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Author
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Comment
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(2/12/05 3:16 pm)
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Re: interesting... but somewhat OT
Or perhaps e.e. cummings and Rainer Maria Rilke? ;)
1695
There is a solitude of space
A solitude of sea
A solitude of death, but these
Society shall be
Compared with that profounder site
That polar privacy
A soul admitted to itself --
Finite infinity.
I panic if there are less than about 20 to read books by my bed (including library books). I read about 150 books thoroughly each year plus consulting many more for research. At the moment the 4 books from my to read pile would probably be:
A Margaret Atwood reread (probably "Good Bones"),
Ursula Le Guin's latest (saved for a time of need such as a cold),
A book of Mary Oliver's poems (title not visible in pile!),
And Tove Jansson's "The Summer Book".
(Hmm... all female authors... note to self: must buy macho thrillers, must buy macho thrillers...)
I have a theory that people tend to reread less and less as they get older. Toddlers want to be read the same favourite book, twice a night, for night after night after night. Teens reread their favourite books several times (I read LoTR three times as a teen). But once one reaches a certain age (different for everyone) and realises that there are more good books in the world than one has reading time in life then the tendency to reread diminishes (and those few reread books are usually favourites from childhood/teens/early-twenties-at-the-latest).
I prefer stimulating newness.
My comfort zones aren't created by books.
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janeyolen
Registered User
(2/13/05 2:08 am)
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Re: interesting... but somewhat OT
Er--what am I missing? That's an Emily Dickinson poem.
Jane
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(2/13/05 7:17 am)
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Re: interesting... but somewhat OT
It is indeed a Dickinson poem Jane which I posted in reponse to Spoon's enquiry about my fave E.D. poem.
The first line was a silly visual pun which doesn't work with the two posts on separate pages. Spoon is a literate e.e. cummings fan who quotes Sydney Smyth etc but with cummings style typography e.g.:
"i am a slack-jawed devotte of e.e. cummings and rainer maria rilke"
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spoonmoonhollow
Registered User
(2/14/05 2:29 am)
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finite infinity...
thank you for that blacksheep, the sharing and the laugh about buying "macho thrillers" - cracking me up. man who saves his much loved and read copy of emily dickinson poems drooling over clive cussler or some such, is a laugh riot. i had never read the e.d. poem and much enjoyed she has a sharp knife that cuts to the bone of things. finite infinity...to astound man for all time - i am sure. being an avowed biblioholic, my comfort zone is in books. unworthy worshipper at the shrine of the word...something like that. i find the winter months bring me back to my old friends on the shelves. the cold drives us together to comfort one another. i, too spend most of the year reading new, but something about the grey skies and bare limbs of trees brings me back to robin mckinley, tanith lee, patricia mckillip, tolkien, charles de lint, and jane austen. horrid austen addiction. hard to break.
just finished reading marvin kaye's FAIR FOLK - jane and midori's story was wonderful. i didn't want it to end. but it did.
if you haven't read it - you should.
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Terri Windling
Registered User
(2/14/05 9:24 am)
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Re: finite infinity...
I've got books split between houses in 2 countries, which is a real pain in the butt because the book I need is inevitably in the *other* house. (Jane, you must run into this problem too.) As of last spring, I finally have what I've always craved: floor-to-ceiling shelves along a long, tall wall in the living room of my Tucson house...which is *almost* big enough to contain all my books, plus 2 big bookcases for myth/fairy tale texts in my office, plus another shelf for poetry books in my bedroom, plus another for art books in the studio. My English cottage, by contrast, doesn't have nearly enough bookshelf space...it's ancient and small and I despair of where I'm going to put any more books there....
The 5 books I would save from a fire and cannot live without:
The Collected Works of Shakespeare
My Jane Austen edition that contains Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Emma
The collected poems of Mary Oliver
The Funk & Wagnall Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, & Legend
Little, Big by John Crowley
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redtriskell
Registered User
(2/14/05 11:08 pm)
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only five?
Well, I must agree that five books isn't nearly enough... but, if somebody forced me- right this second- to pick five...
