmm, I think I may need to read THAT again soon.

One book I wish had never been written: I would say The Bible, because think of all the misery caused by Christianity over the last 2,000 years but that�s not exactly the book�s fault. So, I�ll just say every single self-help and diet craze book ever written. They�ve done more harm than good and made (mostly) women crazy.

One book that made me cry: I really can�t remember but I know I cried when I read Charlotte�s Web. Midlife Mama mentioned Gone With The Wind but you know? I�ve never read it � it just always seemed too Southern, too melodramatic to bear. I used to cry over books all the time when I was younger. I don�t so much anymore unless a child dies. But I try to avoid reading those anyway.

Book I�m currently reading: Pale as the Dead by Fiona Mountain. It�s a mystery and the main character�s a genealogist who links a missing girl with Lizzie Siddal and the Pre-Raphaelites. Despite that, it�s pretty good.

One book I�ve been meaning to read: Well, there are whole AUTHORS whose books I�ve been meaning to read, catch up and get all cultured: Dickens, Steinbeck and the Brontes come to mind.

What say you?

(Damn � I am html-ed out! I gotta go rest my fingers now and do something boring like filing for an hour or two. Oh, that�s right! I actually LIKE to file. My bad.)

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2:46 p.m. ::
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