God, I'm bushed!...No, strike that - I'm Obama-ed! Which is infinitely better!
I collect Depression Glass, Cobalt Blue in particular - I've got over 300 pieces. No earthquakes, please!
My first book was "Little Bear" from the New York Public Library, Washington Heights Branch. I dropped it into the toilet, (before!)...
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God, I'm bushed!...No, strike that - I'm Obama-ed! Which is infinitely better!
I collect Depression Glass, Cobalt Blue in particular - I've got over 300 pieces. No earthquakes, please!
My first book was "Little Bear" from the New York Public Library, Washington Heights Branch. I dropped it into the toilet, (before!) learning then and there to be more careful with books in general and the arduous process of works on paper conservation in particular. As it slowly dried I read it, chastened. Only decades later I did I realize it was written by THE Maurice Sendak, years before "Where the Wild Things Are".
Though my tastes are pretty catholic, I continue to have a soft spot for good children's books (old and lovely but also new and/or silly - "Everyone Poops", anyone?) and classic book illustration being a special favorite. Those early books and their images are burned in our minds forever and help shape us. I know that Sara Crewe, for example, in "A Little Princess" was precisely as Tasha Tudor painted her, period. And I also know that everyone poops.
As I slowly plod now through my pile 'o books and attempt to list them here on addictive Shelfari, alongside what I'm reading now and plan to read, I see a timeline forming of who I was, where I was, who I was in love with, where I worked (big discount on those pricey art books when you work at the Met!) and what I studied and performed (hundred of plays read) and my love of film and Art Deco design. There is the influence of my two older sisters' loves of science fiction, British mysteries, & the Western European classics, my own love of Colette, my interest in biographies, any number of obsessions.
The first book I distinctly remember buying was "Dracula" of all things, which I read when I was nine. I loved classic horror stories as a little girl, Gothic horror and the stories of Poe, Lovecraft, especially. Most terrifying story? Perhaps H.P. Lovecraft's "Cool Air" or "The Rats in the Walls". Not to be read alone at night. Yikes!
I seem to prefer fiction by dead writers, but I want to support the worthy breathing, and welcome suggestions. I am shyly reading various groups' posts to see what speaks to me, and snooping into the profiles of those who have books in common with me. What a thoughtful and well-read bunch we are!
Well, sometimes. I'm stunned at the callous dismissal by some of Joan Didion's heartbreaking and beautifully written "The Year of Magical Thinking" and realize that it indeed, takes all kinds. I think I'm going to have fun with Tags, as in "Trashy Read", "Guilty Pleasure", and "You're Too Judgemental".
Happy reading!
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