It's Meme Time
Tuesday, October 31 at 8:05 PM
Today on Meme Time, pulling an imaginary rope. Errr... Today on Meme Time, Pops passes on a meme about books.
One book that changed your life: The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky. If you've read it and it hasn't changed yours, read it again.
One book you've read more than once: Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis.
One book you'd want on a desert island: I'm going to go ahead and copy my father. Scripture.
One book that made you laugh: The Princess Bride, S. Morgenstern, Good Parts Version, abridged by William Goldman.
One book that made you cry: No Man Steps In The Same River Twice, Or, There Is No Baby Grandpa, Volume 1: 1921-1942, Darrell E. White, my grandfather.
One book that you wish had been written: Practical Application of Luther's Two Kingdoms Theology In a Democratic Society.
One book that you wish had never been written: Allow me to preface this by saying that I think anybody who wants to write something should be allowed to. I do have a blog, after all. With that in mind, it's hard to think of specifics, so we'll just go with anything by Jane Austen to boil a little blood. Also, Total English, vol. 1-3, my students' textbooks.
One book you're currently reading: What Is Philosophy? José Ortega y Gasset.
One book you've been meaning to read: My pocket version of The Onion's Our Dumb Century.
Now tag five people: If you're reading this and you haven't already responded (this exempts Dad and Amy), you're it.
PS
Will thinks this post is rather musing.Ah, but I don't have a blog....
I just had to respond, though, to the thoroughly unwarranted equating of Jane Austen and Total English. C'mon, now!
...you do know there is no S. Morgenstern?
Just a few comments. Get Fuzzy is not all that funny. Yes, it occasionally gets a minimal twinge out of me, but that's it. It certainly can't be compared with the Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes or Marmaduke. And don't give me the notion that I have to inhabit the Get Fuzzy world. I've been near it and I can't bear it.
For anyone who loves the OED--the Oxford English Dictionary--a fascinating read is about a convicted American Civil War surgeon who contributed from a British insane asylum "scores of thousands" of citations and ideas for the first edition of the dictionary. The author weaves four stories into one--the convict, the OED's illustrious editor (James Murray), the scope of the dictionary project itself, and the disease--schizophrenia--that the convict suffered from.
On a second level, the lives of the convict and the editor are compared--both having grown up in devout Christian homes. The two men were similar in age, appearance, scholarship and background. Yet one lived virtually his entire adult life in an asylum, while the other basked in academic freedom. The book is quite graphic and even bizarre in places, as the life of the convict is uncovered. It is at the same time, both a triumph of historical research and a tale of sadness.
Do any of you cultured readers care that the Ohio State University football team laid one on Michigan yesterday? It was hard fought, but, as Fox Sports reported it, the rednecks beat the English majors once again, 42-39.