Books
I'm bored of sifting through pictures and burning them on cds. Thanks to Darryl for giving me something to do.
1. One book that changed your life
I didn't think these questions would be so tough. None, I guess. I've gotten more inspiration while cutting my grandmother's lawn than I have reading any book in memory.
Now that I think about it, I kind of miss cutting lawn. That's something to look forward to next week.
Are there any books in the canon about cutting lawn?
2. One book that you’ve read more than once
Aside from books I read for school, the only multiple-read was Blood Meridian. I usually don't re-read because I get it the first time or it wasn't worth the time and effort again. With Blood Meridian, I wasn't sure why it was so good until the second or third read, but I knew I liked it. I guess it's also a bit of a literary jerkfest -- a literary jerkfest I appreciated for once.
3. One book you want on a desert island
No way. Having any book would be so useless (not to mention ironic) that I'd throw it in the ocean. And wouldn't you end up using it as toilet paper anyway?
I'd prefer an issue of Club.
4. One book that made you laugh
Confederacy of Dunces -- but only the first 100 pages or so, which I read while at the factory. I've given five or six copies of this book as gifts and I don't even remember the ending.
The whole appeal of the book is in the author's story (he wrote it and then shot himself, probably because it captured how pathetic he was), and in the main character's ahead-of-his-time personality. He's essentially an eccentric heavy-headed blogger and I know way too many people like him, including large portions of myself.
5. One book that made you cry
I don't know if I cried, and I wouldn't admit it if I had, but the saddest story I've ever read was a dollar-store marvel called The Theory of War, by Joan Brady.
It's the mostly-true story of a white child slave after the Civil War, and there are parts where he runs away from his captors to simply find a creek and play -- not to really run away of course, because he's too young and doesn't have a clue how to do it.
Now that I think about it, I also liked Roots. Slave stories are awesome, especially if they're mostly-true.
6. One book you wish you had written
Easy. The Da Vinci Code. That guy made like a million dollars.
I'd say Harry Potter, because that British girl made a lot more cash than Dan Brown, but the first 50 pages I read of Harry Potter were childish trashcrap, whereas The Da Vinci Code was one of the best books I've ever read -- especially impressive when I was reading it to see how bad it was, like my friends said. What idiots.
The people who say the Da Vinci Code is bad writing are as crazy as the people that say Harry Potter is good.
Also, I wish I'd written the four best books by Arthur Hailey. He was a better bad writer than Dan Brown.
7. One book you wish had never been written
I'm changing this to screenplay.
Waiting...
I cried when I heard there was a movie about a day at a restauraunt and I cried even more when I realized it was almost as cultworthy as Office Space. I always thought I was the one to write a book about the Fifth Wheel, but these jerks did it before me, did it low budget, and did it well enough that anyone who ever writes another book or screenplay about a restauraunt like the Fifth Wheel will be called a hack.
8. One book you're currently reading
I just finished skimming The English Patient to see if it was as lame as I imagined. It was.
Books with constant reference to classic literature are lame. Sorry to every Canadian and British writer in existence. You're lame. Think up your own s***. There are still new ideas out there. Find them.
I'm also in the middle of at least a half dozen books, including Brideshead Revisited, Away (Joan Urquhart), Middlemarch, Darryl's book (Sorry Darryl, I can't finish it)...
God, we could go back years here. I guess I'm technically in the middle of War and Peace, Don Quixote, de Tocqueville, not to mention at least twenty textbooks from UofT and five to ten from Western.
9. One book you've been meaning to read
The Dos Passos U.S.A. Trilogy. I've never seen proof that it exists in a store, and we're talking about years as a troll in the shops. I'll probably break down and order it soon.
10. Six people to tag (to do this themselves)
I don't know six people with websites. Sorry, continuum.
1. One book that changed your life
I didn't think these questions would be so tough. None, I guess. I've gotten more inspiration while cutting my grandmother's lawn than I have reading any book in memory.
Now that I think about it, I kind of miss cutting lawn. That's something to look forward to next week.
