Sunday, August 06, 2006

Back from the mountains, and tag, you're it.

Hi everybody. What a gorgeous weekend in Big Bear Lake Village. It was my first time up at Big Bear Lake, and it sits within the San Bernadino National Forest, so development is limited. My cousin and I didn't do much much chill out, talk, laugh, and unwind. It was fantastic after a tough couple of weeks. The only downside was that it was too short. Thank you for your words of kindness about my friend Sandy. And as for my little Ellie Bean, just remember, I don't have a cat. So since I can't do friday cat blogging, I do the grandmother thang.

But I come home to find I've been tagged, twice - Spooky Pete and BZ both tagged me on my favorite books. So, I sort of don't understand the tagging part, but will give it a go:

1: One book that changed your life:
Alcoholics Anonymous also known as The Big Book. Here is where I have been given a new life, and a solution to a terminal illness. This book has saved my life.

2: One book you have read more than once:
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. This is a magnificent book by one of the most eloquent voices in American literature. It is a journey of discovery on so many levels. I love this book.

3: One book you would want on a desert island:
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. It is a fascinating read about who lives, who dies, in extreme survival situations, and why.


4: One book that made you laugh:
Native Tongue by Carl Hiassen. Well, anything by Carl Hiassen, really. But this one is hilarious. It's about a search for a pair of blue-tongued mango voles stolen from an amusement park in Florida. And it is insane. Also, The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost, a travelogue about how he came to live in the god-forsaken atoll of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribath) - it made me laugh a lot.

5: One book you wish had been written:
Well, I don't know. Right now I'd like to see a book on do-it-yourself Impeachment.


6: One book you wish had never had been written:
Almonds and Raisins by Maisie Mosco. I just can't even begin to go into how badly it was written.


7: One book that made you cry:
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A gorgeous testimony to courage against prejudice. And Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler. This one so paralleled the emotional roller coaster of my upbringing, that it made me weep for hours. Oh, and The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. If you haven't read it, do.

8: One book you are currently reading:
Conservatives without Conscience by John Dean, which is actually scaring the bejezus out of me.

9: One book you have been meaning to read:
The One Percent Solution by Ron Suskind and Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter.

10: Now tag five people:
Robin Andrea and Roger (does this count as two people?)
Tina
Karena
Sigrid Jardin

Okay. You're all it.

15 comments:

Pete said...

Thanks for going along with this Jood. I need to get "Native Tongue" and "...Cannibals" on Amazon.

We'll need to compare notes on "One Percent Solution"

Pete

DivaJood said...

Pete, anything by Hiassen is hilarious. He's so, well, Florida.

Glenda, oh, my god, triple-teamed. I loved To Kill A Mockingbird; but the Big Book is what saved my life.

Anonymous said...

Okay,

I do not know the rules of tagging, so I will answer the questions here on your site, and let me know if this is the proper way to respond to being tagged.

1. One book that changed your life:
None

2. One book you have read more then once:
The Grapes of Wrath

3: One book you would want on a desert island:
A ten-thousand page, blank journal

4: One book that made me laugh:
The Sweet Potato Queen's Big Ass Cookbook and Finacial Planner

5: One book you wish had been written:
The one I never wrote.

6: One book you wish had never been written:

The Bible

7: One book that made you cry:

Wally Lamb's "I know This Much is True" or something like that. I may have the title mixed up with an eighties song.

I cannot pick the "one book that made me cry, that is impossible, because so many do.

The first book that made me cry was a children's book called "Striped Ice Cream." It is about a poor little black girl who has very little on the lines of hopes and dreams. All she really wishes for with all of her heart is Neopolitan Ice Cream for her birthday.

Her sisters know how much she loves the striped ice cream, and how their broke family has barely enough money to purchase the bucket of her favorite and much dreamed about confection.

Through ingenuity, her sisters not only find a way to conserve the money to buy the delectable dish, but they also collect and conserve scraps of fabric. With these scraps of white, brown and pink fabric, they sew her a dress of stripes. It was beautiful, the lengths her sisters went to in order to make an otherwise desulatory day of her existence, which they all experienced day-in-and-out, due to extreme poverty and prejudice, to bring a bright smile on her little face. They were black and living in the oppression of the deep south.

One book which you are currently reading:
The One Percent Solution

One book you have been meaning to read:
The Legend of Crazy Horse

robin andrea said...

We may give it a try, although we are fiercely anti-meme, we do like books. So, you love Angle of Repose? Me too. One of my favorite books of all time, that and To Kill a Mockingbird. I also love Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. Great literature just reminds you of every facet of human existence. Have you read anything by Barbara Kingsolver? I absolutely love Animal Dreams. Maybe I'll just come up with a list and leave it here as a comment. I like that idea.

Glad you are home and had a great weekend.

robin andrea said...

Whoops, that's me in my old personna as Rexroths Daughter. Sorry about that.

Tina said...

I did mine... it is posted for Monday!

sumo said...

I went to Big Bear to spend a Christmas when I was 5...it was snowing and very special for me. Born in Los Angeles, it had never snowed...so it was a little girls experience never to be forgotten.

DivaJood said...

Karena, best I can tell, when people are tagged, they post the thingy on their blog, and tag 5 others on the topic. This one is books, the ten topics as I listed. The blank journal is the other book I'd have on the desert island.

Robin Andrea, I've not read anything by Kingsolver. I should put her on my list. Angle of Repose is one of my favorite books. Also, To Kill a Mockingbird - but there are a lot of other books I love. I think the only reason I participated in this is because it's a great way to get an updated book list!

Tina, I can't wait to see your list.

Sumo, one road was closed over at Arrowhead - the sign behind the fence said "road not plowed" and "icy." My cousin and I burst out laughing. No snow around, of course. It was gorgeous. One winter after I moved here, I went to my pottery class up on the PV hill - and came out to snow on my car - it melted immediately but it was snowing up the hill.

billie said...

i just finished carter's book and i want to start on suskind's. carter's book was excellent but it makes me sad. he stated everything i already knew- and then scared the crap out of me with what i didn't. glad that you had a great time! welcome back! you did the tag thing just right.

Yoga Korunta said...

To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic. I'll write a list for the meme. Karena, think of the bloodshed which would have been avoided if people studied science instead.

Anonymous said...

Yoga,

No doubt, the Bible is studied and re-interpreted to justify just about anything! Why so many interpretations?

Diva, sorry about your throat, and I'll try to get this tag thingy posted on my site, but honest to goodness, I am on two weeks of work overload and cannot make a real sticking promise.

If you need to tag someone else, feel free. Sneaky Pete may be a good choice, what with such a weird name and all.

Anonymous said...

Ooops, I meant Spooky Pete, but if he's spooky, he must be sneaky too!

Kim Tyler said...

Wow, Jood, these are great selections of books you made, and some of the respondents have terrific suggestions as well. I'll take up the challenge, although it may not be immediate - I'm pretty busy in the next couple of days. But I love - make that LOVE - books, so it will be fun!

DivaJood said...

Betmo, that's how I feel about Dean's book. It is enlightening, but he's scaring the bejezus out of me.

Yoga, you must have quite a list.

Karena, I saw a bible in Australia about two years ago written in pijjin english, it is for the Aboriginals who are also Jehovah's Witnesses. I tried to buy a copy, but couldn't find one for sale. It was really hilarious. No worries about the tag - I don't think there are any serious rules.

Sigrid, thanks - and yes, the other suggestions have just increased my reading list. I'm so far behind on what I want to read - so have at it.

Kim Tyler said...

Forgot to mention that Angle of Repose is also one of my all-time favorite, most stunning books.