Gin and tonic, anyone? I'm told we drink tonic to keep the elephants away. No elephants around my house! My own handblown glass from my niece on Whidbey Island.
If you have needs other than discussing books, I won't help you with them. If you want to be my friend, let's have some discussion first. I won't buy your book or read and discuss your poetry, and I don't discuss religion.
At present I'm reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and The Sea by John Banville. Please don't ask me what you should read, because I don't care.
Still missing Radar, more than I can say.
I grew up clutching a book, the only introvert in a family of extroverts. I've just finished Daughter of Time (rather tedious), Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Mermaid Chair (not good) and the dark Irish The Gathering, which I didn't find dark, in fact, uplifting. It appears I have a dark side. The opinions I write on books are based on how well I liked the book. There are some books I refuse to read beyond a few pages.
My Myers-Briggs type is INTJ. My learning style is field-independent. I was warned that I'm unsuited to be a nurse, but I'm so contrary the warning contributed to my success, otherwise I might have become a philosopher or librarian, or an accountant or circus clown. I teach, part-time, and will probably do it forever because I really love my job, most days. It also leaves time for cooking, gardening, reading, movies, and travel.
Both my sons learned to read at a very early age, because my husband and I read to them at nap time and at bed time. I never will forget that John, at the age of 1 year and some months, picked up a Dr. Seuss and 'read' it to me. I think he had it memorized, but still. Andrew was able to read when barely 3.
Among people I love are my husband, our two sons, and my best friend Mary. If you could pick your family I would pick her. I like open-minded people, laughing, and good wine. I like Guiness, Murphy's, and Shiner Bock, Daniel Day Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Christian Bale. I like my Bike Friday, and winter days in Texas, about the only time I enjoy going outdoors. I raise herbs to cook with, which takes some tenacity, since gardening here requires pick-axes, dynamite, deer-proof fences, and lately a heat shield. Wish I had one. I don't begrudge what the birds eat from my garden, except for ripe tomatoes, and I always plant enough parsley to share with black swallowtail larvae. I like dark chocolate, but not milk chocolate. I'm sad Robert Altman died, but now I know who the angel was coming for in the last scene of Prairie Home Companion.
My literary loves are Ian McEwan, Don DeLillo, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, P.D. James, and I'm developing a taste for Barbara Pym. They are my refuge when I wake in the middle of the night. I dislike ageism, sexism, racism, classism (oops, I'm a labour snob), and consumerism, except, of course, an occasional new pair of shoes (yeah, some with four-inch-heels and snakeskin), hair products, and books, of course. I hate cruelty, whether to helpless animals, children, or the downtrodden of society. I despise Rev. Fred Phelps and his parishioners and their brand of bigotry, and find myself wishing there really was a hell so they could be sent to the lowest, most miserable level, along with the Bill Cristol and the neocons. I dislike pretentiousness and patronizing people. I'm not crazy about Christmas because it is too close to my birthday, and I worry that I won't get all the gifts I feel I'm entitled to. My favorite film is "The Dead". I don't like movie remakes. I like the Coen brothers movies, especially "Blood Simple" and "Fargo", and their masterpiece, "The Big Lebowski", which I have viewed from a lawn chair outside a bowling alley while sipping White Russians. Favorite quote "Nice Marmot". Yes, I know Amy Mann was in it. I miss drive-in movies. I watch "Groundhog Day" over and over, and always get some new existential insight.
« less