"In books I have traveled, not only to other worlds, but into my own." - Anna Quindlen

What to read, what to read.

I ditched Pushed, I finished Pledged, I decided I didn’t give two hoots about Plain Secrets.
I started The Long Exile and I think I am going to like it very much, but it’s much more nonfiction than I am in the mood for right now.
I picked up a copy of The Great Mortality at HPB this past weekend, so while I was fifty pages in and enjoying my library copy greatly, now the pressure to read it right this instant is off.
The other night, nauseated and headache-y, I resorted to an old favorite, Rosamunde Pilcher. I picked up Winter Solstice as I have only read that one maybe three times (as opposed to more than half a dozen time, like all her other big novels).
It hit the spot that evening, but what I long for right now is a big, fat story but one I haven’t read yet.

So I did what I do when this mood strikes: I consult Anna Quindlen’s list of “Ten Big Thick Wonderful Books that Could Take You All Summer to Read (but aren’t beach books).”

1. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
3. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
4. The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy
5. Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
6. Can You Forgive Her? - Anthony Trollope
7. Sophie’s Choice - William Styron
8. Henry and Clara - Thomas Mallon
9. Underworld - Dom DeLillo
10. Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry

[ones already - and loved - in bold]

So. There you have it.

I guess my first reaction is, ‘Oh my God, I HATED Underworld, so she can’t possibly be right about that. And if she’s not right about THAT…’ then maybe the fact that I can’t seem to get any further than fifty pages into either Buddenbrooks or The Forsyte Saga is more an indication that she and I do not share book taste.

Even if I adored Gone with the Wind and read it in a week during my first week of grad school; or even if I gave Lonesome Dove a shot even though I don’t care for Westerns, and LOVED it, or for that matter, ignored the fact that it was an Oprah selection and gobbled down East of Eden. So, you know, she was right about those.

She was right about the Trollope too. Although Trollope can be hard going sometimes, and I am not really in the mood to work that hard right now.

And, um, yeah, I liked Sophie’s Choice so much that I read every other William Styron I could get my hands on..

I have Vanity Fair upstairs.

I could give Buddenbrooks another shot since I really enjoyed the fifty or so pages I read the first time I tried. Or maybe I should give the Mallon a first shot.

For that matter, I could dip into the reccs in the rest of Quindlen’s book and haul out my copy of Green Dolphin Street, but I found it at a yard sale and it’s unpleasantly musty-smelling – NOT what I need right now.

So...

I want a big fat thick pleasant book to read – newish, so it doesn’t smell, and not too hard because more brain cells seem to hibernate by the day, and not too fluffy because right now I am easily bored. A cozy English novel would be best, but I also don’t see any reason to limit myself.

Sigh. You know, it’s really enough to make one turn to mindless television watching.

But what if there’s nothing on?

"I got an MBA for this?" - Zack Carey, in "Showgirls"

From: My crazy college friend D
To: Every woman she knows
Date: Aug whatever yesterday was, 2007
Subject: Pole dancing (yup, really!)

Hello ladies!

OK, I am planning a Women's Night Out, and here is the info:

Sunday Sep 30 (lots of notice, you'll see why in a minute) 7:30p - 9p (with probable hanging out after)for no reason at all at Fitness with a Twist (http://www.fitnesswithatwistpgh.com/)
[Note from BB: Check out those instructors. Honey, those are strippers.]

This is a one time 90 minute "class" where we will learn pole dancing and cat-walk walking and learn a dance routine if we want. Attire is casual, we will be the only ones there, the woman who runs it says to try it barefoot or wear "strappy but secure" shoes. They have props (hats, boas, etc.) It is BYO snacks and beverages (alcoholic and non as we prefer).

If we get 15 women it will cost $13.50 each. THERE IS A LIMIT OF 15 WOMEN IN THE CLASS! So please let me know ASAP if you can make it, and then please don't cancel unless there is an emergency as the rest of us will be stuck footing the bill!
[Note from BB: Or tucking it in their g-strings.]

I think this will be a blast! I hope some of you think so as well.

-D

************

I appreciate my friend D’s efforts to keep her friends together and connected.
I appreciate her trying to break us all out of our professional, approaching-middle-age molds.
I even appreciate her suggesting we try something new.

But I went to college so I DIDN'T HAVE TO LEARN TO POLE DANCE.