Book Versus Book! November 6, 2005 12:51 PM Subscribe
jonmc has inspired me. in thread a while back, he recommended i read a book as a sort of "this is what i think about what we disagree about" retort. i have been thinking about it, and i do intend to get the book (from the library), but only on the condition that he do likewise for me. and then i thought, maybe i could invite some of our more famous meta-adversaries to participate in something like... a sort of tit-for-tat book exchange in the spirit of understanding each others' points of view.
Cool. Fire away. It may take a while but I will read what you recommend. Also, I was a bit more vitriolic in that thread than I needed to be. Sorry 'bout that.
But if you do read Samaritan, I reccommend you read Richard Price's other books as well, especially Ladies Man, it's probably the best novel about the American male libido in contemporary literature. It's also funny as hell. (He's my favorite author, I stump for him and other stuff I like a lot, which I realize can be annoying, but there's usually nobody else stumping for 'em so I do what I can.)
posted by jonmc at 1:01 PM on November 6, 2005
But if you do read Samaritan, I reccommend you read Richard Price's other books as well, especially Ladies Man, it's probably the best novel about the American male libido in contemporary literature. It's also funny as hell. (He's my favorite author, I stump for him and other stuff I like a lot, which I realize can be annoying, but there's usually nobody else stumping for 'em so I do what I can.)
posted by jonmc at 1:01 PM on November 6, 2005
oy.
"just because you might have a helluva time getting someone who doesn't like you to ..."
agreement. always a bugaboo.
posted by RedEmma at 1:03 PM on November 6, 2005
"just because you might have a helluva time getting someone who doesn't like you to ..."
agreement. always a bugaboo.
posted by RedEmma at 1:03 PM on November 6, 2005
On preview: Price is quite readable and entertaining, but I wouldn't categorize him as "light," my man means business.
whaddya think? too Rodney King?
Exactly the opposite. Part of the reason I hang around this place is to try and gain insight into those who differ from me. And I wouldn't even bother busting your chops if I didn't find you interesting.
posted by jonmc at 1:04 PM on November 6, 2005
whaddya think? too Rodney King?
Exactly the opposite. Part of the reason I hang around this place is to try and gain insight into those who differ from me. And I wouldn't even bother busting your chops if I didn't find you interesting.
posted by jonmc at 1:04 PM on November 6, 2005
Get a room.
posted by lazy-ville at 1:24 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by lazy-ville at 1:24 PM on November 6, 2005
Hey, lazy-ville, I had surgery friday. I'm all fulla vicodin. Take the good vibes while they last.
Oooh, pretty colors...
(besides, some of my adversaries here probably have a picture of me as some kind of right-wing barbarian, which is far from the case)
posted by jonmc at 1:27 PM on November 6, 2005
Oooh, pretty colors...
(besides, some of my adversaries here probably have a picture of me as some kind of right-wing barbarian, which is far from the case)
posted by jonmc at 1:27 PM on November 6, 2005
don't push it, jonmc. i no longer work at the used bookstore, where i can read paperbacks to lighten my day like popping Law&Order reruns for an afternoon. (smile.)
i forgot to mention that the book should be available at the library, or inter-library loan.
i can't seem to get Abbie Hoffman's Soon to be a Major Motion Picture out of my head. but i haven't decided whether my purpose is to push all your buttons at once and let 'er rip, or whether i want to go for something nice and puffy like Starhawk which will lull you into my point of view.
i don't currently have access to my personal library, which means i can't wander through my shelves thinking. that lack limits what i can come up with, along with the problem of good fiction written about activism. (we're oh-so-serious, doncha know.)
so i'll propose you choose:
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture, by Abbie Hoffman-- which i confess i read ages ago, and doesn't exactly fit my point of view in many ways, but did inspire me to understand a bit about humor and chaos in the context of activism. and it is a light read, and is entertaining.
or
The Monkeywrench Gang, by Edward Abbey, which although also a bit old school, does reflect my sense of urgency and need to participate.
unless a) you've read them, or b) they're too hard to find, because kiddies love to steal these books from libraries.
the problem i keep having is that i think your challenge had something to do with my activism against racism and poverty, being a suburban-bred white girl and all, and i don't think i've ever read anything fictional that addresses that in any intelligent way.
so, as a supplement--and since you expressed a vague interest in knowing my story--i'll write a big long bit on the blog linked from my profile. i've been thinking it might be a way toward context there, anway. we'll see. in the interest of self-disclosure, and self-defense, and self-examination.
