While giving Sid three questions to ponder over (and you better answer them dammit!) as part of a blog request, I stumbled on a comment my friend Katie made to Sid's blog:
Three questions, huh? Ok. My questions always relate to books.
1. What was your favorite book as a kid and why?
2. What book would you give to your best friend and why?
3. What book would you give to your worst enemy and why?
I like the answers I get when I ask the third question. I'm guessing you will have an interesting answer. Hm... I should ask Viv that one of these days...
Well, I got the questions Katie, and I'm answering them now (in an excessively verbose fashion)!
1. That's a tough one. I'd have to say D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths -- or the encyclopedia from 1972 that we got as a hand-me-down from my uncle (which explains my weird fountain of knowledge). See when I was a kid, my mom really didn't want me reading "kids books." She wanted me reading adult stuff or stuff that was supposed to make me smarter. But at the library, I could read tons of cool stuff and this was one of the things there. D'Aulaires' book is awesome because it has great illustrations and described Olympus and the thrones the gods sat on.
2. I'd have to say Zhuangzi Speaks by Chih-chung Ts'ai. It takes some of the Taoist philosophy and stories that Zuangzi talked about and puts them in cartoon form. It's humorous and educational. I often find myself reading it to calm my mind in times of stress. If anything, it's a reminder not to sweat anything and just flow.
3. Worst enemy? The Mists of Avalon. It's pure crap. It might be one of the reasons why I'm very skeptical of fantasy and sci-fi. I'm still trying to figure out why a high school English teacher thought that book and The World According to Garp were good ideas for a freshman. Marion Zimmer Bradley shit all over the Arthurian myths (a three-way between Guinevere, Arthur and Lancelot? GAH!). Then there's Anne Rice's recent stuff which is also melodramatic and overblown.
If I was feeling vindictive, maybe Infinite Jest. At more than 1,000 pages, it would take them a while to finish it so I could sneak up and kill them.
But in reality, I'd probably give the same book that I'd give my best friend. The biggest trick to living a happy life is learning to let go of everything. If my enemy was happy, then maybe we wouldn't have the desire to make each other miserable.
1 comment:
I loved loved loved D'Aulaires book when I was kid! I still have it (although my copy is pretty beat up now). I used to read it daily! I knew every name in the book (which is an awful lot). I only remember the ones I liked now.
I've never read any of the others you listed, but Zhuangzi Speaks sounds really interesting and I may check it out. I started The Mists of Avalon once, got bored, and never got back to it.
Thanks for answering my questions! Interesting answers.
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