I have always been a reader, I'd read as many books as I could get my eyes on. Among the memories of my childhood, are the ones where long after my parents had declared it "bedtime," I would hunker down under the covers with a contraband flashlight and my latest book in Walter Farley’s "Black Stallion" series. I was such a voracious reader, that by third grade, I needed bifocal lenses in my glasses...
Since both my grandmothers were former teachers, I had willing and able pushers accomplices who fed me a steady diet of books. I loved reading anything about horses, and every little girl, at some time or another, reads Anna Sewell’s "Black Beauty." The fantasy was helped by the fact that I really had a retired-from-calf-roping black mare, named "Beauty." My father had found and bought her for me as I was reading the book. She was the pride and joy of a little eight-year-old Nebraska farmgirl. My father called her his "four legged babysitter."
She taught me how to ride a horse. But most importantly, she taught me how to get back on when I fell off. Life lessons.
By high school, I had moved on to the required readings of English classes, and fell in love with most of the books. I somehow developed a love of Billy Shakes, and a loathing for William Faulkner. Even though I took a Southern Writers class in college, and I’ve spent the majority of my adult life in parts of the South; to this day I can’t understand southern writers to save my soul. My friend who’s an English Professor at a local college can’t even help.
In college, for the love of reading, I chose to minor in English. Also in college, I began a torrid love affair with the university library. FREE BOOKS! HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM! All mine for the taking. I found that I could spend days in the stacks without coming up for air or food. Even now, the smell of libraries and bookstores gives me goosebumps.
I was fortunate to take undergraduate classes at the University of Maryland in Germany (my husband was stationed in Germany from 1995-1998, and I went with him) and some of my classes used literature written by locals or containing local folklore. In one of my classes, we read Goethe’s "Faust" during a Walpurgisnacht field trip to the Harz Mountains in Germany.
Now that I am almost mid-way through my thirties, I’ve got a huge crush on Harry Potter (hey, he’s almost legal), and have developed some sort of weird fantasy that puts me in the middle of a Weasley twins sandwich. I still love the Narnia books, and I’m almost done re-reading "The Hobbit." Right now I am reading five books simultaneously, and they run the gamut from Lee Iacocca’s latest offering to my worn out old copy of "The Hobbit."
The one thing I never, ever read, was romance novels. I couldn’t bring myself to sample the junk food of the literary world. That was until my husband deployed last October. And now I am hooked. Oh the shame. I am so desperate for romance and happy endings that I fork over good money to read about fictional characters getting off.
How do I know I’m an addict? Well, yesterday I dropped one-hundred clams on Nora Roberts books, along with some other "chick-lit" books I found on sale. The call of the "BUY 4, GET THE 5TH FREE" sign was too great a temptation to resist, and I was scooping paperbacks with cheesy illustrated covers into my basket like a crackhead going after dime bags.
Like the junkie on the corner picking up cigarette butts, I found myself crouched down in the aisle at Borders, hoping that no one would see me randomly picking books off the shelves, thumbing through them, assessing them for their strength at giving me a rush and then either dropping them in my basket, or tossing them back on the shelf. I looked guilty as hell, and probably ashamed too. Every time someone walked by the Romance Section, I’d either duck down, or pretend I was looking at the "Books on Tape" section. I even bought some other books to "cover" the fact that I had ten naughty books in my basket.
I probably fooled no one, least of all me. I remember swearing to myself that I would never become one of "those women." Egads, I’m now one of "those women" who own more trashy paperback bodice rippers than the classics.
And as soon as the Top Comments broohaha dies down tonite; you can bet your quivering mounds of supple flesh that I’ll be curled up on my couch, with a pint of chocolate gelato, and my latest Nora Roberts acquisition.
So, tell me Friday TCers; what’s your guilty little pleasure? Pull up a chair, grab your drink of choice, and confess all. I won’t tell a soul.
And now, on to Friday, May 4, 2007's Top Comments!
Wee Mama sends in this thread that starts off funny and just builds from there.
From Cali Scribe:
Lashe soliloquises (is that a word?) in pastordan's thinly veiled attempt to regain his
mojo...err, Why I Hate Daily Kos diary.
From Carolita:
pgm01 paints one scary image in Magnifico's Overnight News Digest.
David R asks some very important questions in Kestrel9000's diary The Day the Sixties Ended. I don't know the answers, but I hope someone who was living then will answer, because I would like to know, too.
ogre had to teach an ecology lesson and set this young 'un back on track in pastordan's hilarious Why I Hate Daily Kos.
