This Damn Book Thing!
I've been tagged. And it's not fair. I'm a reader. Narrowing these down to one book for each question has been entirely too difficult. And this was supposed to be the easy, fluff post that I put up while I'm getting it together to do my REAL post.
*groan*
1. ONE book that changed your life
The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
2. ONE book you have read more than once
Beloved By Toni Morrison
3. ONE book you would want on a desert island
Song of Solomon By Toni Morrison
4. ONE book that made you laugh
Cell By Stephen King
5. ONE book that made you cry
Finding Fish By Antoine Fisher
6. ONE book you wish you had written
7. ONE book you wish had never been written
Losing The Race By John McWhorter
8. ONE book you are currently reading
Black Hair: Art, Style and Culture By Ima Ebong
9. ONE book you've been meaning to read
Come Hell or High Water By Michael Eric Dyson
10. tag 5 other bloggers to do this
(Ok, so I'm running out of fluff posts and I'm running out of valid excuses......I guess I better quit procrastinating and get 'er done!)
*groan*
1. ONE book that changed your life
The Bluest Eye By Toni Morrison
This was the first book that I felt a real connection with. I have always been an avid reader, but this is the first time I remember feeling like I was eating the words and drinking their power and wallowing around in their meaning. Thus began my love affair with (almost) all things Toni Morrison.
2. ONE book you have read more than once
Beloved By Toni Morrison
I don't appreciate having to leave The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, Paradise, Lovely Bones and New Black Man off this list. But since it only asks for one, I guess I am ok with putting Beloved. It is certainly one of several books that I used to read annually.
3. ONE book you would want on a desert island
Song of Solomon By Toni Morrison
As a general rule, I try to stay away from desert islands. But if I found myself on one, I would want to have a book that I wanted to re-read as soon as I finished it.
4. ONE book that made you laugh
Cell By Stephen King
He's my other favorite author and this was certainly not his best work. But I was quite tickled by some of his descriptions. I distinctly remember him describing a woman's haircut as "zero tolerance". Then he went into a brief moment of imagining her pre-retirement career as a librarian, who had become very good at keeping kids in line. Blah, blah, blah.
5. ONE book that made you cry
Finding Fish By Antoine Fisher
Not only did it make me cry, but it was one of few books that was so emotionally painful to read, that I had to put it down every chapter or so. The movie doesn't even begin to tell this man's story. Not even close. Quite frankly, by the time he got to the military, the book was pretty much over. Met wife, worked it out, met family, worked it out, the end. Good books should never be made into movies. People should just read the book or be forced to miss out.
6. ONE book you wish you had written
I don't have an answer for this one. Seriously, it's been a couple of days and I'm still drawing a blank here.
7. ONE book you wish had never been written
Losing The Race By John McWhorter
He's a jackass. I could have also lived without "Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has The Black Middle Class Lost It's Mind?". For real.
8. ONE book you are currently reading
Black Hair: Art, Style and Culture By Ima Ebong
You'll be hearing more about this one, believe me. I'm reading some other book for this month's book club, but it's not worth mentioning. I'm enjoying it this time, but still.
9. ONE book you've been meaning to read
Come Hell or High Water By Michael Eric Dyson
I just needed a break after the Bill Cosby book, but I'ma get to it. Matter of fact, I'm reserving it right now at the library. Oh, and I checked out "The Covenant" but I wasn't in the mood (and may never be) so I didn't get past the 2nd or 3rd chapter. I get it, Tavis - we need to get it together - got it.
10. tag 5 other bloggers to do this
No. Yeah, I said it - no. This feels way too much like the chain emails of yesteryear (or yesterday if you're my mother). I can't even do it. Friends, readers, passersby, if you want to do this on your blog, feel free. If you don't want to, then don't.
(Ok, so I'm running out of fluff posts and I'm running out of valid excuses......I guess I better quit procrastinating and get 'er done!)
posted by Piscean Princess at 2:46 PM
5 Comments:
Interesting list. I knew it would be. Sorry for throwing the project at you. And now you've made me admit that I really should have written the whys and wherefores. I'll go back and do it quickly before I attack my stack of papers to grade.
Reading The Bluest Eye for me was like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard continuously for days on end. I felt gutted afterward. Whatever Morrison is in touch with, I don't understand why it hasn't made her spontaneously combust already.
And I agree with you on Finding Fish and Tavis Smiley. I love to listen to Tavis and can't read him for some reason. Fish was so painful, if it had ended badly, I would have had to jump off a bridge. But I was SO happy when everything turned out well in the end.
Thanks for not tagging me. Sho appreciate it! And yes, quit goofing off and git-r-dun!
here. here. thank goodness for not tagging. i HATE that kinda stuff. But i will say that the book that left me sobbing and crying uncontrollably, to the point where i called up my boyfriend and yelled at him that i could not possibly finish the book ever, was Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler.
I'd read Parable of the Sower and was blown away. I won't repeat here but you know what those books have meant to me. But something so earthshattering happens in that second book, that it was too much for me. No work of fiction had ever done that to me before.
Except for The Bluest Eye. That was the hardest book i'd ever read because i WAS Pecola Breedlove. Toni was telling my story and she'd never met me. It was so painful reading that book that i can never read it again.
-changeseeker: no apology needed. of all of the memes (?) I've seen on blogs, this is certainly not one of the ones that makes me want to shoot myself. and I do super-love reading and stuff...so it's all good.
as for Ms. Morrison, yeah, no kidding. she is truly gifted.
I remember having the same conversation about Finding Fish with my mother, who had read it before me. She assured me that it was gonna be ok, so I was able to get through it. But when I finished it I had to go to sleep immediately. I couldn't even talk about it after - I just had to lay it down.
-iaintlying: no problem. and because I suddenly got motivated this morning, I did, in fact get 'er done. enjoy the journey.
-damali: I don't know if I've read any Octavia B. perhaps one, years ago, but I'm not sure. I almost drew a blank on the crying one - I usually have my uncontrollable crying in response to a movie. With books, I'm usually holding my breath. And the second time I read Lovely Bones, I was crying, which was kinda wierd since I didn't react that strongly the first time.
I understand your not revisiting The Bluest Eye. I haven't read it in many, many years. But aren't you glad you did get through it, just that once?
yes i'm very glad i got thru it. And one day i will read it again as it is beautiful from beginning to end. It's one of my most cherished books
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