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••• Monday, June 14, 2004

Lady Chat Away's Livre
If you've come here for more enlightened insights on garter squares, you'll be disappointed. I'm thinking I won't be reaching my garter groove until square 26 or 27, so please be patient.

Kerstin and J Strizzy have both posted a MEME (what the hell is a MEME?) where you highlight books you've read from a list of literature classics.

I'm not going to post that MEME (anyone?) right now, but I am going to chat a bit about books. You see, I've been thinking about reading one. And it kind of scares me because....Hello, my name is Marcia and I'm a bookaholic. It's been one year since I read a book.

I'm not much of a social reader. You might notice that I never post about books. There's no book list on my sidebar. I don't belong to any read-alongs or book clubs. No, social reading is a litte too refined for me.

I'm your basic, hard core, compulsive, binge reader. And I prefer to read alone. Back in the glory days, I could start my day with a little read, and keep going until I passed out on the couch, in the wee hours of the morn.

I've sneaked reads in the basement while "doing" laundry. I've sneak-peeked a book in my desk drawer at work. I've pretended to read on the can, while nestled in a dry bathtub, amidst a pile of cushy towels. I've stayed up until 3am on a work night to finish a book. Of course I'd wake up with the dreaded harangueover(dark circles, headache, bloodshot eyes, odd twitch, faraway look) for which there is no releaf.

Like Kerstin, I can't limit my reading to a 15-20 minute bedtime wind down. I read with wild abandon. I live the lives, smell the smells and bruise the wounds of each story's characters.

When I'm reading,my domestic world goes to hell. Children starve, dogs fatten, wounds fester and husbands stray. If I can be compelled to put a book down (ex: bloodcurdling screams, outside of my head) I will continue to obsess think about the book's storyline/characters, as indicated by my vacant, detached affect, change in dialect and willingness to serve Pop-Tart nachos for dinner (Cheddar cheese on the apple/cinnamon? Not too shabby).

The first summer I was employed with the school district, I went a little nuts. After going through Barnes Enable's recommended summer read list, well before Summer Solstice, I was in a hurry for my next fix. Hmmm....Ann Rice? Naw, I'm not interested in that vampire crap. Well, okay, maybe just one. I read the Vampire Chronicles in under a week, and capped off said week with The Mayfair Witch series.

I can read the average size book in a day and some books I've read in a long afternoon (ex: The Reader, Bernard Schlink. Thumbs up, btw). If it takes me a week to finish a book, I probably don't like it much and will likely not finish it. The exceptions to that rule were Smilla's Sense of Snow, (Peter Hoag), Shogun (James Clavell) and The Far Pavillions (MM Kaye).

Reading Trivia about Yours Truly
First Hardcore Chapter Binge (7th grade):
From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, EL Konisburg

Books that made me laugh:
Turtle Moon-Alice Hoffman
The World According to Garp, John Irving
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Rebecca Wells

Books that made me cry: (a sampling)
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
The Dollmaker, Harriet Arnow
Beloved, Tony Morrison

Books that Made me Faint: (true story)
Hannibal, Thomas Harris

Favorite John Grisham Book:
The Painted House

Most Read-from Genre:
Gothic Romance. When I was in middle school I read every Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney book I could find. Penmarric by Susan Howatch was a goody too.

Books That Made Me Want to Get it on With a Female Lizard
West of Eden, Harry Harrison

Books that Made Me Say "Tak-a-lak" and "Candy-lak" for an Entire Summer:
Desperation, Stephen King

Books that Fell Short of the Hype:
The Man who Ate the 747, Ben Sherwood
Plainsong, Kent Haruf
Here on Earth, Alice Hoffman

* Some All Time Favorites: (no specific order and just a sampling)
Bellefleur, Joyce Carol Oates
The Dollmaker, Harriet Arnow
The Temple of My Familiar, Alice Walker
Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Shell Seekers, Rosamond Pilcher
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
Beloved, Toni Morrison

*Truthfully, I can't remember many of the books I've read. I've actually bought books I'd already read and forgotten, until I started reading it again.

There you have it. My literary world is now an open book.

With a week at the lake coming up, I'm looking to venture once more into the pages of a summer fantasy. Any suggestions? (I promise, I'll read responsibly.)

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# posted by Marcia @ 12:11 PM


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