Thursday, October 12, 2006

I can't count to one

I was asked to do this book meme by antonia. And so i shall.

ONE BOOK THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE

This is really asinine, but it was that first book that Oprah wrote with her trainer guy. I read it when i was looking for some motivation to get off my ass. In it she said that you have to believe that you are worth getting out of bed at 5 am for. That was about 10 years ago, and I’ve been moving ever since. It helps me to stave off depression.

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. If you have not read this, please do so now. This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.


ONE BOOK YOU HAVE READ MORE THAN ONCE

Is Your Mama a Llama? (Okay, I know that isn’t what this is asking, but I have read that book at least 300 times.)
This is hard because i rarely re-read books. I am trying to think of one I have re-read. Oh, I know! Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. Which is truly an excellent book.


ONE BOOK YOU WOULD WANT ON A DESERT ISLAND

Probably the world’s biggest book of NY Times Sunday crossword puzzles. And a mechanical pencil with a big eraser.


ONE BOOK THAT MADE YOU LAUGH

Lamb, The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Warning: might be offensive to Christians.

Anything by James Thurber always makes me laugh out loud and go find someone to read bits of it to while snorting and guffawing.


ONE BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Ann Fadiman. This is a non-fiction book about the medical cultural clash between two completely different ways of life. Sounds odds, but it is a great book.

ONE BOOK YOU WISH HAD BEEN WRITTEN

How to Forgive and Why Should You, and What Does it Mean if You Do? No issues here. No. Not me.

ONE BOOK YOU WISH HAD NEVER BEEN WRITTEN

Where to start? A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I finished this piece of garbage two days before the shit hit the fan. I could tell he was full of crap even before then. What a self aggrandizing bit of rubbish.

Anything with Chicken Soup in the title.

ONE BOOK YOU ARE CURRENTLY READING (I read a lot of books at once.)

The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch. My mom gave me this book for my birthday, so I am wary of it. So far it’s okay but the plot device of the super precocious geeky 13 yo boy might prove too much for me.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. A science book about evolution. Fascinating, but needs to be digested slowly.

To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming. This is the fourth in a trashy mystery series that I am really enjoying.

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire. This is a sequel to Wicked, the Oz story told from the perspective of the wicked witch of the west. Haven't read very far yet, so i don't know if i should recommend it.

ONE BOOK YOU'VE BEEN MEANING TO READ

The Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel. Another science book, this one is about how relationships create pathways in the brain. The Mister and I went to a seminar given by Siegel a while back. It was us and a bunch of people in the mental health industry. Again, fascinating, but I haven’t managed to read the book yet. The Mister says it’s great, but he loves clinical psychology books so what dos he know?

ONE BOOK YOU'RE GLAD YOU OWN

For Christmas a few years ago the Mister got me the 20 volume version of the Oxford English Dictionary. I use them all the time and they’re beautiful and sometimes I just like to fondle and smell them.

ONE BOOK THAT MUST BE READ ALOUD

The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber
For example: (come on, read it out loud)

Hark hark, the dogs do bark,
The duke is fond of kittens.
He likes to take their insides out,
And use their fur for mittens.

ONE BOOK TO RULE THEM ALL, AND IN THE DARKNESS BIND THEM


Just kidding, I made this one up.


update: Shit, i forgot to tag anyone. I am such a loser. I would tag lazylazyme and Ms. amusing, if tagging isn't too uncool for you all.

22 comments:

amusing said...

I am so insanely jealous that you have the OED! Oh. I'm drooling.

I will have to read The Thirteen Clocks now, because if it's Thurber it seems it should be short and quick and the kitten mitten bit made me chuckle. ANd I like chuckling. Chortling too.

I don't know if I could do this meme -- I sometimes think that books are like songs -- I adore them but ask me to name one and the names of all of them go right out of my head; can't think of a one.

So -- what's the answer -- one book to rule them all?

meno said...

amusing, FEAR NOT THE MEME. As you can see, as a result of your comment, i tagged you. And this is what i meant to do before life interrupted me. Ignore the rules and do what you like. i did. Try to find a used copy of the 13 clocks, maybe at the library (it's out of print dammit) and read it to your boys. They'll love it. The OED was the best christmas present ever. really. And i'm still waiting to find the book that rules them all.

Lucia said...

Your list resulted in some new additions to my to-read list (like Lamb). All the ones on your crap list were already on my own crap list. Who was up in a room late one night and came up with those Chicken Soup books anyway? Ugh!!

Mother of Invention said...

Wow! You have quite a list! Sad to say, I don't read as much as I should or would like. Takes me forever to plow through bigger books. I'm reading, "As The Crow Flies" (Ann Marie McDonald)

Have read, "Gone With The Wind" a few times and a few Canadian books that people wouldn't likely know too well. (The Stone Angel" Margaret Lawrence)

Lynnea said...

Adding Is Your Mama a Llama to my "to get" list. Seriously. I loved Ender's Game, an excellent read. Is there a club for OED owners? C'mon you can tell us. James Frey, ugh. This 'Gospel According to Biff', gotta check that out too. This list is fun.

