By Book or by Hook
“As someone who is 5 foot and 1 inch, I sometimes wonder what I might have done with all the time I’ve spent hemming pants and skirts if I didn’t have to do it. Maybe if I was taller, I would have read more of the classics.” ~ Colleen
I’ve been thinking about books all weekend, since Deana tagged me for the following meme. I’ve been thinking how hard it is to name only one book that changed my life; how I read mostly to learn rather than for entertainment; how if a book doesn’t grab me quickly, I tend not to finish it; how I yearn for a book to come along and grab me quickly; how there comes a point when reading yet another book feels like the acquisition of second hand information when I really want to go out and experience life adventures first hand and write about them myself.
1. One book that changed my life: The book “Are You Somebody? The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman” by Nuala Ofaolain helped to give me the confidence to write my own book. Her writing was informal and untraditional, but it was also authentic and held my attention. It made me realize that everyone has a story to tell and that writing isn’t an elite activity meant for only a handful of people.
2. One book that I have read more than once: “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise and other children’s books that I read to my sons over and over.
3. One book I would want on a deserted island: Something like Euell Gibbons, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus.” 
4. One book that made me laugh: “A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail” by Bill Bryson. Not only did it make me laugh, it made me hike the Appalachian Trail, for a few days at least.
5. One book that made me cry: “What book made me cry?” I asked my husband. “The Jim and Dan Stories,” he answered. “That doesn’t count. I can’t say my own book. Didn’t Wendell Berry’s “Jayber Crow” make me cry?” I asked him. “Yes,” he answered. “Okay, I’m going to use that one.”
6. One book I wish I’d written: Reality aside, maybe “Word Freak,” by Stephan Fastis, the book I’m reading now about the history of Scrabble and the counterculture of Scrabble Tournament players. I’m attracted to the kind of research he did to write the book and the fact that he became a tournament player himself. I’d like to be able to play scrabble and write as good as he does.
7. One book I wish had never been written: I guess the world could live without the book Joe and I saw at a bar in Dupont Circle about extreme body piercing.
8. One book I am currently reading: Besides “Word Freak,” and “Sibling Grief” (which I reviewed HERE), I’ve been plunking around “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim” by David Sedaris.
9. One book I have been meaning to read: The book “Storycatcher” by Christina Baldwin that my sister Kathy gave me when she was here for my son’s wedding, and fellow-Floydian Fred’s book “Slow Road Home” are next up on my bedroom nightstand table.
Post Notes: More thoughts on books? Here is the first book meme I did last summer. I am now passing the tag on to the Red Queen, Ben-gal, and Leslie on top of Squirrel Spur.
Floydfesters: scroll down for last week’s posts and photos of Floyd Fest Five.
August 6th, 2006 9:59 pm
Those are fascinating. I’m glad you took up Deana on her offer. Your 1 and 4 sound like major levers.
August 6th, 2006 10:02 pm
Awww…Goodnight Moon! We still read it from time to time! LOL That darn mouse is hard to find sometimes!;)
We’ve been camping all weekend at Fairy Stone Park (actually, Goose Point).
Will you still be available this weekend? We’ll be able to come out after my neice’s birthday party (it’s at 1:00pm). Let me know!
I wish I had more time to read! I “scan” everything and then can’t remember where I read it, but always remember the details of what I read!
xoxox
August 6th, 2006 10:13 pm
I have thrown several to the side myself…I really try to give them the benefit of the doubt and might try one more chapter if I dislike it but after that…TOSS. I liked to be grabbed and taken in quickly as you said.
I remember Goodnight Moon!
Great choices, I knew yours would be good!
August 6th, 2006 10:28 pm
Deana, this was so hard for me to do. I feel like on any given day I would have answered these questions completely different.
Tammy! Come on down! or over or up. This weekend is the window.
August 6th, 2006 10:46 pm
hello Colleen, i just love books, need to read more – butthen its summer and I am so busy. Bless you
August 6th, 2006 11:44 pm
I love books too and have since I was a little girl…even though I was a very poor reader. I remember going to sleep at night with a book of dad’s called “Gertrude Mannering.” I used to read it over and over and since I read poorly, the first read took many months to get through (it was about a girl who became a nun; other than that I can’t recall any details).
Thanks for tagging me. I’ve got two posts in my head right now, so probably I’ll do it this Wednesday.
August 7th, 2006 12:49 am
Better to spend half your life hemming pants than to walk around in high waters like we talls get stuck doing!
I love Goodnight Moon, too. When I think of certain books I read to my children over and over, I’m transported back to their old bedrooms and to those magic hours we spent nestled together, reading. Any book that can elicit those kind of memories has got to be an all time favorite.
August 7th, 2006 9:20 am
This would be soooooo hard for me to do. I like all books, but they are like my mood they change often. Tell Tammy hi and send her my love xo
August 7th, 2006 9:44 am
I’ll do it! It might take me a few days, though…
August 7th, 2006 10:07 am
Colleen, who wrote “Songcatcher”? I saw a movie by the same title some years back, and it was based on a true story. The movie was good (Aidan Quinn!) and the soundtrack was even better, full of old mountain ballads.
Liam is seven and still occasionally asks me to recite “Goodnight Moon” to him. We love that book.
August 7th, 2006 11:30 am
Oh I saw that movie, Terrilynn. I should have said the Storycatcher! I’ll fix it and add the author’s name.
August 7th, 2006 12:10 pm
I just posted this same meme, but I like your answers better. I love Bill Bryson too and I have read most of his stuff. I also love David Sedaris – hardly anyone is funnier than he is!
August 7th, 2006 4:08 pm
I feel so much as you do Colleen about a book grabbimg me! Isn’t it wonderful when that happens? This is such an interesting list…Many of these books are unfamiliar to me…and, I’m sorry to say, will no doubt stay that way. I just don’t read as much as I used to.
Terri tagged me to do this, but I haven’t done it yet…Soon! (lol)
August 7th, 2006 6:28 pm
Colleen, thanks for the comment on Terri’s address. The problem was that I had .com instead of .net. I fixed it – and I appreciate the notice. Next time, I will make sure it works before I leave the computer….LOL
P.S. Read Cane River; I think you would love it like I did.
August 7th, 2006 9:06 pm
Glad to hear you say that, Colleen. It is such a well-written book and it evoked such empathy for the women in that family. How very strong they had to be! I wish I lived close enough to lend you my copy!
August 9th, 2006 10:02 am
Interesting selection, Colleen. I loved Bryson’s book….read his other one also about Europe and enjoyed it just as much.