posted by RedEmma at 1:31 PM on November 6, 2005
i forgot to mention that the book should be available at the library, or inter-library loan.
i can't seem to get Abbie Hoffman's Soon to be a Major Motion Picture out of my head. but i haven't decided whether my purpose is to push all your buttons at once and let 'er rip, or whether i want to go for something nice and puffy like Starhawk which will lull you into my point of view.
i don't currently have access to my personal library, which means i can't wander through my shelves thinking. that lack limits what i can come up with, along with the problem of good fiction written about activism. (we're oh-so-serious, doncha know.)
so i'll propose you choose:
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture, by Abbie Hoffman-- which i confess i read ages ago, and doesn't exactly fit my point of view in many ways, but did inspire me to understand a bit about humor and chaos in the context of activism. and it is a light read, and is entertaining.
or
The Monkeywrench Gang, by Edward Abbey, which although also a bit old school, does reflect my sense of urgency and need to participate.
unless a) you've read them, or b) they're too hard to find, because kiddies love to steal these books from libraries.
the problem i keep having is that i think your challenge had something to do with my activism against racism and poverty, being a suburban-bred white girl and all, and i don't think i've ever read anything fictional that addresses that in any intelligent way.
so, as a supplement--and since you expressed a vague interest in knowing my story--i'll write a big long bit on the blog linked from my profile. i've been thinking it might be a way toward context there, anway. we'll see. in the interest of self-disclosure, and self-defense, and self-examination.
posted by RedEmma at 1:31 PM on November 6, 2005
Ok I'm picking Dreamghost, and I want him to read "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" because I hate him.
posted by moift at 1:36 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by moift at 1:36 PM on November 6, 2005
as regards "light," i got the impression from the link that it was mass PB, not Trade. (like a traditional airport store pick-up.) but on second glance, it might be more on the higher end. apologies.
posted by RedEmma at 1:38 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by RedEmma at 1:38 PM on November 6, 2005
This is such MetaChat.
posted by klangklangston at 1:45 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by klangklangston at 1:45 PM on November 6, 2005
The Monkeywrench Gang, by Edward Abbey, which although also a bit old school, does reflect my sense of urgency and need to participate.
I have a copy. I only ever managed to read a few chapters, but what i read, I liked. I'll give it another shot. And I prize my copy of Abbie's Revolution For The Hell Of It.
the problem i keep having is that i think your challenge had something to do with my activism against racism and poverty, being a suburban-bred white girl and all, and i don't think i've ever read anything fictional that addresses that in any intelligent way.
Not exactly. That was kind of an ill-advised attack made under duress (kidney stones could turn Mother Teresa into Atilla The Hun, trust me). Price's book is more about the forces behind modern altruism and "do-gooderism," which are often complicated and not as noble as we like to think they are. And I'm a middle-class white boy, too, but I've had my experiences which have affected my POV on the world, too.
Also, (and I'll admit that random comments on a website are probably not the best way to gauge someone's personality) it seems that you tend to reduce the world into the nobly suffering underclass and the monstrous oppressors, and I think that's kind of simplistic. (I freely admit I could be wrong). The other author I mentioned in that thread, John Sayles*, in his (very political) novel Union Dues forces you to feel empathy for a very wide range of characters ranging from radicals and coal miners to beat cops and suburban mothers. He shows how one way or another most of us are slogging blindly through a very confusing jungle. And once we realize that maybe we can cool our button-pushing down enough to be constructive.
Of course, I let my buttons (being told what to do, dismissing people out of hand, being talked down to) be pushed too often than is good for me, so blogger heal thyself, I guess.
Am I making any sense? I'd honestly like to know.
posted by jonmc at 1:46 PM on November 6, 2005
I have a copy. I only ever managed to read a few chapters, but what i read, I liked. I'll give it another shot. And I prize my copy of Abbie's Revolution For The Hell Of It.
the problem i keep having is that i think your challenge had something to do with my activism against racism and poverty, being a suburban-bred white girl and all, and i don't think i've ever read anything fictional that addresses that in any intelligent way.
Not exactly. That was kind of an ill-advised attack made under duress (kidney stones could turn Mother Teresa into Atilla The Hun, trust me). Price's book is more about the forces behind modern altruism and "do-gooderism," which are often complicated and not as noble as we like to think they are. And I'm a middle-class white boy, too, but I've had my experiences which have affected my POV on the world, too.