1- A collected Ray Bradbury, primarily Something Wicked
2- It, by Stephen King
3- The Deathbird, a collection by Harlan Ellison
4- Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
5- the colored fairy books by Lang, even though there are a lot of them
I reserve the right to change my mind about the list depending on my mood.;)
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kristiw
Unregistered User
(2/15/05 5:47 pm)
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emergency books
When I travelled to Ireland last year I deliberately and ruthlessly limited my library to under a dozen books, since I did have to carry everything I needed for a few months. Among them were
1. Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers
2. A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie King
3. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
4. The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye
5. Jane Eyre
Rather an odd list for a folklorist, I suppose (I did have my copy of Yeats' Irish Folk and Fairy Tales, for reference) but there is a distinct pattern... see if you can find it.
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(2/15/05 9:46 pm)
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Re: emergency books
Theme: Strong women finding equal partners in life. Found mine but still enjoy reading about others having success, too.
All of those are on my bookshelves, too. Just reread "Gaudy Night" actually. I wish there were more like that one around. Even the BBC version isn't bad although it leaves out the nephew and the chess set. I will always feel robbed that they didn't get to film "Busman's Honeymoon." And "Town Like Alice" is another that translated well enough to film, just not onto DVD yet! My husband and I want to watch it again, but keep hoping for the DVD to come out before we do.
Laurie King has another in the Mary Holmes series due out soon, too. Wish they were all as strong as the first two, though.
When I saw that Lois McMaster Bujold dedicated "A Civil Campaign" to 'Jane, Charlotte, Georgette, and Dorothy', I just knew I had to read it. I worship at the same altar, albeit Georgette is not on the same tier as the others for me.
Speaking of which, Austen and Sayers would be on my short list of five and, fortunately, I have omnibuses. Jane Eyre has slid out of the top five, I think. But then again, maybe not. It was my entree into adult literature along with Gone With the Wind and Good Earth when I was 12.
Heidi
Edited by: Heidi Anne Heiner at: 2/15/05 10:00 pm
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kristiw
Unregistered User
(2/16/05 1:07 am)
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film versions
I haven't actually seen film versions of any of those, not even Jane Eyre... I picked up a TV miniseries version of Lord Peter and squirmed; I don't think I'll ever accept actors as the people I imagined. I'm sure I'm missing out, but then I wonder what my Darcy looked like, pre-Colin Firth.
I am eagerly anticipating the new Laurie King... but then I thought The Game was terrific. And thanks for the tip, I'll have to check out Bujold.
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(2/16/05 8:29 am)
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For a desert island...
Funny, Gaudy Night would have topped my list, too. After that, I'd probably pick something by Austen. Then, well, I'm not sure. Maybe The Riverside Shakespeare because that would keep me busy for at least a year. I'd need something easy on the eyes--perhaps a graphic novel. Could I bring a box of comics? I promise to keep it to one title.
Best,
Alice
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(2/16/05 11:40 am)
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Re: desert island
This list is subject to change at any given time. It also leaves aside the fact that I automatically assume that I'd be allowed the Riverside Chaucer and Bevington's Shakespeare in addition, and that we'd all get a separate book allowance for poetry, right?
Gaudy Night--Sayers (Yes, me too. One of the two cats who deigns to reside in my apartment is named Harriet)
Persuasion--Austen (sounds like I'm not alone here, either)
Ash: A Secret History--Mary Gentle (the good British edition that includes all three volumes in one book)
The Eyre Affair--Fforde (for partially sentimental reasons)
Rose Daughter--McKinley (essential comfort reading at times)
Now I'm going to have to run home and apologize to all of my other books!
Erica
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/16/05 11:27 pm)
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Didn't we do this before?
I have this feeling of deja vu. I recall something about being on a desert island and not being without my Oxford dictionary, Grapes of Wrath and several other books that make me think.
Jess
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(2/17/05 12:24 am)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
Desert island hypotheticals seem to be good discussion-starters. I haven't checked archives for any previous ones, though. I think this started out as a "books you'd save from a fire" scenario. I jumped on the desert island instead because the fire scenario would be moot in my case. I'd be too busy trying to find and save the living (purring) Harriet and her colleague, Calliope, to even think about books in such a case. Cats trump books in case of a fire.
And on a completely different train of thought...
