Three hour manifestation of fabulousness

[Angela]

In three hours I'm heading for the big corporate bookstore that tempts you with those yummy little Lindt chocolate truffle balls as you're checking out your purchase.

To go with my truffles, I am intending to manifest a really incredible, magnificent, fabulous reading experience this weekend. Please tell me your all time, fave-rave, book, the one that made you weep or gnash your teeth, the one you return to over and over again because it continues to move you beyond your wildest expectations. It might be fiction or non-fiction. It might be a novel or a biography or a self-help book. The one I choose will amost certainly NOT be science fiction or religious.

Will you tell me your recommendation for a book that will make my head swim with its incredible wonderfulness? If your book wins, I will reward you with a book report on Monday.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Angela

The one I choose will amost certainly NOT be science fiction or religious.

Darn, I had written several recommendations, but deleted it after I re-read and noticed this one line I had missed.

[seeker5]

OK, I thought some more and here is one that truly moved me. That was the autobiography of Gandhi. Very moving, I read it after watching a movie of Gandhi.

[Angela]

That's a great recommendation!

[Lola]

All time favorite fiction: notable for weird and wonderful characters
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
The Accidental Tourist, Anne Tyler
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

PD/Life Purpose
Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life, Gregg Michael Levoy

Uncatagorized - is it fiction? Self-improvement? Dating advice? Humor? Who knows but you'll laugh your sweet cheeks off!
The Sweet Potato Queens Field Guide to Men, Jill Conner Browne

Have fun!

[cdn2wheeler]

Anything by Bill Bryson. Wonderful stuff.

[Angela]

Lola, I loved the three you mentioned that I have read, so I'm going to consider the other two: the Kingsolver and the Levoy.

Cdn, what kind of books does Bill Bryson write? Why do you like them?

[cdn2wheeler]

Bryson cut his teeth as a travel writer, penning such tomes as The Lost Continent, Neither Here Nor There and Notes from a Small Island to name a few.

In 2004 his irreverent look at the world of all things scientific entitled A Brief History of Nearly Everything won the Aventis Prize for Science Books bestowed upon him from the Royal Society in London.

Why do I like them? Well, for one, he's laugh-out-loud funny. His description of a neophyte listening to an Australian cricket match in A Sunburned Country is about the funniest thing I've ever read. His self-deprecating style mirrors my own ineptitude when I go travelling (an unfortunately rare circumstance, nowadays) fumbling with peculiar currencies, driving on the wrong side of the road, mangling a foreign language and ordering the soup only to find it's got eyeballs floating in it.

His latest, a look back on his somewhat idyllic childhood, is called The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I devoured it in two days, and guffawed my way throughout the entire thing.

[Uplift]

Why don't you just print out some of my posts? They always do it for me. Imagine it, incredible, magnificent, fabulous, chocolate coated, ecstatic bewilderment, no need to understand it, just lose yourself in it. Guaranteed to get you gnashing and weeping, and finally... bowing.

[Angela]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I ended up with Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare. Also got Madame Bovary in case I get all shakespeared out.

But I will make it a point to read the books you all suggested, except I'm going to wait for the annotated version of yours to come out, Uplift. Thanks very much!

[Uplift]

Originally Posted by Angela

Thank you all for your suggestions! I ended up with Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare. Also got Madame Bovary in case I get all shakespeared out.

But I will make it a point to read the books you all suggested, except I'm going to wait for the annotated version of yours to come out, Uplift. Thanks very much!

It might be too much for you to take in. You'll be bowing yourself into exhaustion!

I would love it it, absolutely revel in it, if there was a way for all of our posts and examples to be verified.

[Angela]

I would love it it, absolutely revel in it, if there was a way for all of our posts and examples to be verified.

Was that a little bit of distrust I hear, Uplift? You want a book report on the Asimov and the Flaubert? I'll give it to you a little at time, but I reckon it'll be deluxe!

I agree that you are probably absolutely right about reading your collected works being far too taxing, so I hope you'll let me off the hook on that one.

[NotesMaeve]

I LOVE bookstores! I hope you had a blast, Angela!

[Angela]

Okay. I started with Romeo & Juliet. Did you know that Romeo gave up on his first babe, Rosaline, because she wouldn't put out?

Another thing I didn't recognize before was that the whole Montague-Capulet feud had pretty much pootered out by the time our lovers meet, but Juliet's 14-year-old head is so filled with romantic notions of the drama of the old family feud, fed to her by Tybalt (who reminds me so much of you, Uplift!) that Romeo indulges her with a secret wedding, even though everybody was looking for a graceful way to put the old conflict to bed (so to speak) and probably would have been happy and relieved to dance at their wedding, if J. hadn't been such a drama queen. Well, she was pubescent.

