Friday, March 17, 2006

Things to Read If You Want to Major in Gina

Okay, this list? I could do this all day, but I shouldn't. These are the off-the-top-of-my-head things that hit me as I was sitting in class last night--I actually wrote them in the notebook I was supposed to be using for notes about the Journals of the Continental Congress.

The list is sloppy, and some things show up in more than one category, and I don't list authors because I think they're pretty obvious. (That makes me sad, though, because it means I'm too vanilla.) However, I'm thinking that the slap-dash-edness of this list means it's fairly true to who I am. You know? Here goes . . .

Religion, Part 1 (Or “Man, Oh Manischewits!”)

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Summer of My German Soldier
Anne Frank’s Diary
The Red Tent
Roosevelt and Hitler
Jews, God and History

Religion, Part 2 (Or “Go Fish”)

Madeleine L’Engle—the fiction and the non-fiction
Crime and Punishment
The Screwtape Letters
Virgins
No Exit

Sex (Or “Gee, No Wonder You’re So Messed Up!”)

Forever
Virgins
Blue Skies, No Candy
Flowers in the Attic
My Sweet Audrina
Go Ask Alice
Various Chick Lit

Feminism (Or “Anything Boys Can Do, I Can do Better”)

Backlash
Where the Girls Are
Harriet the Spy
Who Stole Feminism?
Island of the Blue Dolphins

Femininity (Or “So That’s Why You’re So Weird!”)

Little Women
Sweet Valley High
Harriet the Spy
Jane Eyre
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio
Anne of Green Gables
Emily of New Moon
Various Chick Lit

Adventure (Or, “You Aren’t Terribly Adventurous, Are You?”)

Stephen King
Harry Potter
L’Engle’s kids’ fiction
Possession
The Golden Compass et al
21 Balloons
The Secret Agent
The Phantom Tollbooth
Island of the Blue Dolphins
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Fables

Love (Or “Survey Says: You’re Better Off Alone!”)

The Iron Giant
Jane Eyre
Fifteen
Jane Austin
Bridge to Terabithia
I Capture the Castle
Possession
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Age of Reason et al
Anne of Green Gables
Various Chick Lit

Motherhood (Or “Let’s Find Teddy a Shrink!”)

The Mask of Motherhood
Little Women, Little Men, Jo’s Boys
Our Babies, Ourselves
Mothers Who Think
The Attachment Parenting Book
All of Just Blume
All of Madeleine L’Engle (and MLE herself, for that matter)

And there you have it. I'm sure I'm missing things that will make me cringe when I realize it, but . . . oh, well.

18 comments:

Joke said...

At least you didn't list The Sexual Politics of Meat.

So that's good.

-J.

BabelBabe said...

I think it's a very Gina-evocative list.

And re: Joke's comment, I did notice that Fast Food Nation is not on there....

Joke said...

But Flowers In The Attic IS, and that's...um..creepy like a muhfuh.

-J.

Sarah Louise said...

Oh, I love your list! And I love the way you organized them!! So glad to meet another person who reads M'LE in non-fiction--so many folks are like what? she wrote something besides a Wrinkle in Time? (I have pictures from when she came to Pgh.) Also, did you know that Summer of My German Soldier is based on Greene's actual experience? I wish I'd had a blog to work on during those endless library school classes...I had a double major in doodling!

Gina said...

See! Fast Food Nation and My Year of Meat . . . I know I'm missing like a million things.

And yes, Flowers in the Attic is creepy. And I read it in like fourth grade. Seriously. My freind Ronelle was in eighth grade then, and she gave it to me, so of course I read it. And have been messed up ever since, really.

Kathy said...

And one of my favorite all time books -- Island of the Blue Dolphins -- was on your list like 50 times (okay so I exaggerate) and I loved that.

Joke said...

Gina,

Seriously. Take a mulligan on that and start over again at 8th grade. You'll be way better off.

-J.

Bec said...

Wait. There's a BOOK for mothers who think?

There are mothers who think?

Shoot, I am so out of touch.

Gina said...

Hoo-boy . . . starting over from 8th grade. I'd probably make a lot more money right now, and I'd likely be alot less messed up, but I wouldn't have Ted, so I'll pass.

And YES there is a book for mothers who think! :-) There's also an excellent magazine called Brain, Child. Thank bb if you decide to pick it, because she's the one who introduced it to me.

And can you BELIEVE I didn't put His Dark Materials on the list? I swear it's on my hand-written one, under Religion 2 and Love. Sigh.

Sarah Louise said...

You could always edit the list--Joke does it all the time.

Joke said...

Being able to eat celery and salads with impunity is not worth doing the "It's A Wonderful Life" thing with your child.

-J.

P.S. Dude, seriously, edit that list

BabelBabe said...

Brain, Child actually made it onto my list even though it's a magazine. I could not live w/o that magazine.

And...celery is overrated.

Joke said...

BabBab,

Celery has already been found guilty. Keep up!

-J.

Sarah Louise said...

okay, you lost me on the celery comment...is this a Bunnicula reference? B/c I didn't see that on your list...

Joke said...

SL,

Gina hates celery. I was making a crack about how if she got a do-over on life from 8th grade on, she might like celery today. BabBab said celery was overrated and I said that was old news and for her (BabBab) to keep up.

We now return you to this blog, already in progress.

-J.

BabelBabe said...

I was commiserating, Joke. Or enabling, I am not sure which.

Gina said...

Editing feels a little like cheating. Plus, it requires that I stop being so lazy. And we really can't have that.

Joke said...

BabBab,

OK. Fine. Whatever. If it means THAT much to you, sure, go ahead.

Gina,

It's less trouble than doing comments. Besides, you get to put REVISED! on the title and mo' people look at it and comment.

-J., helper of humanity