Tuesday, March 29, 2005
11:24 PM |
James's Stick Comes to Me. (It's Not What You Think, Pervert.)
Why do they call this passing the stick?You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. What book do you want to be?But baby, I don't want to burn. Okay, if I feel suicidal, I'd be the last copy of Adolf Hitler's
Mein Kampf, so this book would be lost forever. I just heard it is a current bestseller in Turkey, which saddens me about the way things are. It's a wonderful world, but sometimes it's fucked up. It's a good thing I have Julia Glass's wonderful
Three Junes on my bedside table to keep me company.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?I had a crush on a headless male mannequin in a Penshoppe show window once.
He had the most perfect washboard abs! As for someone more literary... Tom Sawyer. It was a childhood fling.
The last book you bought is...The Volcano Lover by Susan Sontag. The day after she died. And Michael Ondatje's
The English Patient and A.S. Byatt's
Possession, when I was on a Booker Prize binge. But I am forcing myself to no longer buy books, to stay away from bookstores, at least for a while. My library is groaning from under all that weight, and I still have a lot to catch up in my reading list. And I could use some of the money to buy me some new DVDs.
Five books you would take to a deserted island...For something close to my heart:
The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt. For something artsy literary: Vladimir Nabokov's
Lolita. For something spiritual: The Holy Bible-really. For something to occupy the rest of my days:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, to see what the fuss is all about. And for something all pop and sugary, but makes me think of a cerebral Indiana Jones meeting
The Da Vinci Code: Katherine Neville's eternally entertaining
The Eight.
What are you currently reading?Oh, God. Here we go... Maria Fres-Felix's
Making Straight Circles -- brilliant wit, unassuming prose that surprises. Alice Munro's
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage -- something I can't seem to finish. I don't get her at al. Doris Lessing's
Under My Skin -- but I stopped when I saw an interview of her on BBC where she said Africa was so much better colonized by white people.
Kapal! Alice Sebold's
Lovely Bones -- to find out why this caused such a stir. Donna Tartt's
The Little Friend -- which is a lovely disappointment after
The Secret History. Haruki Murakami's
The Elephant Vanishes -- it was too close to my Tokyo memories, and thus repelled me at first, but it's slowly growing on me. Andrea Barret's
Servants of the Map -- because Tim loves her. Jeanette Winterson's
Art and Lies and
Written on the Body -- because I want to read some sapphic fiction for a change. Michael Chabon's
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -- because he is a master storyteller. Ian McEwan's
Atonement -- because we share the same name. Jose Montero y Vidal's
Cuentos Filipinos -- because I want to see how we lived, in microscopic detail, under the Spanish. Susan Sontag's
On Photography -- which is in constant recycle. Anonymous's
The Bride Stripped Bare -- because my best friend told me I should read it. Sue Miller's
While I Was Gone. Sylvia Plath's
The Bell Jar. John Berendt's
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil -- for research on style. Douglas Adams's
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- before they release the movie. The
2004 Best American Short Stories -- for tips. And Jonathan Franken's
The Corrections -- because I bought it hardbound, and I told Ma'am Susan (Lara) I will finish it, by hook or by crook. There are a hundred more, depending on my mood. Depending on my time.
Who are you going to pass this stick to and why?Myrza Sison, because I want to know what lovely people read. Timothy Montes, to see what my writing mentor is up to, reading-wise. Susan Lara, to get a glimpse of a great fictionist at work. Gelo Suarez, just to catch up. Kit Kwe, because I love her to bits. Naya Valdellon, because she is my Cheshire Cat. Paolo Manalo, because he is midwife to most of my stories.
[
because james passed this on to me]
[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich
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