But then, as you know, misunderstandings ensue, Mercutio eats it, Romeo avenges him, he runs off to avoid the Prince's fatal decree for anybody who participates in street brawls (romeo only gets banished, though; not the death penalty), more misunderstandings and before you know it, all the principals have croaked.

I love Isaac Asimov! I can hardly wait for Hamlet.

[Uplift]

Originally Posted by Angela

Was that a little bit of distrust I hear, Uplift? You want a book report on the Asimov and the Flaubert? I'll give it to you a little at time, but I reckon it'll be deluxe!

Nuh, I honestly would like it if people could see things in real life, I know it would inspire them of amasing possibilities.

I'm pretty active... more a live it than read it type, each to their own. Give us another 50 or 60 years, and I reckon the truffles, Flaubs and co might seem more understandable.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Angela

I love Isaac Asimov! I can hardly wait for Hamlet.

Was the book about Isaac Asimov rewriting the Shakespeare play with a twist, or was he analyzing the play for those deeper things you mentioned?

[Angela]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Was the book about Isaac Asimov rewriting the Shakespeare play with a twist, or was he analyzing the play for those deeper things you mentioned?

He analyzes each play and notes the historical, cultural, and linguistic nuances. He explains the why's and where's of the stuff that's mysterious if you aren't aware of it. He's not twisting, just uncovering. Pretty interesting!

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Angela

He analyzes each play and notes the historical, cultural, and linguistic nuances. He explains the why's and where's of the stuff that's mysterious if you aren't aware of it. He's not twisting, just uncovering. Pretty interesting!

Ah, that's pretty cool then!

[Honeywith4bees]

I know that my timing is off, but I wanted to add my two cents anyway! Two of my favorite authors are Barbara Kingsolver and Bill Bryson. I've read Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" three times already and will certainly read it again, and "A walk in the Woods" was my first read by Bryson, but not my last. He manages to add knowledge with humor in every book. Definatly, laugh out loud stuff. I also read "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving and loved his way of turning a plot in and around itself, kind of like Amy Tan does. I don't think that I could read the Asimov book you are describing, it seems that I have developed ADD since child bearing. I can't seem to focus on any one thing anymore for more than 5 minutes or so! Have fun with your books and enjoy those luscious truffles!!!

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by Honeywith4bees

I know that my timing is off, but I wanted to add my two cents anyway! Two of my favorite authors are Barbara Kingsolver and Bill Bryson. I've read Kingsolver's "Prodigal Summer" three times already and will certainly read it again, and "A walk in the Woods" was my first read by Bryson, but not my last. He manages to add knowledge with humor in every book. Definatly, laugh out loud stuff. I also read "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving and loved his way of turning a plot in and around itself, kind of like Amy Tan does. I don't think that I could read the Asimov book you are describing, it seems that I have developed ADD since child bearing. I can't seem to focus on any one thing anymore for more than 5 minutes or so! Have fun with your books and enjoy those luscious truffles!!!

Ah, another Bill Bryson fan! Great stuff, isn't it?

If I could be anyone in the world, it would be a toss-up between Sting and Bill Bryson. Tough call...

[Angela]

Kingsolver and Bryson seem to be knocking at my door, so I'll have to answer! Thank you.

And if I was going to switch identies, cdn, I would be Amy Tan.

[Honeywith4bees]

Did you read A Thousand Secret Senses? (or something like that) and did you know that Amy Tan is just recovering from Lyme Disease?

[Angela]

Yeah, every few years I go on an Amy Tan binge and read all of her novels, one right after the other. I haven't read Saving Fish from Drowning yet, though; I started it and didn't get hooked (ha! )

Before she had published any books, one of the chapters of "Joy Luck Club" appeared in the L.A. Times Magazine as a short story. I remember reading that on a surf trip with my moondoggie boyfriend. I will never forget that day. That story, her incredible skill as a writer, the evocativeness of it, the emotion... I sat in the car sobbing when I was finished, to realize that such incredible beauty could be produced by a human being.

Then when that novel was published, and all her subsequent novels, I was floored. I never get tired of reading her words. She'd better not die any time soon. I'm still kind of mad at Michael Brecker for that very reason.

Yes, I read about her Lyme Disease in The Opposite of Fate.