Also, (and I'll admit that random comments on a website are probably not the best way to gauge someone's personality) it seems that you tend to reduce the world into the nobly suffering underclass and the monstrous oppressors, and I think that's kind of simplistic. (I freely admit I could be wrong). The other author I mentioned in that thread, John Sayles*, in his (very political) novel Union Dues forces you to feel empathy for a very wide range of characters ranging from radicals and coal miners to beat cops and suburban mothers. He shows how one way or another most of us are slogging blindly through a very confusing jungle. And once we realize that maybe we can cool our button-pushing down enough to be constructive.
Of course, I let my buttons (being told what to do, dismissing people out of hand, being talked down to) be pushed too often than is good for me, so blogger heal thyself, I guess.
Am I making any sense? I'd honestly like to know.
posted by jonmc at 1:46 PM on November 6, 2005
as regards "light," i got the impression from the link that it was mass PB, not Trade.
The shape of the book does not determine the worthiness of it's content.
/former bookstore clerk (and union organizer therein, FWIW)
Price's work is very vernacular and accesible, but that should be points in it's favor, I think, not against it.
posted by jonmc at 1:47 PM on November 6, 2005
No! If you want to do this it means you were convinced by a book, but you can no longer communicate what it was about it that convinced you. In that case, you should revisit the book before perscribing it to others.
Otherwise it's a little too much Captain Planet or Magic: the Gathering: you summon your intellectual champion as an excuse not to think yourself.
posted by ori at 2:08 PM on November 6, 2005
Otherwise it's a little too much Captain Planet or Magic: the Gathering: you summon your intellectual champion as an excuse not to think yourself.
posted by ori at 2:08 PM on November 6, 2005
No! If you want to do this it means you were convinced by a book, but you can no longer communicate what it was about it that convinced you.
Or it just means that the writer of the book articulated what you thought better than you could. Isn't that what good writers often do?
posted by jonmc at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2005
Or it just means that the writer of the book articulated what you thought better than you could. Isn't that what good writers often do?
posted by jonmc at 2:11 PM on November 6, 2005
Dunno, jonmc. The idea is to stand on the shoulders of giants; not to send them into battle for you.
posted by ori at 2:24 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by ori at 2:24 PM on November 6, 2005
Also, what if we're not bastardly on a regular enough basis to have developed a MetaNemesis?
I could just say, "Hey, baphomet, read Philosophical Investigations, dammit!" But I would only be doing it to alleviate my loneliness.
posted by voltairemodern at 2:27 PM on November 6, 2005
I could just say, "Hey, baphomet, read Philosophical Investigations, dammit!" But I would only be doing it to alleviate my loneliness.
posted by voltairemodern at 2:27 PM on November 6, 2005
(just so you know I'm not kidding about vicodin inspired good vibes, here's a shout-out from my hospital bed)
posted by jonmc at 2:32 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by jonmc at 2:32 PM on November 6, 2005
This MeTa post is naïve and due to some need to play martyr for an audience.
posted by jenovus at 2:54 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by jenovus at 2:54 PM on November 6, 2005
Tell Faze that he ought to read But is it Art? by Cynthia Feeland, Anne Sheppard's Aesthetics: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Art, John Berger's Ways of Seeing, and as many volumes of Gardner's' Art through the Ages as he can find.
Until then, he can give it a goddamn rest about Body Worlds.
posted by Jon-o at 3:01 PM on November 6, 2005
Until then, he can give it a goddamn rest about Body Worlds.
posted by Jon-o at 3:01 PM on November 6, 2005
Sheesh, jenovus, what a killjoy.
(You're looking good, jon! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.)
posted by jokeefe at 3:01 PM on November 6, 2005
(You're looking good, jon! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.)
posted by jokeefe at 3:01 PM on November 6, 2005
pick an adversary you always seem to butt heads
At 1 book per person, I really don't think ParisParamus has enough time for the amount of reading material he'd be getting.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:37 PM on November 6, 2005
At 1 book per person, I really don't think ParisParamus has enough time for the amount of reading material he'd be getting.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:37 PM on November 6, 2005
ori - what you say only makes sense if you were swayed by a logical argument.
hardly anyone is. emotion dominates. if that weren't the case we could all read kant and behave perfectly. instead, we read to kill a mocking bird and feel guilty.
but i did like the shoulders of giants shot.
posted by andrew cooke at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2005
hardly anyone is. emotion dominates. if that weren't the case we could all read kant and behave perfectly. instead, we read to kill a mocking bird and feel guilty.
