Day 20 - Favorite romance book

I don't really read romance books. And I could probably come up with a book that had a significant enough amount of romance that it would count, but that's boooring. Fuck tha police.

House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski

This had to be on here sooner or later. I'm not even gonna try to explain it because it's unexplainable (furthermore I've already tried here). I'm just gonna leave you with this quote from the author.

"I had one woman come up to me in a bookstore and say, 'You know, everyone told me it was a horror book, but when I finished it, I realized that it was a love story.' And she's absolutely right. In some ways, genre is a marketing tool." (source)

Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie

What an ambiguous question! The way it is worded it could easily mean it wants to know your favorite book that just also happened to be turned into a movie, but doesn't care about what you thought of said movie.

I am pretty sure that's not what it means. But a clearer way to phrase it would have been "favorite movie adapted from a book", guys. Clarity!

Although I will grant you that movie adaptations are complicated territory, and it might be more about a book that was dear to you and turned into a movie, and just your general thoughts on that. But in that case the word "favorite" becomes weird. In general this is a weird question.

Anyway.

The actual answer to this question is Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which I think is the most successful adapation around, but I already cheated once with comics, so I'm gonna do a legit book this time. And in fact I'm gonna go with a book AND movie that I have already mentioned.

Maurice, by E. M. Forster, adapted by Ismail Merchant & James Ivory

Merchant-Ivory, as they are called, are pretty brilliant in general with their Forster adaptations, of which they did three. This one is easily the best one, and not because I suspect it is also the best book of the three (though I admit I have not read any other Forster yet). It loses some things, of course, but enhances others, and I think it was played with a great subtle honesty that captures the real essence of the book. This is an empowering movie for gay men, which is a rare bird indeed, and it is sexy as hell, and it was made in goddamn 1987 featuring a very young and smooth-faced Hugh Grant, and an unbelievably gorgeous tinykins Rupert Graves (pictured, left). Also James Wilby (pictured, right), but most people don't know who he is on account of his not appearing in A) every romantic comedy ever B) an outrageously popular BBC miniseries.

True story: I once read a review of this movie on Amazon dot com from a woman who said that before she saw this movie, she had a low opinion of homosexuals and had no idea that their love could be meaningful/real. She claimed with fairly heartfelt words that this movie legitimately changed her perspective. If that's not success I don't know what is.

Day 18 - A book that disappointed you

Well. My answer is probably going to seem unfortunate.

The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman

I'm sorry, guys, I know Neil is everyone's favorite and I love him too, but there is just no better book I can think of that truly fits this question. Being that Neil is great, I expect to love all his books, but sadly this is sometimes just not the case. I found this one to be ... well ... boring!

That's all I have to say about it, really...!

Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book

Naturally this one comes when I'm on a day trip away from all my books that I could possibly use for reference. On top of that, I have a few. I think I really should have more than one anyway because I notice the last question of this meme is "favorite book ever" and wouldn't it kind of ruin the surprise if you just gave that away now? So, I have options and I don't have any of them on me. Bear with me, interwebs.

The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

"Non in commotione, non in commotione Dominus."

I cannot give context for this quote and you simply must read the book. The translations vary. I have only just discovered that the "official" translation is quite different from the one I cobbled together from Latin translators online. And undoubtedly it is the "correct" one. I put these words in quotes because I really like my version. It means something totally different, but it made a huge impact on me and I thought it was so perfect for what was happening in the story. Given the nature of the thing, I feel as though an argument can be made for the validity of my unofficial translation, being that language is complex, words can mean many things, and subjectivity is crucial to appreciating a work. I don't know if my translation is at all grammatically viable, but I hope it is, because I like it.

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

"Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?"

This is something that is, I believe, repeated a few times, though I primarily recall the first time. I love that it doesn't make any sense, not for the longest time, and I love that it is somehow beautiful and haunting just the same, despite the inherent silliness of the surrounding scene. This quote stuck in me like a pin for the duration of the book. It is iconic, and not without reason.

Also iconic, also beloved, also wonderful and silly at the same time:

It was love at first sight. The first time Yossarian saw the chaplain, he fell madly in love with him.

Finally, though I could quote the entire book if I had the means, I am also fond, for simpler reasons, of this bit:

"Yes, Yossarian. That's right. Yossarian. Yossarian? Is that his name? Yossarian? What the hell kind of name is Yossarian?"

Lieutenant Scheisskopf had the facts at his finger tips. "It's Yossarian's name, sir," he explained.

