Ha ha, no worries there, Virginia! You left me with a veritable plethora of ideas to sift through and choose from. Let's see, Halloween and candy, scary movies and Rupert Grint (who I too think is the most adorable of the bunch, especially when he gets interviewed, yum!). There was "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and smoking, witches and movies that traumatized us as children. That's not all, let's not forget a bit of Anne Rice (A.N. Roquelaure) and erotic sex as well.
I'm tempted, but I'm gonna steer clear of that last one. Instead, watch this, the two elements I'm gonna pick to expand on are Anne Rice and Anne Sexton. Two Annes.
Ever since Amazon.com became my best friend, I've adopted this wonderfully fun and somewhat peculiar habit. I get into certain moods where I want to learn everything there is to know about a certain subject. The complete absence of libraries and bookstores with English written literature invariably sends me to Amazon to browse exactly the way they want me to browse. You know what I'm talking about, the "If you like that, you're gonna love this!" set up. I'm such a sucker.
So one day I think to myself, wonder what it's like to be a sniper. Ten books later and I can tell you all about drop, mil dot scopes and ambient air density.
After that I went through a female-writers-who-committed-suicide phase and bought everything I could on Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Anne Sexton. I came out of that with a healthy respect for Sexton and a stubborn disdain for Plath. Don't get me started.
Once I was feeling left out of the whole goth scene and picked up vampires. Ran through all of Anne Rice's"Interview with the Vampire" series, a few other no name writers, and ended with Bram Stoker's "Dracula". Some other themes I've gone through are: Monty Python and Lewis Carroll, Neil Gaiman and Ernest Shackleton. I thought time management and home schooling were good ideas for awhile and loaded up on books about both. Let's not forget Kafka, Twain, Nabokov, and Vonnegut.
A couple weeks ago I was at a yakitori joint and a friend mentioned how great a new show on TV was. He said it was "Dexter". I just finished that one and am almost done with "Silence of the Lambs", which is better than I would have thought. My finger is just about to click on "Monster: My True Story" and "Zodiac Unmasked". Oh gee, now I'm on an inadvertent "serial killer" kick. The good news is that I have a whole stack of science fiction books I've bought and borrowed and I think that will be just the thing to take the edge off the this current messy, gory phase.
Next up is Shauna Magill. Take it away!
Virtual Wordsmith
(The Blog Formerly Known as) Taosbound
Virginia Lee: I Ain't Dead Yet!
Kappa No He
Playing With Words
A Thoughtful Life
Mad About Kites
Confessions of a Fat Chick
The Death Wizard Chronicles
Food History
A View From The Waterfront
awchain
16 comments:
I'm kind of like you as far as becoming focused on something, but my "obsessions" tend to be learning how to do something, mastering it, and then moving on. I get bored way too easily. LOL
I know you said not to get you started, but I'm curious about the Sexton-respect/Plath-loathing phenomena. I'd do some digging, but, right now, I've got other obsessions that are keeping me busy. ;)
I do recommend Rice's Mayfair Witches books, Terrie. Even my mother liked those.
As to getting obsessed with certain topics, I've discovered that's a writer thing. Most competent and good writers I read and know IRL or via the web get fascinated by different things and research them thoroughly even if they have no immediate plans to write about them. I've done tons of research on things I haven't written about yet but I expect to one day. In fact, I may begin to try picking your brain about something I'm interested in for a novel that features magical realism, one aspect of which involves Japanese folklore...
:D
I think it's highly impressive that you can become so obsessed (if that's the right word) with certain genres, topics, etc. Writers have to be able to do that to keep up with the competition. It creates levels of expertise that come in real handy on writing days.
Virtual: That's better though, learning how to do something. Somehow I don't think I can use this information about snipers and serial killers in a ... um productive way. Ha ha.
Sam: They were two totally different personalities. Sylivia was brilliant as far as well, book smarts go. She taught at university and all. But Anne was more street smart. Plath would spend weeks getting the description of a glass of water juuust right, and use and many big words as she fit in while Sexton was more for trying to make her writing better, more effective. Although Anne did hound people a lot for their opinions and critiques. If I had to be friends with one I'd certainly pick Anne. She seems like a fun party girl, while Sylvia would probably just stay home and whine. Sorry to all Plath fans.
Virginia: I will def pick those books up! I never really thought about any of that as research...isn't that funny. I figured since I wasn't taking notes then...it was just fun/play.
And yes, me too. I love magical realism. And Japanese folklore is my thing, the thing I do. Ha ha.
Jim: I really wish there were more hours in the day. And that I retained knowledge better. I would be so much more productive.
Also, I couldn't find you new book on Amazon Japan. Do you think it will be available here soon?
Hey Terrie! Since I was the next person on the Blogchain, I typed up my response post, but completely forgot to leave a comment. Dur.
Anyhow, I just wanted to say that, aside from my post, I can completely relate! I go through "moods" when it comes to reading as well.
Lately, I love reading memoirs and will read anything I can get my hands on. Before that, I loved thrillers. Mine might be a bit more vague, but I know the feeling ;-)
It's only sad when you have a few more books to read and the mood ends ... ugh ...
Shauna: Oh yes, I did a brief biographies of writers. I could see the appeal of memoirs too. Okay, I'm going to check your comments.
I definitly become obsessed with topics or writers. About a year ago, I was introduced to the Paulo Coelho books. Lets just say the most of them are absolutely AMAZING!! I am so obsessed with his writing (and him!) that I simply must must must have all his books. And I don't want to rent them... I want to OWN them! LOL
Kathleen: My interest is piqued! I'm going now to browse the Paulo Coelho books.
Just as long as you don't act out your explorations. The sniper exploration in particular concerned me...
Awe Man!!! I missed the blog chain, and we are on 11 already?!!
No, no I'm okay..it's my own fault..stop letting life get in the way of writing..I keep forgetting that's supposed to be my mantra.
And Kappa this just means that you are a well rounded person and probably dangerous to play Jeopardy or Trivial Prusuit with.
I want to sign up for the field trip to the Yakitori joint, that looks great. I also focus on particular authors and try to read all of their work in a stretch.
Thanks for participating in the chain!
You must have a fabulous library!
I like it. I love amazon and the internet. My head's now so full of useless junk, I've no room for sense.
And if that's not a good enough excuse, gimme a minute, I'll think of something else.
BK: I hope to see you on the next one! My usual computer is in the shop so I'm navigating this dinasaur. Rwawr!
Harbormaster: Thank you! And yakitori joint it is!
Pat: In this small house, in this earthquake prone country...my mother in law calls it a death trap. But as long as my glasses don't break I can maybe read a few lines of something good while trapped under the rubble.
Jamie: I hear ya there. I wish I could choose or toss at will what remained or left my brain. It isn't funny that the good stuff tends to flee while the useless stuff sticks like gum on the bottom of my shoe.
Yeah, I'm a bit worried about that serial killer phase you seem to be going through... :)
I wonder if the obsession thing is a town-wide thing. We both know another resident who went through a major Daniel Craig phase, which led into a 007 retrospective. Myself, I'm more a dabbler. I admire you gals who do the in-depth approach.
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