but i did like the shoulders of giants shot.
posted by andrew cooke at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2005
You're looking good, jon! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
I look like death on a saltine, but thanks.
posted by jonmc at 3:55 PM on November 6, 2005
I look like death on a saltine, but thanks.
posted by jonmc at 3:55 PM on November 6, 2005
Price's book is more about the forces behind modern altruism and "do-gooderism," which are often complicated and not as noble as we like to think they are.
i'm way too cynical to be a "do-gooder," i think--but it has been thrown my way in the past.
one way or another most of us are slogging blindly through a very confusing jungle.
well, that i agree with. (i'm done with my quick essay, BTW, on the blog.) but i do have a sense, through the places i've been both figuratively and literally, that there is something rather monstrous about the "masters." plus, i see it first-hand around the dinner table every Christmas.
Price's work is very vernacular and accesible, but that should be points in it's favor, I think, not against it.
sure. but i'm a knee-jerk book snob. no one recommends books to me that i like. i once got a copy of Danielle Steele as a secret santa gift from someone i'd know for years. unbelievable.
as far as this being MetaChat--sorry if that's true. i kind of think this is a Meta-wide project of smoothing over all the nastiness, rather than just bitching about it. and i probably mis-flagged it, too. i have an allergy to chat. i never look there.
and not that i think this project would work. despite my cynicism, i've always had a weakness for putting out grandiose ideas, even though they usually degenerate into, well, nothing.
i'll go back to my terribly neglected and sorry-ass blog now.
posted by RedEmma at 4:08 PM on November 6, 2005
i'm way too cynical to be a "do-gooder," i think--but it has been thrown my way in the past.
one way or another most of us are slogging blindly through a very confusing jungle.
well, that i agree with. (i'm done with my quick essay, BTW, on the blog.) but i do have a sense, through the places i've been both figuratively and literally, that there is something rather monstrous about the "masters." plus, i see it first-hand around the dinner table every Christmas.
Price's work is very vernacular and accesible, but that should be points in it's favor, I think, not against it.
sure. but i'm a knee-jerk book snob. no one recommends books to me that i like. i once got a copy of Danielle Steele as a secret santa gift from someone i'd know for years. unbelievable.
as far as this being MetaChat--sorry if that's true. i kind of think this is a Meta-wide project of smoothing over all the nastiness, rather than just bitching about it. and i probably mis-flagged it, too. i have an allergy to chat. i never look there.
and not that i think this project would work. despite my cynicism, i've always had a weakness for putting out grandiose ideas, even though they usually degenerate into, well, nothing.
i'll go back to my terribly neglected and sorry-ass blog now.
posted by RedEmma at 4:08 PM on November 6, 2005
I think things like this are better done in e-mail. The most nasty of the rivals would not care to and dismiss reading books on the opponents side, mostly because the most nasty rivals are too emotional over a given topic.
posted by geoff. at 4:15 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by geoff. at 4:15 PM on November 6, 2005
Ladies' Man... it's probably the best novel about the American male libido in contemporary literature.
Jon, I'm glad surgery went fine but I gotta pipe in here. I like Price and that's my favorite book by him but that's quite a claim. Most anything by Philip Roth or Scott Spencer buries Price in this department. I recommend you check out The Dying Animal and Endless Love to see what I'm talking about. Also, for some reason I thought of you while reading JR Moehringer's The Tender Bar last week. Nothing to do with libidos but you might dig it.
posted by dobbs at 4:18 PM on November 6, 2005
Jon, I'm glad surgery went fine but I gotta pipe in here. I like Price and that's my favorite book by him but that's quite a claim. Most anything by Philip Roth or Scott Spencer buries Price in this department. I recommend you check out The Dying Animal and Endless Love to see what I'm talking about. Also, for some reason I thought of you while reading JR Moehringer's The Tender Bar last week. Nothing to do with libidos but you might dig it.
posted by dobbs at 4:18 PM on November 6, 2005
I like Price and that's my favorite book by him but that's quite a claim.
