thisiswhatyoushalldo

1. It’s the end of banned book week. What banned book have you read?
“Lolita” Don’t let the skeevy premise of the book make you avoid it. This is one tome of the cannon of “Great American Novels,” an allegory for the pursuit of the great American dream bounced against the improbable hint of evil beyond every horizon. And the sentences are fantastically crafted. Nabokov is an exceptional writer.

2. What famous book do you think is overrated?
The easy answer is the bible but I am going to go with “The Hunger Games” Sure it’s an ok movie but I tried to read the drivel until I realized: “Hey, I’m not a 12-year-old girl, and put it down. Not a well-written book.

3. What is your ultimate must-read book?
Never ask a literature major to name just one book! Not fair. I will go with a book I have read several times and still enjoy – “The Stand” by Stephen King.

4. What would a famous book be called if their titles were just summaries of their plots?
“Huckleberry Finn”
-or-
“The Boy Who Went Down The River And Met A Runaway Slave.”

5. What should I read next?
I am re-reading “Moby-Dick” for the third or so time and still enjoying it and taking something new away from it. I highly recommend.

1. Today is the Autumnal Equinox, the end of summer and the beginning of fall. How was your summer?
Slow paced, kind of hot, especially July and oddly hot for September.  It went by quickly.

2. What’s the best movie to watch if you want to get into Halloween mood/autumn mood?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (#1)

3. What’s your favorite thing about autumn?
I like the colors of the leaves, the cooler days and the cast of the glow of the sun falling in the evening. (It’s the hidden poet in me?)

4. Do you have any autumn traditions?
Not really. I will probably bake more bread and craft up a big ol’ pot of french onion soup.

5. What smell brings you back to your youth?
The smell of onions and green peppers sauteing in the skillet – the base of most of my mother’s meals.

This Friday Five is brought to you by Hurricane Florence:

1. Have you ever experienced a hurricane firsthand?
Nope. Safely ensconced in the landlocked and high altitudes of Denver.

2. Have you ever experienced outside heat over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celcius)?
This summer we had a few days where it hit 103 or so. I grew up in a mountainous desert and there are parts of the county where it is so hot and arid in the summer that you just never go there.

3. When and where was the coldest temperature you have ever experienced?
60 degrees below zero in Craig one particularly nasty winter. The town, however, didn’t shut down, although I do believe they did close school because the water and sewer pipes froze.

4. Is your household prepared for a possible power outage of two to seven days?
No, not really. I probably have enough food and have some gas stoves and grills so I can cook stuff but I don’t have water reserves on hand.

5. Do you have a go bag?
No. I guess it is because I live in a very temperant and urban environment.

1. What’s the deal with opera? Do you understand it?
I have tried to listen. I generally like choral music and my sister is a fan and listens to streaming operatic music from time to time. However, it doesn’t resonate with me. Also, I read in the New Yorker last week that Rudy Guliani is a big opera fan so there is also that.

2. What’s the deal with Shakespeare? Do you understand it?
Now, Shakespeare is the stuff from the gods. King Lear, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night’s Dream and on and on. Such majestic stuff. I took three courses on Shakespeare in literature studies at college. I am kind of a fan. Both Anthony Hopkins, playing Anthony in Anthony and Cleopatra as well as Daniel Day-Lewis, have also briefly left acting after taking on those roles on stage due to powerful elements involved in the characters. I highly suggest going to a streaming service or library and get an audiobook performance of any of his plays and listen, you won’t be disappointed.

3. What’s the deal with Classical Symphony music? Do you understand it?
I like listening to classical music while studying or doing things that require great concentration. My dad would also do this while at work in the back of the post office. I am sure it drove his coworkers crazy.

4. What’s the deal with Poetry? Do you understand it?
I try. I had a literature class in college that was basically an introduction to poetry and I dropped it three times because I wasn’t into. I eventually completed it to graduate but . . . In my adult years, I have discovered Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the US and I find him accessible and he has edited two volumes of accessible poetry for high school students entitled “Poetry 180 – A Turning Back to Poetry” and volume two “180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every day.” Great stuff.

5. What’s deal with Wine Tasting parties? Do you understand it?
I like drinking wine. I don’t think we need to make a ceremony out of it.

1. What plans did you have for this summer?
Getting a new job.

2. Have you accomplished them or is it still a work in progress?
Trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up is a continuing work in progress, so short answer, no.

3. What would make this summer much better for you?
More outdoors time. Actually, this was a great summer, not stupidly hot except for a few days in July, and lots of afternoon rain showers. Can’t get much better.

4. When did you go back to school from summer break when you were a kid?
I believe usually the last week in August. It was definitely before Labor Day.

5. Is anyone else as shocked as I am that it’s Labor Day Weekend and most of the summer is nearly over?
Yes. So fast, the time it goes.