I completely disagree with Black Sheep's theory of re-reading less and less as you get older. Admittedly I'm just going on my own reading tendencies, but I'm a chronic re-reader and seem to be doing more of it as I get older, not less. I still make time to read new books, but re-reading has its own, distinct pleasures. It's not just another visit to whatever favorite world of whatever favorite book you're re-reading, it's a remembering of who you were when you last (or first) read it, and a chance to take measure of who you are now. Memories affix themselves to books, and sometimes re-reading a particular book calls forth ideas, feelings, images that you've temporarily lost or forgotten. The first time I read a book, I lose myself in it; the second, third, or eighth time I read it, I find myself in it. And once I've been lucky enough to find a book that allows me to find myself in it, it seems natural to want to re-read it, even while being astounded by the (sometimes) glorious array of titles I've yet to read. 'Course, I could just be odd. Now how's that for a babbling, un-polished thought!
Erica
Edited by: Erica Carlson at: 2/17/05 1:06 am
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Terri Windling
Registered User
(2/17/05 8:44 am)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
Erica, if you're odd, then I'm odd too, because that's how I re-read books too. And I'm also re-reading books more, not less, as I grow older.
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Jess
Unregistered User
(2/17/05 9:29 am)
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I love re-reading
If it is well-written book, I can get so many different things out of the second, third, fourth....reading. There are also books I am "revisiting" after many years and I am suprised at how different they seem. Then there are the old friends, the ones that give you the same comfort and that you know and "trust" reading after reading, year after year.
Jess
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Heidi Anne Heiner
ezOP
(2/17/05 9:52 am)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
Oh yes, we have done this before, but it has been almost three years, believe it or not, since the last time this was a major discussion. It's fun to go back and see what has changed and what hasn't. Unfortunately, the very first lists we compiled were lost when the original board crashed under the previous owner back in early 2000, shortly before I started sponsoring and moderating this one. That crash is also why I archive the board, a tedious but rewarding effort.
Desert Island Library... Revisited!
Fairy tale library
Top 5 folk/fairy collections?
Favorites again
Heidi
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spoonmoonhollow
Registered User
(2/17/05 9:59 pm)
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again and again...
Erica your "unpolished thought" struck me as particularly eloquent, especially as i tend to do the same thing. the first read lose yourself and the next one and the one after that and the one after that, find yourself. some things are so wonderful you must do them again and again. i know that if it is a great book i will revisit it, or a great movie, or a great album, or a wonderful piece of art. my home is crammed full of the things that i find worth experiencing often. sometimes i feel like a rampant materialist...but i realize that the things i love (art, literature, music) are grounded in the spiritual, that they are merely catalysts for the ideas of many intelligent and spiritually evocative artists. i didn't mean to lead to a discussion that some of you had already had (sorry) i missed out on the earlier threads, but hopefully such a thread is worth the revisit.
spoon
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(2/19/05 10:46 am)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
Of course you're odd Erica, most of the Sur La Lune folk are odd, you _read_ _!books!_ when you could be watching tv. What's more you read the sort of books which can't be bought in airport bookshops!!
I don't fit my own theory either as I wasn't read to when I was a child. Fortunately I could read for myself when I was three. But I didn't want to read the same book over and over again, unlike most small children, I wanted different books all the time.
My five desert island books:
1) Edible flora and fauna of (insert name here) island
2) Boat and raft building for beginners
3) Seamanship for beginners
4) Nautical navigation for beginners
5) An extensive atlas of maps and charts (including ocean currents)
The only use I'd have for the complete works of Shakespeare would be if it was printed on thin flexible paper (but I'd save the sonnets till last...)
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redtriskell
Registered User
(2/25/05 1:01 pm)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
But, BlackSheep, that's so...so...so practical! Although, in thinking on it, I suppose I could concede the usefulness of a book on edible flora and fauna. Of course, if one regarded the desert island experience as an adventure, a book like that would almost be like cheating. :D
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Black Sheep
Registered User
(2/26/05 9:02 am)
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Re: Didn't we do this before?
What do you mean almost cheating Redtriskell? Of course it's cheating!
I've subsequently thought of an even better cheat and I'd like my complete works of Shakepeare in a folio edition printed on vellum because I might be able to dismantle it and sew the pages together into a sail for my putative lifeboat...
I'd say that trying to resue oneself from a desert island in a homemade lifeboat would be more of an adventure than living there but I grew up in the countryside so self-sufficiency, if it was possible, wouldn't be too much of a challenge for me.
Also I'm not staying on an island with only 5 books if there's a chance I could sail to somewhere with a library!
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