A Meme of One's Own
Hi there! Welcome to Monday! I saved you a seat!
I am feeling not so smart right now. It might be the fact that I spent the better part of the afternoon re-caulking the bathtub and shower. (Also: I spent the better part of the day egregiously abusing the word "caulk" in conversation.) It might be the fact that I forced Rusty to watch The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas last night. (Oh, did I forget to tell you? I love Dolly Parton.)
Nonetheless:
I need to get my head back on straight. Hence, a list -- or better yet, a WHOLE BUNCH of lists. Feel free to play along at home!
Five most recent books you've bought for yourself:
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
Short Stories - Leo Tolstoi
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Five books you've most recently given other people:
Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund
Two Towns in France - M.F.K. Fisher
You Remind Me of Me - Dan Chaon
Baby Bargains - Denise Fields
The Rachel Papers - Martin Amis
Five most recent books you've loaned other people, and their status:
Ha! Now I think to make a list.
Last five kids' books you bought:
Madeline's Rescue - Ludwig Bemelmans
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel - Virginia Lee Burton
White Snow Bright Snow - Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin - Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman
National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals
Last five books you looked at on Amazon/Chapters/Powell's/etc.:
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37)
Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund
The Prostitute in the Family Tree: Discovering Humor and Irony in the Bible
bills open kitchen
Tokyo: A Certain Style
Top five books on your "to read" pile:
The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro
Alternadad - Neal Pollack
Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert
Animals in Translation - Temple Grandin
The 100-Mile Diet - Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
Bottom five books on your "to read" pile (I don't know about you, but I had to move some stacks just to get all the way through the pile -- yikes):
The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman
I Have Landed - Stephen Jay Gould
Sermons and Soda-Water - John O'Hara
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir
Hm. I don't know if I feel better now, exactly, but I definitely feel different.
I am feeling not so smart right now. It might be the fact that I spent the better part of the afternoon re-caulking the bathtub and shower. (Also: I spent the better part of the day egregiously abusing the word "caulk" in conversation.) It might be the fact that I forced Rusty to watch The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas last night. (Oh, did I forget to tell you? I love Dolly Parton.)
Nonetheless:
toxic fumes x (Dolly Parton + Burt Reynolds + a musical)
= a killer recipe for dumb
= a killer recipe for dumb
I need to get my head back on straight. Hence, a list -- or better yet, a WHOLE BUNCH of lists. Feel free to play along at home!
Five most recent books you've bought for yourself:
Anil's Ghost - Michael Ondaatje
The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco
Short Stories - Leo Tolstoi
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
Five books you've most recently given other people:
Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund
Two Towns in France - M.F.K. Fisher
You Remind Me of Me - Dan Chaon
Baby Bargains - Denise Fields
The Rachel Papers - Martin Amis
Five most recent books you've loaned other people, and their status:
Ha! Now I think to make a list.
Last five kids' books you bought:
Madeline's Rescue - Ludwig Bemelmans
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel - Virginia Lee Burton
White Snow Bright Snow - Alvin Tresselt and Roger Duvoisin
Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin - Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman
National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals
Last five books you looked at on Amazon/Chapters/Powell's/etc.:
100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37)
Plop: Recent Projects of the Public Art Fund
The Prostitute in the Family Tree: Discovering Humor and Irony in the Bible
bills open kitchen
Tokyo: A Certain Style
Top five books on your "to read" pile:
The Unconsoled - Kazuo Ishiguro
Alternadad - Neal Pollack
Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert
Animals in Translation - Temple Grandin
The 100-Mile Diet - Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
Bottom five books on your "to read" pile (I don't know about you, but I had to move some stacks just to get all the way through the pile -- yikes):
The Areas of My Expertise - John Hodgman
I Have Landed - Stephen Jay Gould
Sermons and Soda-Water - John O'Hara
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir
Hm. I don't know if I feel better now, exactly, but I definitely feel different.
Labels: Lists
posted by Doppelganger at 12:41 AM
19 Comments:
Good Monday to you too - although it's already 10pm here in Christchurch...
bought for myself:
-The Six Pack (Winning Writing from New Zealand Book Month) - multiple authors
-a very tiny book of short stories about Waiheke Island, by local Waiheke authors (soooo funny!)