Are there any books in the canon about cutting lawn?
2. One book that you’ve read more than once
Aside from books I read for school, the only multiple-read was Blood Meridian. I usually don't re-read because I get it the first time or it wasn't worth the time and effort again. With Blood Meridian, I wasn't sure why it was so good until the second or third read, but I knew I liked it. I guess it's also a bit of a literary jerkfest -- a literary jerkfest I appreciated for once.
3. One book you want on a desert island
No way. Having any book would be so useless (not to mention ironic) that I'd throw it in the ocean. And wouldn't you end up using it as toilet paper anyway?
I'd prefer an issue of Club.
4. One book that made you laugh
Confederacy of Dunces -- but only the first 100 pages or so, which I read while at the factory. I've given five or six copies of this book as gifts and I don't even remember the ending.
The whole appeal of the book is in the author's story (he wrote it and then shot himself, probably because it captured how pathetic he was), and in the main character's ahead-of-his-time personality. He's essentially an eccentric heavy-headed blogger and I know way too many people like him, including large portions of myself.
5. One book that made you cry
I don't know if I cried, and I wouldn't admit it if I had, but the saddest story I've ever read was a dollar-store marvel called The Theory of War, by Joan Brady.
It's the mostly-true story of a white child slave after the Civil War, and there are parts where he runs away from his captors to simply find a creek and play -- not to really run away of course, because he's too young and doesn't have a clue how to do it.
Now that I think about it, I also liked Roots. Slave stories are awesome, especially if they're mostly-true.
6. One book you wish you had written
Easy. The Da Vinci Code. That guy made like a million dollars.
I'd say Harry Potter, because that British girl made a lot more cash than Dan Brown, but the first 50 pages I read of Harry Potter were childish trashcrap, whereas The Da Vinci Code was one of the best books I've ever read -- especially impressive when I was reading it to see how bad it was, like my friends said. What idiots.
The people who say the Da Vinci Code is bad writing are as crazy as the people that say Harry Potter is good.
Also, I wish I'd written the four best books by Arthur Hailey. He was a better bad writer than Dan Brown.
7. One book you wish had never been written
I'm changing this to screenplay.
Waiting...
I cried when I heard there was a movie about a day at a restauraunt and I cried even more when I realized it was almost as cultworthy as Office Space. I always thought I was the one to write a book about the Fifth Wheel, but these jerks did it before me, did it low budget, and did it well enough that anyone who ever writes another book or screenplay about a restauraunt like the Fifth Wheel will be called a hack.
8. One book you're currently reading
I just finished skimming The English Patient to see if it was as lame as I imagined. It was.
Books with constant reference to classic literature are lame. Sorry to every Canadian and British writer in existence. You're lame. Think up your own s***. There are still new ideas out there. Find them.
I'm also in the middle of at least a half dozen books, including Brideshead Revisited, Away (Joan Urquhart), Middlemarch, Darryl's book (Sorry Darryl, I can't finish it)...
God, we could go back years here. I guess I'm technically in the middle of War and Peace, Don Quixote, de Tocqueville, not to mention at least twenty textbooks from UofT and five to ten from Western.
9. One book you've been meaning to read
The Dos Passos U.S.A. Trilogy. I've never seen proof that it exists in a store, and we're talking about years as a troll in the shops. I'll probably break down and order it soon.
10. Six people to tag (to do this themselves)
I don't know six people with websites. Sorry, continuum.
posted by Timothy Holden at
8:39 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with what you say about the Don Passos books. I think that the "USA Trilogy" is a chimera made up by Literature and English professors. None of them have read it, let alone even seen a physical copy of it, but they have to be all I HAVE A BIG BRAIN and keep saying how its a "great read"
By
Unknown, at 7:39 AM
Haha. It exists on the internet though... Maybe I'll order it on amazon and they'll send me an invitation to be an English professor at a top-flight school in exchange for my silence on the subject of your "chimera'"
By
Unknown, at 8:02 AM
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