I've been tagged . . .

. . . by my dear Oxford buddy Kelly, and so I have a list of books to offer.


1.) One book that changed your life. That's a tough one. I think that my life has been most changed by a poem, not a book, because that single poem has and is currently determining the direction of my career. That poem is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I was introduced to the British Romantic poets in my high school English class. I've been hooked ever since. I think I was mainly attracted to the poem's visual and supernatural elements . . . very intriguing. Then I got into some of STC's prose works and was drawn in by his discussion of the imagination. And right now, I'm swimming in a sea of Coleridge that I can't get out of.
2.) One book that you have read more than once. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I've tried to read it every year, but grad school has gotten in the way.
3.) One book you would want on a desert island (besides the Bible). Another hard one. It would have to be a book that gives me a lot to think about without depressing me, so I guess that pretty much rules out a lot of modern and contemporary stuff. The Pearl by the Pearl poet comes to mind. I read that almost 3 years ago in a class with David Lyle Jeffrey. We read it at the end of the semester, and I did not spend enough time with it to really appreciate it. A desert island would give me all that time - and more!
4.) Two books that made you laugh. Since freshman essays don't count, I'll have to go with Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends
5.) One book that made you cry. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (and no, I wasn't crying becasue the book is exceptionally long).
6.) One book you wish you'd written. Anything by Dr. Seuss
7.) One book you wish had never been written. Like Kelly, I'm going to stick with something that I've actually read. That award goes to Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Can someone please explain to me what makes her such a great philosopher? I still fail to see what, if any, great contribution she has made in the world, besides attracting a cult-like following. And while I'm all for college education, I don't think we should subject college students to this work in order to make the eligible for a college scholarship.
8.) Two books you are currently reading. Philosophical Fragments by Friedrich Schlegel and Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature by his brother August Schlegel (they're on my reading list for my preliminary exams)
9.) One book you've been meaning to read. Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

Tag, Part II
***For the 1-2-3 meme, the directions are:
1.) Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2.) Open the book to page 123.
3.) Find the fifth sentence.
4.) Post the next three sentences.
5.) Tag five people.

Here goes nothing:
1). The lucky winner is Perspectives on Argument, 5th ed., edited by Nancy V. Wood. This is the book we use in the second semester of Freshman Comp.
2). Pg. 123 falls in Chapter 4, which is the first chapter in the textbook that discusses how to write about issues and use sources (what chapters one through three are for, I'm not exactly sure).
3). Quote: "In college, when I was introduced to feminism, I tried to deny any past connection to Barbie. I was ashamed to have ever associated with her. I felt sorry for the girls who looked like walking Barbie dolls, always worried about looking perfect." That wonderful piece of prose comes from the sample student writing at the end of the chapter. Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is what we pay the big bucks for - textbooks filled with politically correct articles and mediocre sample student essays that would not receive high marks had they been submitted in most college level English classes.

As far as the tagging goes, I'm pretty sure most everyone I know who reads this blog has already been tagged, at least those who blog themselves. That leaves mom and Aunt Sue. Are either of you up for being tagged???

Upcoming attractions: the refrigerator that wouldn't fit, and the mysterious missing floor tiles.