Friday, August 31, 2012

Blog Flash 2012 - Final thoughts

Here is my final thought - author FAIL. I missed quite a few posts. In my defense, I had some previous commitments to do reviews and such. But still - FAIL.

So, here are the topics I missed, with some thoughts under each:

Different World

There are some books that really bring me into a different place. Fantasies like Harry Potter accomplish this, of course, but it is even more amazing when a realistic book draws me into its little world. For example, Running With Scissors made me feel I lived in that crazy, filthy house with the psychiatrist and his insane family.

A nonfiction piece that pulled me in was Awakenings, by Oliver Sacks. The book became a movie, and it was pretty darn great, but Sacks' clinical imagination is missing. He describes, for example, the wild movements of one patient as being like "Martian cathedrals."


Wild at Heart
Gosh, I'm just so not wild at heart. Some like drama in their lives; I go out of my way to avoid it. For one thing, I'm really bad at drama. Handed a dramatic encounter, I'm certain to make it worse by my conversational flailings. 

No, the lady by the fireplace reading the Oliver Sacks book - that would be me.

Blue
What a strange color. It can be absolutely awful, as that dead blue painted in certain train stations and stairwells. It can be vibrant and shimmering, as the color of the ocean in the southern isles. That sparkling light turquoise - relaxing just to think of it, isn't it?

My daughter loves blue. She was never a pink gal. I think it is part of her constant drive to be different. And bless her, that is awesome at age eight.

Blues that I love: the eyes of one of my very best friends in high school, the dark grey-blue of the Irish sea, the greenish blue of turquoise set in heavy silver, blue veins pulsing under milk-white skin.

History
This was my worst class in high school, and how I regret it now! I WANT to know about the Pelopponesian War, who all the monarchs of England were, the evolution of the Constitution, the opium wars, the Haitian revolution, the rise and fall of the Roman civilization. I need to have a course that gives me an overview of the history of the world, with a fascinating text and an interesting lecturer, please, so I can catch up and be a real person.

Of course I could have accomplished all this in high school, but nooooooo, I was too busy day dreaming. Shame on me.

2 comments:

Johanna Garth said...

I'm with your daughter. Love the color blue!

Teresa Cypher said...

Ha! ""...was too busy daydreaming." May all writers be forgiven for our high school learning transgressions. The lure of imaginary worlds was just too strong! We, the guilty, are many... lol... Nice post, Alison :-)