Traffic and Literature

My whole life is packed away into two giant plastic boxes and one huge duffel bag. I'm ready to get out of this town but I have to wait two more days...I should have waited to pack because now I'm all excited and have nowhere to go, not to mention nothing to wear because I packed everything away.

I am sitting in Barnes and Noble typing this up today because I had to drop Johnny off at work and now have time to kill before my hair appointment. What I love about this spot is that I snagged a window table so I can look out and watch the traffic in the Towson circle. Anyone who knows Towson know that the circle is the center of town, atop one of the tallest hills in the county. And the 5 main roads in town converge in one big traffice circle. It's a two lane roundabout and each road feeding into it is a two lane street. No one really knows how to drive the circle and it's generally complete mayhem. That's why I love it so much.

Ok, I have nothing to blog about so I am going to steal a survey from Hayley G. Hoover about BOOKS.

1. What author do you own the most books by?
Sarah Dessen, then J. K. Rowling, then Jane Austen

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (4 copies...I am about to buy copy number 4 before I leave B&N, it is sitting on the table next to me all nice and pretty)

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
A little bit but it's ok b/c this isn't formal writing.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Mr. Darcy, of course! Not a very original answer but I read P&P for the first time when I was twelve and Mr. Darcy just seemed like the perfect man (especially when compared with the pre-teen monsters in my middle school class!

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I reread books like crazy so it's hard to say. Pride & Prejudice probably. Although the Harry Potter series runs a close second. If you count listening to books on tape, too, then definitely HP b/c every family roadtrip since I was about 10 we've listened to Jim Dale read Harry Potter to us.

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Little Women. I read it continuously for all of fourth and fifth grades. I was reading above my grade level from third grade onward so I first read Little Women in fourth grade and just fell in love. Although, I did eat up the Thoroughbred series, too.

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Breaking Dawn. Sorry but it's true.

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
A Tale of Two Cities. I can't believe I hadn't read it before! I was never fond of Dickens because of an unfortunate experience with Great Expectations in my freshman English class. But I have now decided to reread Great Expectations, too.

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
I could steal Hayley's answer of Franny and Zooey but I won't. I'll say Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. All American students should read this alongside their American history textbook.

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I wouldn't wish that fate on any book!

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Any JD Salinger. I'm pretty sure JD has prevented any major movies depicting his works as it should be because his writing NEEDS to be experienced on the page.

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I've never dreamt about an author. I'm sure I've dreamt about a book or a literary character but I can't seem to remember any right now. My dreams are usually horrific nightmares so I don't think books really play a big part in my twisted mind's night-terror.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I've read my share of trashy chick-lit. Oh, God, the Shopaholic series.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I am ashamed to say that I've never seen an obscure Shakespeare play live. I've only seen the popular ones on stage (Midsummer's, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Twelfth Night)

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
RUSSIANS. I'll read Tolstoy every day for the rest of my life...Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration but I do love me some Russian literature (Chekhov! Come on)

17. Roth or Updike?
Neither. Sorry.

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
DAVE EGGERS. But Sedaris is good, too, just not as good as Eggers for me.

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare Shakespeare Shakespeare! Although, Chaucer holds a warm spot in my heart for giving me the Wife of Bath and my senior thesis.

20. Austen or Eliot?
Just look at my first few answers and then guess. (I'll give you a hint: AUSTEN!)

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I haven't actually read the Iliad. *hangs head in shame*

23. Play?
HAMLET.

[A tractor trailer just went through the circle! Oh God, it was priceless to watch the other motorists react with either blatant horror or frenzied exasperation.]

24. Poem?
anyone lived in a pretty how town by E. E. Cummings (see blog title for proof of my love)

25. Essay?
I can't say that I've read any essays that have stuck with me. I'll get on this one and report back.

27. Who is your favorite writer?
"Writer," as in for their unique writing style, I have to go with Salinger. But if the question is "author," for whose novels I love more, that would be a different answer.

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
I'm not going to say Stephenie Meyer.

29. What is your desert island book?
P&P. Unoriginal but there you go.

30. And... what are you reading right now?
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. It's the last of her Gemma Doyle series and I never got around to reading it.



Ok, there you go. Books books books and more books.