August 12, 2006

• The Worm and the Books She Loves
  Boonwasborn and Rubyblue123 both tagged me to dish about books, which I love to do. So here it is ladies and gents, Chicagoartgirl23’s book loves.

  One book that changed your life?
  I can’t name one. That is just too hard. Here are a few that shaped my life at different points in time.

  Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic by Shel Silversein
  My grandpa, grandma, and mom would read poems from these books to me at bedtime when I was too little to know how to read myself. I learned to take comfort in stories from these readings. And these books, these same physical books, will be read to my children.

  Lizard Music by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
  This surreal “young adults” book was the most different, refreshing thing I had ever read. It stayed with me as one of my favorites, and looking back, reading it as an adult, I think it helped shape my taste for the bizarre, the unexpected, the surreal, the absurd. It featured a young boy who makes friends with Walter Cronkite and a band of rock ‘n’ roll playing lizards.

  Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
  This was the first book in the genre of magical realism that I ever read and I read and I read it in middle school. It opened the door to other gorgeous novels as told by the likes of Isabel Allende, and later Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Mikhail Bulgakov.

  The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemmingway
  Reading this book in my senior year of high school articulated the concept of the “Hemmingway Hero” to me. It was so good to have a vocabulary to express my love of flawed characters and my assertion that the gray areas of life are the only ones worth writing about. This book will always hold a special place in my life.

  The Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller—I read this play before I ever knew anything about it or saw it performed. I thought it was a hysterical satire. Who names their kids Happy and Biff? Who calls their sons Adonis? The whole thing had me in shits and giggles. When I found out in class that it was a tragedy, I was shocked. But after a bit of research, I found out that Miller also was shocked when people found the play to be a depressing tragedy. Like me, he also thought it was funny. This read taught me that an artist’s intent is not always interpreted as they intended. And that’s okay. Art is all about the viewer/reader’s experience. It is as much owned by the audience as it is by the creator. That is a lesson that I carry with me day to day, a lesson that makes it possible for me to appreciate and listen to and discuss a work’s meaning with many people, each with their own “take” on the intent.

  The Art and Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
  I’ve never savored a book more. It took me over a year to finish it. Id read it lying down, page at a time, placing it on my chest every paragraph or so, closing my eyes, and thinking about how the lessons applied to my own life. Did I agree? Disagree? The same type of deep reading happened later with The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

  One book you have read more than once?
  Lizard Music, Alice in Wonderland, Just So Stories, and Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros (a book of beautiful poetry that every woman will love). I want to go back and read A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Moving Planet by Madeleine L’Engle, I also take comfort in The Bean Trees by Barbra Kingsolver and have reread it at various times in my life.

  One book I found out about by reading Playboy magazine:
  While I don’t subscribe to Playboy (I have my own boobs to keep me company, thank you), many of my favorite authors have been published in Playboy. Chuck Palahniuk, Updike, and scads more. T.C Boyle is always in Playboy, but I actually loathe his stuff. I find the details laborious to the point that it grosses me out.

  One book you would want on a desert island?
  I’d bring a pen and journal and write my own. I could use the peace, quiet, and time.

  One book that made you laugh?
  Recently: Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins, Absurdistan by Gary Shyeyngart, Crossing California by Adam Langer.

  One book that made you cry?
  Recently: Small Wonders by Barbra Kingsolver

  One book you wish you wrote?
  I’ve never felt this way before. I love reading because I love how an author makes the story unfold. When I read my own writing, that element of surprise is absent. I wouldn’t trade that experience of discovery that reading gives me for anything. Plus, I write any stories that are inside me.

  One book you wish had never had been written?
  Ultimately, I don’t believe that there is any book that I don’t wish had been written. Although there are authors who have marketing machines instead of editors. Dan Brown, writer of The Da Vinci Code, for example. Also, propaganda is nauseating and destructive and a fair share of it has been written (hello Ann Coulter).

  The book that I gave away most?
  Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros to women I love, Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins as a wedding or “couples” gift, and The Worst Case Survival Guide as a graduation gift.

  One book you are currently reading?
  McSweeney’s, issue #20.

  One book you have been meaning to read?
  I have to finish the last two of the series of four Rabbit Novels by John Updike: Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest
  The Washington Story by Adam Langer. This is the sequel to the book I loved this winter, Crossing California. (As in California Street in Chicago, not California the surf-happy state).
  The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteygart. I just finished his book Absurdistan this morning. It was absolutely hysterical.
  The Coast of Chicago: Stories by Stewart Dybek
  I want to browse through a few of Francine Prose’s novels and choose one to read. I just finished a short story collection of hers called The Peaceable Kingdom and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
  Something else by Oscar Hijuelos, who’s novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, was beyond sexy. The passion, the violence, the beat was incredible. You could almost dance to this book—everything about it was juicy.
  A book of essays on popular culture was recommended to me by my friend Lindsay, who is never wrong: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs : A Low Culture Manifesto.
  Whatever Jeffrey Eugenides writes next. His Middlesex was by far one of the best things I read this year.

  For more Chicagoartgirl23 book loves, click here.

  As for tagging…anyone who wants to give me a recommendation, the comment box is all yours!

  ::Random Tangent::
  Last night I went on a true date with my husband. It was his last day of work and he wanted a quiet evening to celebrate. We dined at Andie’s, one our favorite neighborhood restaurants. The food was delicious, an amorous gay couple living in the building directly across from the restaurant neglected to close their blinds before engaging in vigorous lovemaking (much to the amusement of all dining in the restaurant), and the company was unbeatable. My husband and I like to celebrate all occasions with a drink that we’ve only read about but never tried. Last night we ordered Grappa to go with our baklava, curious about the drink that the mangled, chauvinistic Frederic Henry sipped from dawn to dusk in A Farewell to Arms. Good lord! Grappa is nail polish remover in a wine glass! It will kill every bit of bacteria that ever lived in your mouth ever!

  Laughing and jolly over our Grappa catastrophe and the riotous display of queer exhibitionism, engaged and thoughtful in political ponderings (we frequently try to save the world over dinner), and enthusiastic about life and love, if yesterday had only been my first date with Shaun, we still would be moving to Scotland together in September. Clearly, we are partners in crime.

  After dinner we went for a walk along the lakefront. The air was chilly and the waves were crashing. The moon was remarkable. Enormous and orange, it looked more like a giant cookie being dunked into the lake than a moon. But soon it was rising, growing smaller and whiter as it did. The pale, wind-rippled beach was empty save for a Muslim family playing soccer together: a dad, teens, a mom, an auntie, a few boys, and a tiny little girl in a red and white striped bathing suit. At one point in their game, the dad abruptly stopped playing to jovially race his family towards the water. Together they ran full force towards the lake, the women’s hajibs billowing around them gracefully, beautifully. Without a pause, fully clothed, they flung themselves into the waves, laughing, splashing. I squeezed my loves hand. That would be our family someday.

  Have you been on a fantastic date lately?

  • 1:35 pm
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