La Bibliothèque
Teofilo tagged me with this book meme, my very first venture into the magical land of memery. Here goes nothing:
1. One book that’s changed your life
Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. Nothing groundbreaking, but it shifted my focus from US-focused Political Science to International Relations. And I read it in a class on "less-developed countries," the same class I was sitting in when turrists attacked Amuricka. Which, as we all know, changed everything
2. One book that you have read more than once
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. AP English. I thought I had missed something, so I re-read it immediately upon finishing. (Yeah, I had missed something.)
3. One book you would want on a desert island
An e.e. cummings poetry anthology. I mean, if you're going to go crazy, I say really go for it:
4. One book that made you cry
I whimpered a lot while reading Cortázar's Rayuela (Hopscotch in the English translation). But then, it was a very rough time.
Good book, by the by.
5. One book that made you laugh
Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Yeah, I'm a pig.
6. One book you wish had been written
My maternal grandmother re-married after divorcing my biological grandpappy (dubbed "Bio" by one and all in the fam; yeah, they had some ill will). She re-married a spark of a chap named James. He owned a hunting and fishing store on Chicago's far Southside and was a Schlitz beer distributor. He died on on the day after Christmas, less than two months before I was born. I wish I could read his memoirs.
7. One book you wish had never been written
Any of the Harry Potter series. Because I'm a humorless boor.
8. One book you are currently reading.
I'm actually kind of reading three different books: Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language by Don Watson, Thomas Geoghan's Which Side Are You, and, yes, The DaVinci Code. The first two are excellent so far. The last one I'm reading out of spite, because I'm sick of trying to mock the book and its author based only on second-hand sources. It's really quite painful, and teo's approach of strict avoidance is clearly the wiser choice.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read
The Birth of Bebop by Scott DeVeaux. It's been on my shelf, unread, for years.
***
Well, that was interesting. Let's see what LC, [redacted—sorry, dude!] Rev. Dr., t(h)om have been reading. Tag!
1. One book that’s changed your life
Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. Nothing groundbreaking, but it shifted my focus from US-focused Political Science to International Relations. And I read it in a class on "less-developed countries," the same class I was sitting in when turrists attacked Amuricka. Which, as we all know, changed everything
2. One book that you have read more than once
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. AP English. I thought I had missed something, so I re-read it immediately upon finishing. (Yeah, I had missed something.)
3. One book you would want on a desert island
An e.e. cummings poetry anthology. I mean, if you're going to go crazy, I say really go for it:
1(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l
iness
4. One book that made you cry
I whimpered a lot while reading Cortázar's Rayuela (Hopscotch in the English translation). But then, it was a very rough time.
Good book, by the by.
5. One book that made you laugh
Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Yeah, I'm a pig.
6. One book you wish had been written
My maternal grandmother re-married after divorcing my biological grandpappy (dubbed "Bio" by one and all in the fam; yeah, they had some ill will). She re-married a spark of a chap named James. He owned a hunting and fishing store on Chicago's far Southside and was a Schlitz beer distributor. He died on on the day after Christmas, less than two months before I was born. I wish I could read his memoirs.
7. One book you wish had never been written
Any of the Harry Potter series. Because I'm a humorless boor.
8. One book you are currently reading.
I'm actually kind of reading three different books: Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak Are Strangling Public Language by Don Watson, Thomas Geoghan's Which Side Are You, and, yes, The DaVinci Code. The first two are excellent so far. The last one I'm reading out of spite, because I'm sick of trying to mock the book and its author based only on second-hand sources. It's really quite painful, and teo's approach of strict avoidance is clearly the wiser choice.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read
The Birth of Bebop by Scott DeVeaux. It's been on my shelf, unread, for years.
***
Well, that was interesting. Let's see what LC, [redacted—sorry, dude!] Rev. Dr., t(h)om have been reading. Tag!
posted by Stanley at 22:00
15 Comments:
we've read a few books over at the neoskeptic
To play devil's advocate for The DaVinci Code...Although the author's sources are somewhat questionable, isn't it great that a whole lot of people actually picked up a book and read, instead of resorting to TV or a video game to entertain them?
Harry Potter scares Stanley because it contains witchcraft, which goes against his newfound beliefs in Catholicism. Cultish zealot.
Hold on just a second. I disappear for a few hours, and Andrea and LC are slandering me, while t(h)om disses the Holy Book over at his blog. Sheesh.
To clarify:
Andrea, I did read the first two chapters of the first Harry Potter book—in Spanish—but then I had to stop because I was getting dumber.
t(h)om, God called; he's mad at your blog and looking for his Smite Gun™.
LC, I do not believe in this Cathol you speak of.
You're just afraid you'll like them.
Plainly.
don't hate on the hogwarts gang, Stan, or somebody might turn you into a ferret.
now, i'd like to rebuke your unfounded claim that i have "diss[ed] they Holy Book." I have no problem with the Bible, per se. I just wish it hadn't been written. there's a difference.
see, me and God are tight. JC and i used to kick it with the communion wine and burning incense on the holy days back in the sacristy during my years at Holy Cross Elementary. The holy spirit is in me: i speak in tongues and play jazz music - the most God-loving and pious praise-music on the face of the earth. My relationship with the divine trinity is tip-top.
it's just the assholes that wrote all the bigotry and hatred into the bible, and all the other assholes that misuse it that i have a problem with.
Lauren and t(h)om?! Seriously, maybe I need new friends or something. I suppose I could fire you all and make you re-apply for the privilege.
[/kidding!]
Seriously, though, it's not about being an elitist hipster indie kid. I think I'm just being stubborn, like those people that never saw Titanic and wore it smugly like a badge on their shoulder. I try not to be like those people, mostly keeping private my annoyance with the Harry Potter craze. But when provoked, I will opine with fervor and blind dogmatism. Your pleas to reason and logic are useless—useless, I tell you.
I haven't read the Potters either, Stanley. Not because I don't want to. Mostly because I have lazy eyes. Am currently reading Stones from the River, by Ursula Hegi. I prefer the zwerg to the magician...er...sorcerer...er...magic boy.
foresooth! a comment.
Auto-reply from Wry and Stanley: Anneth's application for Stanley Friendship has been received, processed, and approved.
i think you're running out of room for wearing badges smugly on your shoulder.
Wha..wha...wha..what??? I need approval?
FORESOOTH!
Come on people, I do read.
shiiiiz.
really. (comment approval? WTF? {and I would never even use those initials...argh})
Anneth, I was just referring to my previous comment: maybe I need new friends or something. I suppose I could fire you all and make you re-apply for the privilege.
By the by, when are you visiting us C-villains again?
har har har...I would's be coming soon...yea...Let me mull over my cat picks. I'm posting them to...aye aye...aye don't know. har
by ethe bye...i love me some baltimore news...seriously...ther ewas just a sorty about some ladies who added some weed to chee burgers...hence chhe burgers...shiz.
dear god...i know you're from c-town...so stanley, i think you might understand the widactidleness of baltimore news....it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fuck up!
really!
it's like a study in crime. i mean baltimore is dang - gerous. shiz a liz.
Huh?
no really...chi-town and ball-more have more ghettoness in common than most thinktedneed....er...they are both ghe-hetoos. yeah. so in the pat two days there have been 10 homocides in B-more. Watch the Wire?? If'n no, then maybe you know no...yeah, si watch...then you know how whack it be...
I think all i'm trying to say is that b-more is ghetto and I am addictied to it.
er...yah
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