I've been tagged by Will. I'll confess I dont' know what "tag" means. I know the term is to be taken in a non-literal sense. Other than that, though, I'm a little sketchy about the word's definition. Anywho, here's my book list of which he spoke:
1. One book that changed your life:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Also: The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Also: A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
A new almanac
Also: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterston
4. One book that made you laugh:
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Also: Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
5. One book that made you cry:
Well, I guess I came close with Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Also: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Mystery vs. Mastery, or Why Sometimes "I Don't Know" Should Be a Satisfactory Answer for Christians Living in a Post-Modernistic World
Also: You Really Can Play it Too Safe: or, How a Fear-Driven Asceticism is Not a Help to Your Faith and Could Damage Your Credibility with Those Whom You Lead
7. One book you wish had never been written:
Now, now, let's be nice...
Well, okay, how about those ridiculous devotionals that draw spiritually didactic lessons from the Simpsons or The Matrix or stuff like that.
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Sula by Toni Morrison
Also: The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Night by Elie Wiesel
Also: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
This summer has been like every other summer for me--long periods of sanity-threatening ennui, punctuated by exhilarating and exhausting trips around the country. I've been in 14 weddings in the last 3 years (not including the ones I've been to), most of which were out of state. Many of my good friends live in different states and my family lives in an entirely different hemisphere, so I have plenty of excuses to travel. Excuses that sound more responsible than the other reasons I travel, i.e. boredom, stasis-anxiety, and wanderlust.
Not wanting this summer to be let-down, I made sure to travel this summer, hitting Philadelphia, NYC, and Charlotte earlier this summer. The most recent trip was to New England, one region of the country which I've never seen. We went to NH, MA, and ME, and passed through CT as well.
This trip gratified my deep-rooted wanderlust. I traveled close to 3000 miles in a subcompact car with 3 friends. Friends who, I might add, are exceedingly cool. The 4 of us gallivanting around, looking for places to visit and pictures to take and things to eat. We hiked a tad, drove around in a convertible doing our best to look cool, sampled the local cuisine, and even satisfied our primal consumeristic urges at a local shopping center.
Now I am tired. Sleepy time.