Fair enough. I may just have a special affinity for Price's lexical style cause it's similar to my own (although his obviously much better). By Roth, I've only read American Pastoral, which I liked a lot. I'll look for thatTender Bar book.
but i do have a sense, through the places i've been both figuratively and literally, that there is something rather monstrous about the "masters."
a lot of people are both master and oppressed at different times, and the oppressed are no less prone to normal human failings than the rest of us, and to treat them as if they were is dangerous, IMHO. They are no less, or more than human. This audio reading/interveiw(NYT Link) by Price talks a lot about some of things I try (and I guess fail) to get at.
posted by jonmc at 4:54 PM on November 6, 2005
Fair enough. I may just have a special affinity for Price's lexical style cause it's similar to my own (although his obviously much better). By Roth, I've only read American Pastoral, which I liked a lot. I'll look for thatTender Bar book.
but i do have a sense, through the places i've been both figuratively and literally, that there is something rather monstrous about the "masters."
a lot of people are both master and oppressed at different times, and the oppressed are no less prone to normal human failings than the rest of us, and to treat them as if they were is dangerous, IMHO. They are no less, or more than human. This audio reading/interveiw(NYT Link) by Price talks a lot about some of things I try (and I guess fail) to get at.
posted by jonmc at 4:54 PM on November 6, 2005
The aforementioned Sayles is great at illustrating my idea about people being "master and oppressed at different times." And as my freind Divine_wino said to me, one dosen't have to agree with someone to feel for them.
posted by jonmc at 4:56 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by jonmc at 4:56 PM on November 6, 2005
i'll go back to my terribly neglected and sorry-ass blog now.
Sweet. I think you should swap books with nick douglas.
posted by moift at 5:35 PM on November 6, 2005
Sweet. I think you should swap books with nick douglas.
posted by moift at 5:35 PM on November 6, 2005
I'll second any motion that someone read Endless Love, which is truly a fantastic book - despite the gag reflex we've all internalized from the movie and/or song. But I wouldn't necessarily tout it as an expression of male libido per se. Really, it is, honest-to-god, about love. Spencer's later Men in Black seems closer to the "libido" theme (but it's not as terrific a book).
posted by soyjoy at 6:41 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by soyjoy at 6:41 PM on November 6, 2005
I hate myself, so we're going to read "I'm OK, You're OK." Let the healing begin.
posted by Eideteker at 6:45 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by Eideteker at 6:45 PM on November 6, 2005
I'd be interested in this if we did it with albums.
posted by ludwig_van at 7:20 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by ludwig_van at 7:20 PM on November 6, 2005
Everyone read Drug Warriors and Their Prey, by Richard L. Miller, and then we can talk.
posted by 31d1 at 7:35 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by 31d1 at 7:35 PM on November 6, 2005
soyjoy, fair enough, but the book I was comparing it to (Ladies' Man) isn't as much about libido, to me, as it is about longing. I haven't read it in quite a long while but if I remember correctly the main character spends his time fronting re: him and women because he longs for the woman. I'm sure Jon'll correct me if I'm wrong.
And yes, Men In Black is pretty forgettable. Ship Made of Paper is interesting, though, as is Waking the Dead, but Endless Love is Spencer's masterpiece. I picked it up years ago after hearing Michael Ondaatje mention it as one the more overlooked books of the last 25 years.
Jon, you may also like Arthur Nersesian's Manhattan Loverboy. Certainly not for everyone but it's the novel that made me laugh out loud the most. Ridiculous, but very funny.
Charles Bukowski's Women would also be a good recommendation, I think, but for some reason I'm recalling you dislike his stuff--maybe I'm remembering that wrong, though.
posted by dobbs at 7:41 PM on November 6, 2005
And yes, Men In Black is pretty forgettable. Ship Made of Paper is interesting, though, as is Waking the Dead, but Endless Love is Spencer's masterpiece. I picked it up years ago after hearing Michael Ondaatje mention it as one the more overlooked books of the last 25 years.
Jon, you may also like Arthur Nersesian's Manhattan Loverboy. Certainly not for everyone but it's the novel that made me laugh out loud the most. Ridiculous, but very funny.
Charles Bukowski's Women would also be a good recommendation, I think, but for some reason I'm recalling you dislike his stuff--maybe I'm remembering that wrong, though.
posted by dobbs at 7:41 PM on November 6, 2005
fronting re: him and women because he longs for the woman. I'm sure Jon'll correct me if I'm wrong.
That's about half right. One particular woman leaving the protagonist/narrator is the catalyst for the story, but much of the subject matter is sexuality and men's behavior surrounding it.
Actually, what I've read of Bukowski, I enjoyed. But I have weird gaps in my literary experience, since I just sort of randomly pick books out of the shelf that call out to me somehow. The end result is that there's lots of must reads that I've never read and certain relatively obscure novelists (like Richard Price, Tim Sandlin, James Ellroy) who I've read everything by.
posted by jonmc at 8:25 PM on November 6, 2005
That's about half right. One particular woman leaving the protagonist/narrator is the catalyst for the story, but much of the subject matter is sexuality and men's behavior surrounding it.
