I have a bad case of mental poison ivy… an idea stuck in my head that I need to scratch and know I shouldn’t. If I give in and scratch it, i’m going to be on the mailing list for every glorified chainletter going (under the fancy name of memes) and if I don’t scratch it I’ll go crazy.

Here’s the setup and then I’ll tell you why i can’t stop thinking about this.

Eric Pennington (from Episode 138- Waking Up in Corporate America) sent me this invitation:

“Sending you this your way to let you know that I’m tagging you for a book meme.  The rules are as follows:

* List the books you are reading
* Pick up the closest book to hand
* Open to page 123
* Find the 5th sentence
* Post the next 3 sentences
* Tag 5 more people”

Now, I get these all the time and as I say I usually delete them immediately. I’ve spent too many years training people not to forward me “the funniest thing they’ve ever read” or email chain letters to backslide and give in. I wasn’t going to respond, but then the itch started.

First, it asks for books plural. I am only reading one book this week (as opposed to the 4 i usually have on the go because publishers love having their authors on the show) so I’d have to include the last books i read or was juggling, which is fine. So here are the last five books from the current effort backwards.

Natasha’s Dance- A Cultural History of Russia  by Orlando Figes

Doctor Zhivago- by Boris Pasternak

Beyond Booked Solid- by Michael Port (for the show- not going to happen)
The Blood King- Gail Z Martin

Fired Up or Burned Out  Michael Lee Stallard (for the show- it did happen and you should listen)

Here are the sentences in question.Feel free to snore:

” Ivan Argunov, the Shermetev’s artist, depicted several ‘unknown peasant girls’ who were most probably wet nurses. The fact that a girl like this should become the subject of a portrait painting, commissioned for display in her owner’s house, in itself speaks volumes about her position in the culture of the Russian Aristocracy. Pavel Sumarokov,recalling daily life among the nobility in the eighteenth century, said that the wet nurse was given pride of place among all the domestic staff.”

Okay, wake up. Here’s what went through my brain in doing this exercise in no particular order of itchiness:

• I was a little embarrassed by the list and for all kinds of reasons. “What kind of pretentious idiot reads a cultural history of Russia? People will think I’m putting on airs…..” but then it makes sense because I had just read Doctor Zhivago (inspired by the movie “Into the Wild”, trust me there’s a connection) and I do love me a good fat Russian novel and I’m  a Russian history freak, especially the Revolution(s). So I was seeking context.Pavel, Adam, any chance someone wants me to speak there?
• Or was I more embarrassed by reading The Blood King (which I had to read because I’d just finished The Summoner, it’s prequel)- I am a sword and sorcery fiend… I read all kinds of crap like this…. i like it…. so sue me. Not really a reason to be embarrassed except if you read Eric’s blog on this and follow back to the folks he got tagged by they are all reading high-minded self-improvement stuff. I’m worrying about whether the mage will…well I won’t bore you with it.
• I’m all about following whichever rabbit hole I come across…. one Russian novel leads to another, or a history book, one cheap fantasy novel leads to the next in the trilogy (why are they always trilogies?)
• Does a mixed reading bag like this mean I’m well balanced or does it explain why I’m so broke? Should I get more serious and focus on reading what’s “useful”? I read these other people and it’s serious book after serious book….
• Do I lack focus or am I one of those elusive polymaths?

I won’t tag 5 other people, since they’ll probably have been tagged by the time I get to them anyway, but this is a fascinating experiment…. what are YOU reading?

Is this meme outdated because so many of us get our input from the Web (and how long will it be until the paper book is a relic)?

Is your input focused on one area or are you, like me literarily promiscuous ( the first Mrs. Cranky used to call me a book slut, but literarily promiscuous sounds more, well, bookish). I am now trademarking “literarily promiscuous”.

No judgments, share with us if you’d like. Just asking.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 2:55 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.