-Stonefish - Keri Hulme
-Tender at the Bone - Ruth Reichl
-Garlic & Sapphires - Ruth Reichl
given to others
-Lonely Planet Signspotting - Doug Lansky
-Another book by Keri Hulme, but I can't remember which, and a book of contemporary NZ short stories (both for my sister back in Canada, so she knows what she's missing)
-And before moving to NZ last November I gave away my books - all but one box-full...
loaned books
-the Once Were Warriors trilogy (2-What becomes of the brokenhearted, 3-Jake's long shadow) - Alan Duff (to my sister, & it's most likely going around the rest of the family, aunts & such, while I'm away)
-Mazag - Robert Solé (I know who has it, can't remember if she gave it back or not, but know she's taking very good care of it)
kids books
-Diary of a Wombat - Jackie French
-Oh! The Places You'll Go - Dr. Seuss
-Six By Seuss (The Lorax & Other Stories) - Dr. Seuss
... I'm 25 and don,t have any kids...
Amazon & co
no time, or money, to spend on amazon (a.k.a. broke student with enough distractions as it is)
top 'to read'
-The 9/11 Commission report
-Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - Barbara Kingsolver
-anything by M.F.K. Fisher
... no space, or memory, to keep a 'to read' pile, and too much brainpower dedicated to masochistic things like Immanuel Kant & his self-contradictions on politics, or better yet, historical ideas on monism & dualism in the relationship between domestic & international law... but I digress. I read whatever I can get my hands on, whenever I get my hands on it - much of it suggested by you, incidentally.
bottom 'to read'
same issues as above - so no such thing for me!
ps. sorry to post in the comments, my blog is doing other things at the moment...
The John Hodgeman book is great to have lying around to just pick up and read from randomly.
Oh! This just reminded me how much I loved Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel when I was a kid! Such a good book!
oh man, i cannot even begin to do this meme, as my TBR pile has morphed in the past year into an entire 6-feet-tall TBR bookshelf. I think it's a sickness. God knows my husband certainly thinks so.
Wait - you don't want to read Catch-22?! I need reasons, dammit!
Oops! I still have a book of yours, which was fantastic incidentally...
Anne-Marie
Ooh, Frederique... do you have tips on which of Keri Hulme's books I should read? I loved The Bone People -- in fact, I'm always shocked when it doesn't show up on all those "best 100 contemporary novels" lists -- but I don't know what to pick up next.
Steph, I agree. I think I need to keep it lying around someplace other underneath than a three-foot stack of books.
Alice, I know! I keep mentally writing a post about Mike Mulligan. I might even get around to actually writing it someday.
BabelBabe, holy crap. You ought to post a picture on your site. Seriously, I'd love to see it. (Also, it would make me feel better about my own huge -- though, relatively smaller -- stack.)
Shona, no, no, no! I DO want to read Catch-22. It just keeps getting buried in the aforementioned stack. But I've pulled it up closer to the top, I swear.
And A-M, heh. Don't worry -- you're on the good list. I'm not worried about getting the book back... though I am curious to know which book it is, since I only have hazy memories of giving it to you. :)
Great list. Here are my answers:
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2007/06.html#50books_meme
My lists are up on my blog. Thanks for giving me something fun to do for a Monday!
It's funny you should mention Catch-22, I read it around this time last summer and am just now getting ready to blog about it. You could say I'm a bit behind....I disagree with all the reviews that say it's the funniest thing ever written, but it is a good read. Hope you enjoy it when you finally get to it!
I guess I should give you the link, shouldn't I? :)
http://chronicles-of-a-research-slave.blogspot.com/2007/06/lists-lists-and-lists-oh-my.html
Um, it's green? And it was really sad? I'm the WORST with book titles.
I actually think I side swipped it from Libby, as she was trying to give it back to you!
AM
Ha! I do remember the occasion now, but still no recollection of the book. That's hilarious. I'm glad it was good, though... whatever it was. Heh.
Puss Reboots, I LOVE Peter's Chair. Ezra Jack Keats is my kiddie lit boyfriend.
And rocketgirl, you're going to like The Remains of the Day and Me Talk Pretty, I swear.
You're the second person to praise Ezra Jack Keats. I have to admit I'd never heard of him but the book was completely appropriate for my son since he's recently become a big brother.
I haven't read anything else by Keri Hulme yet - Stonefish is a collection of previously published short stories spanning about 10 years. The strange mix of extremely poetic prose, maori culture and science fiction, threw a bit of a curve ball to my brain, but finished the book with a 'oooh... this was really good' satisfaction.
Hulme's other books have just shot to the top of my (admitedly short) 'to read' list. And I'm on vacation for 3 weeks. How perfect!
I often catch myself singing, "I'll be fine and dandy/Lord, it's like a hard candy Christmas!"
But those are the only words I know to the song.
My list is pretty shameful; just know that if I could buy books, Davis Sedaris would have a shelf on my longest wall.
Eeek! I don't remember how I found your blog, but I posted my answers to your meme here
Have a great weekend!
A bit late to the party, I'm afraid, but here are my 5 euro cents: http://simonlitton.livejournal.com/24124.html
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