bluegreen17 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluegreen17) wrote2003-08-25 06:18 pm
bluegreen17) wrote2003-08-25 06:18 pm
the lost afternoon:going on a (book) bender
today i went to visit my mother in the nursing home. it's not an easy thing to do,because she can't speak (als atrophied the muscles) and she can't comprehend a lot of things,so she can't even write notes any more (she has a rare form of als that includes dementia). i also don't like the traffic.
anyway,to put a positive spin on it,i often visit the library that's nearby.
well,today i went to three libraries and borrowed a total of 19 books! i go really nuts...kind of like foster brooks in a package store. (if you get that reference,you're probably older than me!)
i probably would have borrowed a few videos and/or dvds as well,but they only go out for a week and the library will be closed for labor day weekend,therefore they will be due the tuesday after,and i'm working and i don't really want to have to run an errand when i'm usually running late for work anyway,so i restrained myself. there were a few documentaries on hawaii that i was interested in,but maybe i'll borrow them another time.
so anyway,here is what i got:
will durant's greatest minds and ideas of all time
it's a very slim volume...does that make anyone else have cynical thoughts?
insight guides native america
i'm a big fan of the insight guides series. i think they're called discovery guides and associated with the discovery channel these days. they are considered travel guides but they are so much more than that. whenever i want to learn about an area,i read one of these. plus they have wonderful color photos in each book.
the thurber carnival by james thurber
i want to read the walter mitty story.i think i can relate to him a bit. if i didn't spend a certain amount of time daydreaming,i seriously wonder if i'd have killed myself long ago. sorry to be so morbid. i have very mixed feelings with books like be here now and the power of now because i really want to enjoy the now,but i often find many of my nows either boring or painful,so it's quite a challenge,to say the least. i think it has a lot to do with thinking habits i've acquired over the years accompanied by a tendency towards anger and melancholy and frustration,but if i think it can be changed if i am able to get myself to work hard enough at it. or maybe just get some lucky breaks. who knows?
borges: a reader a collection of writings by jorge luis borges. it looks juicy...lots of essays on other writers,etc.
the well-educated mind: a guide to the classical education you never had by susan wise bauer
i love reading about what i 'should' know even if i'm not really interested in actually reading what i 'should'.the cool thing is,i am likely to get interested in most anything at some point or other...i often surprise myself.
two newish books by nick bantock: alexandria and the morning star.
i have a love/hate relationship with the griffin and sabine books he wrote. i love the art work,and reading the little letters in the book,but having read the original three,i simply got frustrated with the fact that something major seemed to be lacking...some sort of meaning or something. i had the same frustration when i read and enjoyed richard brautigan's so the wind won't blow it all away. i loved reading it,but then the book ended and there was no point to it! i don't really understand postmodernism,but i have a hunch if i did,i'd hate it.
ten little indians by sherman alexie. he intrigues me,because people,particularly other native americans,seem to either love or hate him.
the nine nations of north america by joel garreau
and old and classic book that i've read before about the different regions in north america. geographical sociology...i love that kind of stuff. i particularly wanted to reread the chapter on the islands,because i thought it was about hawaii,but it's actually about the bahamas,cuba, the caribbean, and includes parts of southern florida and the northern south american coast...which i'm not particularly interested in at the moment. hawaii is included on the chapter on 'abberrations',which is not as negative as it sounds,but anyhow...
manifesto:a century of isms edited by mary ann caws
what a cool idea for a book! it's a bunch of artistic and cultural manifestos and it's a thick book. it doesn't look like it includes any political stuff,which would probably fill another thick book. there's tons of cultural movements here that i've never even heard of. this could be great fun!
well,okay,that's not quite nineteen. i couldn't carry them all up from my car at once,and even this pile nearly broke my arm. so maybe i'll write about the others that are left in the car later. or maybe not. i've got laundry to do,trash to take out,dishes to wash,and as usual,an entire apartment to clean. but of course i will read every word of each of these books. okay,okay. i'll be lucky if i read a chapter in even one of these books in the course of the next two weeks. it seems once my work week starts,i don't do much reading or writing,except during dinnertime at work,and usually that's a stack of new magazines!
i've thought about moving to minnesota (brrrrr...) to work at the utne reader...reading and choosing things to republish in it.i'll bet i could do that by telecommuting though,if i had a computer. maybe i'll look into that. i think it would be the perfect job for me. what i'd really love,though,is to publish my only anthology-type thing...
anyway,i had fun picking out all of these books. even if there is an aura of frenzy about the whole process. it kind of makes me high and hyper. wheeee...!!!
and oh yeah,i also got old copies of wired and book magazine at the book swap at the library. i love reading book reviews. the big fat issues of publisher's weekly that are issued for the spring and fall seasons contains hours of fun for me.
uh yeah. those dishes...i'm outta here...for now.
anyway,to put a positive spin on it,i often visit the library that's nearby.
