Day 24 - 3 books on your shelf
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: This was the book I thought of immediately when I saw this prompt. It's been a while since I read it, and I don't remember all of it because I've only read it once. I've been thinking about reading it again. I just love the way Vonnegut writes, and I love that he talks about Schenectady a lot, and I love how he describes the war. Very few books have struck me the way this one did.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson: Little known fact about Little L: for a hot minute, I was editor-in-chief of an e-zine where Jenny Lawson contributed. It's the publication I mentioned (but didn't name) in the dreaded intro post. I've even spoken to her on the phone. I usually don't talk about that because it was the shortest stint as EIC in the history of ever (because the owner of the company slashed the budget, made my predecessor fire the contributors who drew most of the traffic before he fired her, and made me set up an open platform that allowed anyone to contribute anything, effectively killing the mag), and being all "I talked to The Bloggess on the phone!" feels braggy and gross. I only mention it here because that's the reason I bought this book. In hardcover. Pre-sale. Jenny is one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet with the biggest heart I've ever seen. She's been through a whole hell of a lot, and she talks openly about a lot of it in that book. She's published other things since then, but I haven't gotten around to buying them. Mostly because I'm a miser and I can't always convince myself that spending money on something that only I'll use (or read, as the case may be) doesn't make me an asshole. Or more of an asshole than I already am, I guess.
The Green Mile by Stephen King: I saw this movie before I knew there was a book series. I haven't read the series; just the book that is the series put into one book. It is my favorite Stephen King story. I found the book in the library in the first rehab I went to. They let me borrow it when I left on the promise that I'd mail it back, and I never did because I was an addict and addicts forget to do stuff like that. Once I got sober, I just never really thought about it. Bigger fish to fry, you know? I suppose I could mail it back now. Maybe I'll do that.
Bonus book!
A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook by Patricia Telesco: "Bonus" because I really wanted to include it because it's the first witchy book I bought without having it suggested to me and it's the first cookbook I picked out for myself, but it felt like it didn't belong in the main three because it's a cookbook. Full disclosure: I've only tried two recipes in this cookbook, and I actually tweaked one of them because it didn't taste the way I remembered. It's a cookbook full of witchy recipes meant to bring good things to your life, and most of them look delicious, but I always forget I have it. We don't do rituals anymore, and I used to not care, but lately, I've been sort of missing them. I've identified as an agnostic pagan all of my adult life. I celebrate the earth and all her bounties, and I love Gaia so much because she is the personification of the earth, and the primordial Earth deity. I absolutely believe in her, and I believe her spirit runs through all things (though I don't know that I believe, specifically, in gods, which is where the agnosticism comes in...that's an explanation for another post). But I've been lax in my gratitude because I went through a long dark period, and when that happens, I tend to shut down completely, and block everyone out except Big. I didn't even put in a veggie garden last year because of it, and that was probably stupid because gardening is my therapy.
I don't know that I can really call these my favorite books, per se, because I love so many books, all for different reasons. But these books have definitely touched my soul and affected the way I look at the world. Jenny Lawson's book was actually the driving force in my deciding to try to be less of an asshole. I'm getting there.
💜
This series inspired by a writing challenge from Living Off Love and Coffee. Find the full list here.
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