Harper Valley

OH NO!!!!! i've been tagged by The Rev at The Woodshed!!!!

this means i have to list a bunch of fave books etc. i'm bipolar and symptoms have worsened with age. one of them is reading concentration. i've accepted this but it was difficult for many years as i was the type who used to have 3 or 4 books on the go at a time. it's been a decade since i haven't been able to read much. i do get embarrassed about this so when someone says, 'what have you read lately?' i just say i don't, that i only read on the internet , which is true and a blessing because it's easy to set limitations and most articles are short :)

A book that changed my life there have been many help my life evolve. nothing stands out any more then others . depends how old i was and what was going on in my life, mind etc.. 'paddle to the sea' which as a kid i just related to so much. 'a wrinkle in time' which we had to read in grade five and somehow confirmed for me that good witches and different times and realms do exist (even though it was fiction i took it as real). i thought nancy drew was a really fucked up woman but we had to read her at home.

grade 8 i discovered john wyndham and a penchant for 'social science fiction'....... my dad giving me his old jack kerouc and damon runion when i was 16 was way cool. kurt vonnegut, herman hesse, hunter s. thompson. can-lit was big, alice munro, robertson davies, margaret atwood, margaret lawrence, alice munro. books i read in woman's studies who's titles i can't remember but i'm still really fucking pissed off that i leant them out and they weren't returned!!!!!!!!

these all had impact on me. they helped altered my life at various stages. music lyrics made a larger impact on me then books.

A book I've read more then once. i honestly can't remember but i know there's been a few. robertson davie's 'the deptford trilogy', but i can't remember what it was about.

What book would you take to a desert island The Oxford Dictionary or an encyclopedia set (i'll consider that one book split into several)

A book that made me laugh 'the bandy papers' by donald jack....about a world war one flying ace who does nothing but screw up. i was howling!!!!

A book that made me cry following the rev's lead, there was a book i used to read to our little girl that had me in a sobbing mess everytime. DAMN I CAN'T REMEMBER THE NAME!!!!!! or even what it was about. i think the title was something like 'i'll love you until..'.

A book I wish had been written 'how to get out of tooth hell in one easy step and one easy second'. it would actually be a pamphlet.

A book I wish had never been written ' my life' by scout vagabond and 3 years straight on the new york times best seller list. too bad i forgot to give the publisher my address, i'd like the royalties and i kick myself for having written it every 1st of the month.

Books I am currently reading nothing.

Books I've been meaning to read hmm, 'red tent' and a couple of others, not many.

What turned me on to fiction dr. seuss, beatrix potter, all that early stuff. dad making up stories was the best!!!!

Final thoughts i also loved james harriet and gerald durrell. 'harriet the spy' was part of my life and i used to eat ketchup sandwiches with my little sister and we'd spy on the neighbourhood with our harriet get ups.

books are amazing and wonderful. sometimes i still grieve the loss of the ability to read them. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: the books our daughter had to read in school were all geared to boys and she disliked reading until about 20 as a result. she's only 23 and i was so looking forward to her being turned on to cool books at school, but bowen island is in the west van school district and they are backwards and couldn't even bring themselves to give choice.... shit, i think we even had that when i was a kid!!!!!!!

The five i'll pass this poll to:
cheez at Neuronic
annamarie at Verbena-19
jeff at African Perspective
BC Waterboy at The Kalamalka Rainbow
bruce at Canuck Attitude