The Stick

I received this challenge from Gina a few weeks ago and accepted The Stick eagerly. Once my running shoes were tightened and my muscles stretched I took the stick and had fun running with it. I had to put it down for awhile when the redecorating started in my kitchen, and I must admit that I misplaced. Sorry. I found it in a rather dusty writing folder today so I now pass it on to you. If you want to take it and run with it, give these questions some thought and then answer them on your blog sometime in the near future. Ready! Set! Go!!!!!

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
What book do I want to be? What an interesting question. Not, which book do I want to burn, or save from burning, but which book do I want to be? Hmmm? I would want to be a poetry book. As Mary Oliver says, “…for poems are not words, after all, but fires for the cold, ropes let down to the lost, something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.”

Seems like the world in the middle of Fahrenheit 451 is a pretty lost and scary place to be, so poetry would be needed more than anything.

“Poetry is not the assertion of truth, but the making of that truth more fully real to us.” T.S. Eliot

Yes, I would want to be a poetry book and make truth more fully real.


Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

I absolutely adored Robin Hood when I was a kid. I loved the idea of living in a secret place in the forest and making my house in a tree. My friend Sheila and I would play make-believe out in the back yard and we would dress up in long dresses and be Maid Marion and her Lady-in-waiting, helping Robin when he asked us to. What fun!

Now that I am a “few” years older I still like the idea of living in a tree in a secret place in the forest. I don’t want to be Maid Marion anymore though. I sure don’t want to be left waiting back at the castle to help Robin if need be. I want to be one of the Merry WoMen and live in the forest and ride out and help rob the rich to feed the poor.


Longest lasting crush?

I would have to say AC. After 36 years of marriage I still think he is the greatest and love him to pieces.


The last book you bought is:

I could spend the grocery money at the bookstore! I really could. Many years ago I worked at a little independent bookstore and on some paydays I would owe them money instead of the other way around. I wanted to buy almost every new book that came in. I love the smell of books, the feel of books, the sight of books, and oh the treasure that some of them hold within. So many books to read, so little time!

I now make myself use the Public Library and put new books on order there. I sometimes only get through one chapter and know that I must add this one to my personal collection, but others I am glad to return, happy in the knowledge that I didn’t waste my money on them. So any book that I actually buy now has to be a keeper and one that I will go back to again and again.

Now that I have set the stage, let me tell you the latest one to win the prize and get my money. The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, (fiction). I very rarely buy fiction, but I so enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees also by Kidd, that I knew I would want to add her latest book to my select collection of fiction.

The book I bought just before The Mermaid Chair was The Dance of the Dissident Daughter also by Sue Monk Kidd (non-fiction). What a gem. I read my sister’s copy first and was itching to mark it up and knew I had to have my own copy. This book recounts Kidd’s journey from Christian tradition to the sacred feminine, and it has been the most thought provoking book for me let me tell you. I am now on my second sweep through it, and lots of underlining is going on. Yes, I mark the books I read. Do you?


The last book you finished:

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. Great book. Kingsolver not only tells a good story, but she teaches you something about the world around you at the same time. This book gave me a whole new appreciation for predators, and convinced me of their important part in the great scheme of things. The world is amazingly complex and each little part of it is important and needed to keep the delicate balance in nature.


What are you currently reading?

I always have more that one book on the go at a time, and which one I pick up depends on time of day or how I am feeling.

One or two poetry books are always close at hand. Right now, Raymond Carver’s All of Us is on the coffee table by my chair in the family room, and Milosz’s, A book of Luminous Things, is on the little table beside me here in my studio.

I usually have a book of fiction on the go too, and right now it is
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - I just started this one, so don’t know if I will like it or not.

I also am working my way through Dance of the Dissident Daughter for a second time.

I just got Beauty The invisible Embrace by John O’Donohue from the library, and can’t wait to start it.

When my eyes are too tired to read, I listen to books on tape when I go to bed. I keep my local library very busy


Five books you would take to a deserted island:

I would definitely want books that I could read over and over again and poetry sure fits that bill. So, I would tuck a couple of anthologies into a water proof container and make sure they got to the island with me.

A book of Luminous Things: An international anthology of poetry by Czeslaw Milosz. Ah, such a treat to read over and over again.

The Best Poems of the English Language, from Chaucer through Frost by Harold Bloom. I just got this for my birthday and it could keep me going for a long time I am sure.

Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust. I have read so many snippets of Proust by have never found the time to get all the way through this entire work. I think a visit to a deserted island would give me the perfect opportunity to do this.

A Wilderness survival book. I might really need that kind of a book if I am on a deserted island, and nothing sparks the interest in a book like need!

Dictionary – Yes, for sure a dictionary would be on the list. It would have to be the biggest, most comprehensive one around too. Full of all the old, old, old words along with the most current additions to the language. Wow just think of the improvement I could make to my vocabulary and what a benefit that would be if I ever got off the island and back to civilization again. Yes, a dictionary could keep me going for the rest of my natural life and I would never get bored.

So, there you have it. I am not sure what it is that you have, but The Stick was fun to play with for a while. I tossed it in the air, dragged it along on a walk or two and took it with me out on the bike for a windy ride. Now I am ready to pass it along to you. Take it and have some fun.