well,today i went to three libraries and borrowed a total of 19 books! i go really nuts...kind of like foster brooks in a package store. (if you get that reference,you're probably older than me!)
i probably would have borrowed a few videos and/or dvds as well,but they only go out for a week and the library will be closed for labor day weekend,therefore they will be due the tuesday after,and i'm working and i don't really want to have to run an errand when i'm usually running late for work anyway,so i restrained myself. there were a few documentaries on hawaii that i was interested in,but maybe i'll borrow them another time.
so anyway,here is what i got:
will durant's greatest minds and ideas of all time
it's a very slim volume...does that make anyone else have cynical thoughts?
insight guides native america
i'm a big fan of the insight guides series. i think they're called discovery guides and associated with the discovery channel these days. they are considered travel guides but they are so much more than that. whenever i want to learn about an area,i read one of these. plus they have wonderful color photos in each book.
the thurber carnival by james thurber
i want to read the walter mitty story.i think i can relate to him a bit. if i didn't spend a certain amount of time daydreaming,i seriously wonder if i'd have killed myself long ago. sorry to be so morbid. i have very mixed feelings with books like be here now and the power of now because i really want to enjoy the now,but i often find many of my nows either boring or painful,so it's quite a challenge,to say the least. i think it has a lot to do with thinking habits i've acquired over the years accompanied by a tendency towards anger and melancholy and frustration,but if i think it can be changed if i am able to get myself to work hard enough at it. or maybe just get some lucky breaks. who knows?
borges: a reader a collection of writings by jorge luis borges. it looks juicy...lots of essays on other writers,etc.
the well-educated mind: a guide to the classical education you never had by susan wise bauer
i love reading about what i 'should' know even if i'm not really interested in actually reading what i 'should'.the cool thing is,i am likely to get interested in most anything at some point or other...i often surprise myself.
two newish books by nick bantock: alexandria and the morning star.
i have a love/hate relationship with the griffin and sabine books he wrote. i love the art work,and reading the little letters in the book,but having read the original three,i simply got frustrated with the fact that something major seemed to be lacking...some sort of meaning or something. i had the same frustration when i read and enjoyed richard brautigan's so the wind won't blow it all away. i loved reading it,but then the book ended and there was no point to it! i don't really understand postmodernism,but i have a hunch if i did,i'd hate it.
ten little indians by sherman alexie. he intrigues me,because people,particularly other native americans,seem to either love or hate him.
the nine nations of north america by joel garreau
and old and classic book that i've read before about the different regions in north america. geographical sociology...i love that kind of stuff. i particularly wanted to reread the chapter on the islands,because i thought it was about hawaii,but it's actually about the bahamas,cuba, the caribbean, and includes parts of southern florida and the northern south american coast...which i'm not particularly interested in at the moment. hawaii is included on the chapter on 'abberrations',which is not as negative as it sounds,but anyhow...
manifesto:a century of isms edited by mary ann caws
what a cool idea for a book! it's a bunch of artistic and cultural manifestos and it's a thick book. it doesn't look like it includes any political stuff,which would probably fill another thick book. there's tons of cultural movements here that i've never even heard of. this could be great fun!
well,okay,that's not quite nineteen. i couldn't carry them all up from my car at once,and even this pile nearly broke my arm. so maybe i'll write about the others that are left in the car later. or maybe not. i've got laundry to do,trash to take out,dishes to wash,and as usual,an entire apartment to clean. but of course i will read every word of each of these books. okay,okay. i'll be lucky if i read a chapter in even one of these books in the course of the next two weeks. it seems once my work week starts,i don't do much reading or writing,except during dinnertime at work,and usually that's a stack of new magazines!
i've thought about moving to minnesota (brrrrr...) to work at the utne reader...reading and choosing things to republish in it.i'll bet i could do that by telecommuting though,if i had a computer. maybe i'll look into that. i think it would be the perfect job for me. what i'd really love,though,is to publish my only anthology-type thing...
anyway,i had fun picking out all of these books. even if there is an aura of frenzy about the whole process. it kind of makes me high and hyper. wheeee...!!!
and oh yeah,i also got old copies of wired and book magazine at the book swap at the library. i love reading book reviews. the big fat issues of publisher's weekly that are issued for the spring and fall seasons contains hours of fun for me.
uh yeah. those dishes...i'm outta here...for now.
no subject
those are interesting books. i like sherman alexie a lot. funny about how the durant book is so short!
no subject
I also own The Thurber Carnival. I haven't had a chance to read it all the way through yet, but the little bits I have finished are great.
no subject
Those Insight/Discovery guides are great! Each time I go to the library, I try to check out at least one book with good pictures. The Insight Guides are ideal for the purpose.
Borges, I love him too. Somewhere around I have a collection of some of his short stories in Spanish. I've never read it, though, because I have unfortunately forgotten nearly all the Spanish I ever knew. Still think it's worth re-tackling some day.