Actually, what I've read of Bukowski, I enjoyed. But I have weird gaps in my literary experience, since I just sort of randomly pick books out of the shelf that call out to me somehow. The end result is that there's lots of must reads that I've never read and certain relatively obscure novelists (like Richard Price, Tim Sandlin, James Ellroy) who I've read everything by.
posted by jonmc at 8:25 PM on November 6, 2005
If and when anybody else out there reads Ladies Man, email me and let me know what you think. I'd love to discuss Price with people since I rarely meet people who've read him.
posted by jonmc at 8:57 PM on November 6, 2005
posted by jonmc at 8:57 PM on November 6, 2005
This is a fine idea. Just the other day I finished Amos Oz's memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness and found myself wondering what some of the more strident anti-Zionists of Metafilter would make of it.
So what do you say matteo, cleardawn, y2karl, davy, decani...(who did I miss)? Email is in my profile. I'll happily read anything you recommend in return for your thoughts on Oz's autobiography.
Oh, and be well jonmc.
posted by felix betachat at 2:03 AM on November 7, 2005
So what do you say matteo, cleardawn, y2karl, davy, decani...(who did I miss)? Email is in my profile. I'll happily read anything you recommend in return for your thoughts on Oz's autobiography.
Oh, and be well jonmc.
posted by felix betachat at 2:03 AM on November 7, 2005
It's on! moift you SOB. You have to read Kurt Angles Autobiography "It's True It's True"
xd
posted by Dreamghost at 5:51 AM on November 7, 2005
xd
posted by Dreamghost at 5:51 AM on November 7, 2005
1 Question Mr. JonMC, Esquire Sir?
Do we have to read the book to the other person like a bed time story. I hope not i am afraid moift will try to molest me.
Swift answer please, bedtime is only 16 hours away.
TIA
TODD LOKKENESQUE
posted by Dreamghost at 5:56 AM on November 7, 2005
Do we have to read the book to the other person like a bed time story. I hope not i am afraid moift will try to molest me.
Swift answer please, bedtime is only 16 hours away.
TIA
TODD LOKKENESQUE
posted by Dreamghost at 5:56 AM on November 7, 2005
Sorry to shatter your expectations, Dreamghost, but moift is already scheduled to read "The Pillow Book" to me tonight. Get in line, buddy.
posted by taz at 6:26 AM on November 7, 2005
posted by taz at 6:26 AM on November 7, 2005
To be serious for a moment, I thought the whole point of the distributed computing across humanity was that we didn't all have to read the same books. If we did, then there might as well be one human. I mean, we're a social species for a reason.
Lord of the Sigs, by Todd R. R. Lokken.
posted by Eideteker at 6:33 AM on November 7, 2005
Lord of the Sigs, by Todd R. R. Lokken.
posted by Eideteker at 6:33 AM on November 7, 2005
I would like asparagirl to memorise the koran.
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:26 AM on November 7, 2005
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:26 AM on November 7, 2005
I'm disappointed that no one wants me to read anything. I mean, do you people want me to remain uninformed and out of it intellectually?
posted by orange swan at 11:42 AM on November 7, 2005
posted by orange swan at 11:42 AM on November 7, 2005
I wanted you, orange swan. To read the book I was on about.
posted by 31d1 at 11:50 AM on November 7, 2005
posted by 31d1 at 11:50 AM on November 7, 2005
Get well Jon.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:31 PM on November 7, 2005
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:31 PM on November 7, 2005
Orange Swan takes copy of the Kama Sutra from 31d1, starts reading.
posted by orange swan at 4:12 PM on November 7, 2005
posted by orange swan at 4:12 PM on November 7, 2005
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
here's what i propose:
1. pick an adversary you always seem to butt heads with. pick a book that you think would expound on your point of view.
2. no fair picking an academic treatise if your challenger picks something like mass fiction. seeing as jonmc picked such, i must pick something with at least some equivalency as far as "lightness" and ability to entertain.
3. probably we'd need to make an effort for brevity, just because one might have a helluva time getting someone who doesn't like me to read the whole "People's History of the United States." maybe a chapter or two, though.
whaddya think? too Rodney King?
posted by RedEmma at 1:01 PM on November 6, 2005