The Collected Works of Jorge Luis Borges

It is probably a good thing that I don't have this volume on me, because there are so many. Here are several, presented without comment:

Siento un poco de vértigo. / No estoy acostumbrado a la eternidad.
I feel a bit of vertigo. / I am not accustomed to eternity.
-The Cipher (a poem)

I come now to the ineffable center of my tale; it is here that a writer’s hopelessness begins. Every language is an alphabet of symbols the employment of which assumes a past shared by its interlocutors. How can one transmit to others the infinite Aleph, which my timorous memory can scarcely contain? [...] And besides, the central problem—the enumeration, even partial enumeration, of infinity—is irresolvable. In that unbounded moment, I saw millions of delightful and horrible acts; none amazed me so much as the fact that all occupied the same point, without superposition and without transparency. What my eyes saw was simultaneous; what I shall write is successive, because language is successive. Something of it, though, I will capture.
-The Aleph

And yet, and yet … Denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the astronomical universe, are apparent desperations and secret consolations. Our destiny is not frightful by being unreal; it is frightful because it is irreversible and iron-clad. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges.
-A New Refutation of Time (an essay)

What will my redeemer be like, I wonder? Will he be bull or man? Will he perhaps be a bull with the face of a man? Or will he be like me?
-The House of Asterion

Day 16 - Favorite female character

Is a graphic novel cheating? If it is I don't care. Because it's this lady, without a doubt.

355, from Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man

355 is the baddest babe around. She is tough as nails and smart and sassy and she has a horrifying fucked up past and she isn't afraid of anything and she's sexy as HELL and I could give specifics but if you ain't read these comics it would be better to just read them, and if you have read them then you know what I'm talking about.

God I love her, I love her so much. She's cooler than anyone. She's my spirit guide.

And an honorable mention from a "real" book, because you can't have Will without her:

Lyra, from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy

Lyra is also a total badass and smart and sassy and not afraid of anything, except when she is, and she's capable of such wonderful tenderness also, and oh god how does Pullman get little girls so well, I just, I can't.

Lyra will always remind me deeply of my best friend, who is also blond and small and fierce and loves cats.

A mundane tragedy for the day.

Waiting at the bus stop after a particularly difficult therapy session, on the phone with my mom about going on meds, an older gentleman seated next to me suddenly interrupts my phone conversation to say "You're okay."

He said it again and again. I looked at him and said a polite "Thank you" a few times to sort of gauge how aware of himself he was. It seemed really important to him that he talk to me so I told my mom I had to go.

He said "I just wanted to tell you, ma'am, you're okay. I know it don't always feel that way, but you're okay. You are."

I stared at him. I said "Thank you" again, too quietly. He said "Helloo?" and I sort of nodded. My bus came. I got up and he kept looking at me. I thought about offering my hand but didn't. I thought about saying something but didn't. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to cry in front of a stranger. I didn't want to miss my stupid bus. So I turned away and got on the bus.

I wish I hadn't. I regret it so much. I regretted it the moment I sat down.

I should have missed my bus. I should have asked him how he knew.

Should have, should have, didn't.

Day 15 - Favorite male character

Holy buckets this is hard. There are so many choices.

Okay, here's a tie. These characters are hella different, so... that's fair, right?

Yossarian, from Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Yossarian is the shit. Catch-22 really should have been my "Favorite Classic Book," but I guess I wasn't sure about its "classic" status in comparison with Catcher. But whatever. I read Catch-22 when I was sixteen/seventeen, just because I FELT LIKE IT. Which was pretty empowering, for someone who didn't read a whole lot outside of class! But I loved it so so so much. I remember sitting around in school and reading it constantly. It was so great. The humor of the writing mixed with the tragedy of the story, so great. And above all, the characters all so colorful and weird and wonderful/horrible. I haven't read the book since then, but I've always meant to reread, and I always think back fondly on it. Yossarian succeeds in being so human and so ridiculous at the same time. Somehow he is the ultimate hero even though he defies everything that makes a hero. I don't know, it's been a long time and it's hard to explain. But I love him. He will forever be the imaginary absurdist rebel hottie of my heart.

Also! Not about Yossarian per se, but this book taught me many important things. Like the word "subversive"! How to make absurdist circles of dialogue! And how to do a fucking soul-shattering reveal with just the right kind of buildup that it destroys you and drastically alters your understanding of everything leading up to it.

That scene.... that scene. Guh.

And:

Will, from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy

These books, also, should have been on the list already. They could have been both the book(s) that makes me happy AND the book(s) that makes me sad. They could have been my favorite series. I don't know how I forgot them until now. Because I have a LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THEM.

I didn't expect to like Will. I first read The Golden Compass in 2002 or so, and loved every minute of it, but for some reason when I started The Subtle Knife I didn't get past the first couple chapters. I was just like, man, who is this Will guy and why should I care about him?? More Lyra please! Which is understandable I guess, but WILL IS AMAZING OKAY. I finally finally read these books properly last year, and I just about died, and I couldn't deal with how much I loved Will. I am finding it difficult to talk about characters without just talking about the books. Hmmm.

