DIARY
I’ve been tagged by Sumara.
1. One book that changed my life:
Les Misèrables, by Victor Hugo. It moved me; it also informed me for the first time that a novel can strive to contain and encompass (and be encompassed by) everything in the world.
2. One book I’ve read more than once:
The Empty Space, by Peter Brook.
I’ve read it five times between 1995 and today. It’s a theater book that’s given me the best advice not only for theater, but writing, reading, politics, and life.
3. One book I’d want on a desert island:
The Bible. In addition to being the cornerstone of my faith, it’s not something that one skims through in a day, and it can be read on multiple levels. That is, it could last me a good long time, which is important when one is stranded on a desert island.
4. One book that made me laugh:
Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen.
5. One book that made me cry:
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
6. One book I wish I had written:
None. 1. That’s a really dicey project, fatewise. 2. I want to be known for writing what I write. Is this the spirit in which the question was intended? Probably not.
7. One book I wish had never been written:
I could just go for the obvious and say Mein Kempf, forstalling Hitler’s unexpected popularity. Or I could go for the indulgent and say Mao II, because then I wouldn’t have had to have read it. But as before, I feel weird about wishing this. Wishing a book wasn’t written feels like wishing someone wasn’t born, and I’m uneasy with that at best. Is this the spirit in which the question was intended? Probably not. >:P
8. One book I’m currently reading:
To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf. I’ve been reading it seemingly forever, maybe 2-3 pages per day on the subway. It’s difficult and beautiful.
9. One book I’ve been meaning to read:
Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, dammit!
10. The Four People I’m Tagging:
#1. Elisabeth
#2. Gemma
#3. Mxzzy
#4. Sam
END OF POST.