New Diablog
So Death in the Afternoon, has passed me a meme (I call them diablogs) about books. Here are my answers.
1. Number of books I've owned.
Probably around 150 or so. Strangely enough, I have never been much of a voracious reader of books beyond those assigned in my classes. I'm not sure why this is, and in fact, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it. At every point in my education, my mother gave me impassioned shpeals about how other kids would pass me by in verbal, reading, and writing skills if I didn't start reading more on my own. Either she was overreacting, or this whole Princeton/Yale Law thing was a big fluke [I'm not discounting the latter possibility].
In any case, I still wonder why I have an unexpectedly low number of pleasure-reading-books under my belt. I think one reason is my incredibly short attention span in certain areas. I generally have little patience for or interest in following fictional storylines unless the stories do something really significant for me, ie utterly depress, move, or excite me. Most of the books I actively seek out are non-fiction. This facet of my personality comes out with respect to movies and television as well. I honestly watch almost nothing on TV other than news and documentaries, and am highly picky when it comes to finding movies I enjoy.
I do voraciously read things other than books like newspapers, magazines, and opinion columns. I think a big part of my attraction to these media is that they are grounded in REAL events. They are also short. Sure, fiction is grounded in reality to some extent, but I simply find it hard to actively crave a good novel. It's weird, I know.
2. Last book I bought:
The Life of Pi - Read a few chapters and found it surprisingly good [given my whole diatrabe against fiction]. Haven't gotten back to reading it. Gee, maybe I should get checked for ADD?
3. Last book I read:
The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage, Frederick P. Hitz - Just finished it today. It is written by one of my undergrad professors and compares spycraft as it is portrayed in novels to the real thing as practiced by the likes of the CIA.
4. Five books that mean alot to me:
The Mind's Eye - This collection of essays on "philosophy of mind" delves into fundamental issues of consciousness, identity, and metaphysics. It epitomizes the type of reading I like most. It'll also make you think a lot about just exactly what it is that makes you think.
The Great Gatsby - I had a wonderful sophomore English teacher in high school whom I respect more than almost anyone else, and who made this book come alive for me. I think I would have liked it anyway (although to a lesser degree) were it not for this teacher. As a crafter of elegant prose, I don't think it gets much better than FSF.
Moby Dick - I read EVERY single page of it with same teacher mentioned above; This book I'm sure I would NOT have liked much at all were it not for his brilliant teaching of it and his lectures on how it helped him through some extremely trying moments in his life.
One L, Scott Turow - I read this book the summer before going to law school and it scared the S#$% out of me. I now frequently glance back at it and smile because it bears absolutely no resemblance ot my current life. For reminding me of how lucky I am, it makes my list.
The Federalist Papers - That's the lawyer and sappy patriot in me talking.
So there you have it. Those are my answers.
1. Number of books I've owned.
Probably around 150 or so. Strangely enough, I have never been much of a voracious reader of books beyond those assigned in my classes. I'm not sure why this is, and in fact, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it. At every point in my education, my mother gave me impassioned shpeals about how other kids would pass me by in verbal, reading, and writing skills if I didn't start reading more on my own. Either she was overreacting, or this whole Princeton/Yale Law thing was a big fluke [I'm not discounting the latter possibility].
In any case, I still wonder why I have an unexpectedly low number of pleasure-reading-books under my belt. I think one reason is my incredibly short attention span in certain areas. I generally have little patience for or interest in following fictional storylines unless the stories do something really significant for me, ie utterly depress, move, or excite me. Most of the books I actively seek out are non-fiction. This facet of my personality comes out with respect to movies and television as well. I honestly watch almost nothing on TV other than news and documentaries, and am highly picky when it comes to finding movies I enjoy.
I do voraciously read things other than books like newspapers, magazines, and opinion columns. I think a big part of my attraction to these media is that they are grounded in REAL events. They are also short. Sure, fiction is grounded in reality to some extent, but I simply find it hard to actively crave a good novel. It's weird, I know.
2. Last book I bought:
The Life of Pi - Read a few chapters and found it surprisingly good [given my whole diatrabe against fiction]. Haven't gotten back to reading it. Gee, maybe I should get checked for ADD?
3. Last book I read:
The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage, Frederick P. Hitz - Just finished it today. It is written by one of my undergrad professors and compares spycraft as it is portrayed in novels to the real thing as practiced by the likes of the CIA.
4. Five books that mean alot to me:
The Mind's Eye - This collection of essays on "philosophy of mind" delves into fundamental issues of consciousness, identity, and metaphysics. It epitomizes the type of reading I like most. It'll also make you think a lot about just exactly what it is that makes you think.
The Great Gatsby - I had a wonderful sophomore English teacher in high school whom I respect more than almost anyone else, and who made this book come alive for me. I think I would have liked it anyway (although to a lesser degree) were it not for this teacher. As a crafter of elegant prose, I don't think it gets much better than FSF.
Moby Dick - I read EVERY single page of it with same teacher mentioned above; This book I'm sure I would NOT have liked much at all were it not for his brilliant teaching of it and his lectures on how it helped him through some extremely trying moments in his life.
One L, Scott Turow - I read this book the summer before going to law school and it scared the S#$% out of me. I now frequently glance back at it and smile because it bears absolutely no resemblance ot my current life. For reminding me of how lucky I am, it makes my list.
The Federalist Papers - That's the lawyer and sappy patriot in me talking.
So there you have it. Those are my answers.
posted by From on High at 9:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home