Welp, SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS if you haven't read these books SKIP THIS PARAGRAPH:

I think what sealed the deal for me was Will losing his fingers. I am realizing that I have a HUGE literary kink for physical sacrifice/body transformation in the name of like... acquiring a new ability/maturing. That's such a weird and specific literary kink, and hard to explain, and hard to think of any other examples!! I guess a prime example would be mythology's Odin, trading an eye for knowledge. Fuck yes. And how Will dealt with the trauma of that experience, and his total badassery with the knife, and the evolution of his relationship with Lyra... oh god, those books were so perfect, and I can't go on or I'll start crying again.

Anyway, yes. If you haven't read either of these books, I highly highly recommend you seek them out.

Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer

Collected Fictions

Borges didn't write books, as I mentioned. He only wrote stories.

Here are some of my favorites. Boldface are the ones that are super close to my heart.

The Circular Ruins (from Ficciones)
An Examination of the Works of Herbert Quain (from Ficciones)
The Library of Babel (from Ficciones)
The Garden of Forking Paths (from Ficciones)
Funes, the Memorious (from Ficciones)
The Shape of the Sword (from Ficciones)
Death and the Compass (from Ficciones)
The Secret Miracle (from Ficciones)
The House of Asterion (from The Aleph)
The Zahir (from The Aleph)
The Writing of God (from The Aleph)
The Aleph (from The Aleph)
Dreamtigers (from The Maker)
A Dialog About a Dialog (from The Maker)
The Yellow Rose (from The Maker)
Parable of the Palace (from The Maker)
Everything and Nothing (from The Maker)
Borges and I (from The Maker)
The Other (from The Book of Sand)
There Are More Things (from The Book of Sand)
The Book of Sand (from The Book of Sand)
August 25, 1983 (from Shakespeare's Memory)
Blue Tigers (from Shakespeare's Memory)
The Rose of Paracelsus (from Shakespeare's Memory)
Shakespeare's Memory (from Shakespeare's Memory)

Get on it, everybody.

Day 13 - Your favorite writer

Jorge Luis Borges


Borges basically founded the magical realism movement. Wikipedia says that the term was used for the very first time to describe one of his earliest works. So there you go.

Borges never wrote a novel. He wrote poetry, essays, and short stories. He wrote short stories about longer stories. He wrote critical assessments of fake novels so that he could get his kicks writing about how cool the concept was without having to write the novel (because he did not believe in himself enough to sit down at write one).

Borges started losing his eyesight in his fifties, and was almost completely blind by the end of his life. He had people read to him. He wrote some magnificent words about blindness. My favorite:

"Blindness is not darkness; it is a form of solitude."

I was introduced to Borges in a math class, of all places. At Sarah Lawrence, almost no one wanted to take math, so the faculty often had to come up with clever outside-the-box classes that would appeal to artistic types. The course was called Mathematics & Jorge Luis Borges, and I had never heard of him, but it seemed really interesting to me, so I took it. We read a ton of his stories and some poems and a few essays, and we talked about his use of mathematical concepts and related it to some seriously interesting theory. That class was formative as fuck. It was like I had found what I never knew I had been looking for, and I suddenly finally knew what I wanted to do with fiction.

Borges wrote about legends and myths and history and literary theory, and he wrote a detective story and stories about books. He utilized the concept of infinity in ways that I will never stop trying to imitate. If you've never read anything by Borges, go find yourself a copy of The Aleph, and read the title piece. Then read some others. Then find some other collections.

Anthony Kerrigan is generally regarded as the best translator. I have full collected works translated by Andrew Hurley, which is passable. I can't speak to the others. Mostly, reading Borges makes me wish I could read in Spanish, because if his work is so unbelievably beautiful in this decidedly unmusical language, I can't even imagine how amazing it must be in the original form.

This has been a public service announcement.

Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't anymore

This sorta feels like all kinds of blasphemy, but here goes:

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Ahhh, I know, right? But it's true. I read these books around the time the movies were coming out, and was just goddamn obsessed with the whole thing for ages and ages. And now a lot of time has passed and it has been a while and I realized that I am so unattached to my beautiful Alan Lee illustrated boxed set that I am strongly considering selling them for much-needed money. That's where we're at. I dunno what happened, really... I think once the thirteen/fourteen/fifteen-year old obsession faded and I stepped back a bit, I realized I didn't have any desire to reread them, and didn't retain the deep fondness I used to feel. Maybe I just grew out of high fantasy... so full of long, rambling descriptions and deep chunks of history and white dudes. Which is funny because that is all exactly what The Name of the Rose is filled with. But somehow it's different. I still like fantasy, but not as much as I used to, and not in the same way. Lord of the Rings was great for the time in my life that I loved it, but now I need my fantasy darker, grittier, more stimulating and more diverse of cast. Ahahaha good luck with that one, right? Well, that's why I write books.