Anonymous said...

I'm forming an OED envy group.

Love the list and the laughs.

amusing said...

Maybe the OED is the one book to rule them all. Without words, where would books be?

Okay. I'll have a shot. But I used to be in publishing and now I'm not so it will just remind me of all the books I've wanted to read but haven't, all the books I read that weren't that great, and books I loved that never made the bigtime....but I won't remember the name of a one of them!

I'll try. It just may be awhile coming. Am I supposed to put it here, or at my place?

Lynnea said...

Dauferio, add me to the envy group.

urban-urchin said...

Owww the 20 volume OED. I bow down before you madam.

I haven't read the James Frey book and for a while thought I might but quite frankly I have so little time why waste it on twaddle? The chicken soup books piss me off.

Good list!

thailandchani said...

The James Frey book also totally p'ed me off. It was so obviously bravado. It made me mad that I put money in that guy's pocket!

I do *not* like soppy sentimentality. The chicken soup books are out, out, out!

Currently, I am reading John Grisham's new book 'The Innocent Man'. Surprisingly, it is excellent!

One of the best books I've ever read is "The Resilient Spirit: Transforming Suffering into Insight and Renewal" by Polly Young Eisendrath. It will change your thinking forever.

A few others: Anything by Armistead Maupin, particularly "Tales of the City". Anything by Nelson DeMille. Anything by Sheri Reynolds.

One more recommendation and that's enough. History: "Clever Girl" by Lauren Kessler. It is a biography of Elizabeth Bentley.

Whew!


Thailand Gal

~*~*~*

Anonymous said...

I agree. Those chicken books are crap. They aren't even emotive stories. Why do people settle for pablum?

I'm a Steinbeck and La Guin junky.

meno said...

hi lucia, i don't know who it was, but they sure are rich.

MOI, i don't read as many books as i would like, but i sure read a lot of stuff on the internet.

maggie, Em loved that book when she was about 3 or 4. I don't think there's a club for OED owners. As a result of all the comments about OED envy, i looked at Amazon. I had no idea that it cost so $$#%@ much.

hi de, OED envy! You can get a 2 volume one that comes with its own magnifying glass, but even those are astonishingly expensive.

amusing, i think the OED might be that book too. You put the meme up at your place, with a note saying that that bitch meno made you do it. No rush.

maggie, you guys need a secret handshake.

urban-urchin, i live a life of priviledge, that's for sure! truly don't bother w/Frey's book.

thailand gal, Frey is a dick! thanks for the recommendations!

holly, Em read and liked one of them when she was 10. I think that's the intellectual level they are aiming for. I have never read any, so i am being a judgmental bitch, which i do so well. I too love Steinbeck and Ursula K.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Frey is a dick, but if he turns anyone on to Lao Tzu, I think he's served a purpose.

SUEB0B said...

I interviewed one of the Chicken Soup guys. I asked him a question that I thought was so hilarious: "Is there going to be a Chicken Soup for the Vegetarian Soul?"

"Absolutely," he answered without hesitation and without irony. He didn't think it was a funny question at all.

meno said...

de, maybe that IS his purpose.

suebob, Ha ha ha ha...that is absolutely wonderful! I am so proud of you for coming up with that question. And his response was priceless. His brain must have been an irony-free zone.

Imez said...

I. Love. People. Talking about books!!!

Dammit, I know I'm gonna have to read that Oprah book. Dammit. Oh why fight it, I already had to buy a Dr. Phil book.

For a meme post, you made this one really fun to read.

LazyLazyMe said...

My brain has an ironing-free zone.

Anonymous said...

meno, that's a great meme. i may steal it some time when i'm desperate for content, not that i'm not right now.

peevish said...

Okay, I finally posted mine. I so much agree with you about the Chicken Soup books. Blech! But I'm gonna look for that Wallace Stegner book now.

And, Thailand Gal, those Tales of the City books are so addictive. When I read them, I had to make an emergency late-night run to a bookstore right after I finished one so I could get started on the next one immediately.

meno said...

esereth, i love people talking about books too! Thanks for the compliment.

lazy, my HOUSE is an iron free zone. They are a tool of the devil, and as such have been banned from the premises.

marian, i would love it if you would do this meme. I am shy about tagging people because i know that some consider memes to be foolish. But books are always cool.

lisa, i'll be right over to see. Did you see suebob's comment above about the chicken soup books? Priceless. I've read tales of the city too, a long time ago. They are addictive. There was even a TV show for a while that captured the essence pretty well.

Andrea Frazer said...

I love Christopher Moore, but never read the one about Christ's childhood. As a Sunday School teacher I can say... I can't wait! Ha! I love that sort of stuff. Like Wicked... the back story of the Wicked Witch and how Glenda was really such a bitch in highschool? LOVE THAT.

sari said...

Hello...fellow NaBloPoMo'er here to say I liked Son Of A Witch better than Wicked, you should read it. Also, Chris Moore's "A Dirty Job" is darn good as well.

That's all, I shall run and retreat back into my blogger cave. You're one of my first forays into the "comment world", even though it's still October and am starting early with them.