The Book List

Don’t take the short cut on this one.

I want to start by thanking Changeseeker for motivating me to get going on my posting again. Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t written anything lately. I simply haven’t been interested. Sometimes I feel that I’m shouting into a void and no one is listening. But don’t cry for me, Argentina. I’ve felt this way before and I’ve bounced back.

At any rate, I’ve been “tagged” to list some of my favorite books by Changeseeker. As she wrote, my list of faves would probably evolve from day to day. This is what I’m digging currently:

(1) One book that changed your life? The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley.

(2) One book you have read more than once? Backlash by Susan Faludi.

(3) One book you would want on a desert island? 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

(4) One book that made you laugh? I have to give three. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Macguire and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins.

(5) One book that made you cry? This really isn’t a book. It’s a short story but the first time I read it I cried like a baby. “D.P.” by Kurt Vonnegut.

(6) One book you wish you had written? There’s no way to name just one. This will essentially be a short list of some of the things I’ve read that I’ve found moving and convinced me that people are here for a purpose: All of the Shakespearian tragedies, From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss Jr., Heat Wave by Eric Klinenberg, A Mathematician Reads The Newspaper by John Allen Paulos, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Death and The King’s Horseman (a play) by Wole Soyinka, The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.

(7) One book you wish had never been written? The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrstein and Charles Murray because it attempted (unfortunately somewhat successfully) to lend an air of scientific credibility to racism. Incidentally, check out how many Amazon.com reviewers find this book "insightful" and "thought-provoking." Tells you alot about folk's willingness to embrace racist beliefs as long as they're wrapped in pseudoscience.

(8) One book you are currently reading? The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy.

(9) One book you've been meaning to read? Gumbo Ya-Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana by Saxon, Dreyer and Tallant.

(10) And tag five bloggers to do this, too. Will do.