From noweasels:
SallyCat on why she hates Daily Kos.
From sardonyx:
In the one-liners department, Moody Loner gets off a beaut in tonight's Cheers and Jeers, but you're better off starting at Dood Abide's new take on the Chimperor, and go down through zeus4prez's nicely phrased response before hitting Moody Loner's zinger. I wasn't the only one to like it; Meteor Blades's response was ROTFLMAO-AHMSTKMRFH!!!! (Yes, he explains what it means.)
Cook takes a close look at just what 'High crime or misdemeanor' actually means in marchtoimpeach's diary MoveOn Finally Polls on Impeachment!
In Americans Deserve Fair Trade and Safe Food by Ron Sparks, current Alabama Agricultural Commissioner and 2008 Senate Candidate(against Jeff Sessions, yes!), markymarx asks a good questionabout more consumer-friendly food labeling.
bustacap has one of the best descriptions of haggisI've
ever seen in pastordan's killing-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-eggs diary, Why I Hate Daily Kos. Beware: there is sanctimification within! And they discuss lutefisk. You've been warned.
My Picks:
Madruth succinctly captures why we're hated.
Madgranny explains why saying "no" to kids is good for them.
condoleaser gives us a horrifying visual of circumcision gone bad in RealityBias's latest intactivist diary.
Top Mojo tonite is brought to you by the ever talented BeninSC.
Top Mojo - excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments and C&J comments:
1 ? by pastordan
05/04/2007 12:20 EDT - 251
2 woo hoo! by CindySheehan
05/04/2007 09:34 EDT - 164
3 I have one by keirdubois
05/04/2007 12:38 EDT - 95
4 Now the official POV by smintheus
05/04/2007 15:56 EDT - 95
5 * by pastordan
05/04/2007 12:18 EDT - 87
6 My brother Kestrel by Kestrel
05/04/2007 08:15 EDT - 73
7 Illegal wire tapping. by srkp23
05/04/2007 01:03 EDT - 66
8 Did someone mention sponsors? by boofdah
05/04/2007 10:10 EDT - 63
9 ... by kestrel9000
05/04/2007 07:57 EDT - 63
10 Watershed moment for us children of the sixties. by VolvoDrivingLiberal
05/04/2007 07:34 EDT - 63
11 That's why they don't believe in evolution - by RandomSequence
05/03/2007 21:49 EDT - 62
12 Oh, Cindy! by JoeW
05/04/2007 09:33 EDT - 57
13 I'd like to THANK the netroots for their support by Ron Sparks
05/04/2007 17:57 EDT - 56
14 nice job, dude by CocoaLove
05/04/2007 07:56 EDT - 53
15 Cindy, as a disabled veteran who has been lied to by testvet6778
05/04/2007 09:46 EDT - 53
16 Have a little mojo. by twalling
05/04/2007 12:26 EDT - 52
17 It was natural for Rove to be at the meeting by Dallasdoc
05/03/2007 23:46 EDT - 50
18 cranky on the south shore by sobermom
05/04/2007 18:05 EDT - 50
19 I lost my mojo, too by pontificator
05/04/2007 12:58 EDT - 49
20 Happy Cees and Jays from Rainy Nor Cal!! by Predictor
05/04/2007 18:05 EDT - 49
21 I hate the lack of good trolls... by SallyCat
05/04/2007 12:22 EDT - 48
22 Fiesta Friday by Debbie in ME
05/04/2007 18:05 EDT - 48
23 only if you do the same for me! by brillig
05/04/2007 12:34 EDT - 45
24 I was a sophomore in college. The semester ended by blue jersey mom
05/04/2007 07:38 EDT - 45
25 Yes, there by TomP
05/04/2007 12:37 EDT - 45
26 You know what's on the table? by madhaus
05/04/2007 01:26 EDT - 44
27 Thanks. by Jbearlaw
05/04/2007 14:08 EDT - 44
28 May 1970 by CocoaLove
05/04/2007 07:43 EDT - 43
29 Angry Dan needz cheezburger n/t by JoeW
05/04/2007 12:39 EDT - 43
30 Brownback/Tancredo '08!!!! by michael1104
05/03/2007 22:43 EDT - 42
Top Mojo - everything included:
1 12. by pastordan
05/04/2007 12:18 EDT - 608
2 mojo jar by Jbearlaw
05/04/2007 13:53 EDT - 331
3 never again by kestrel9000
05/04/2007 07:29 EDT - 282
4 ? by pastordan
05/04/2007 12:20 EDT - 251
5 I'll be around for a little while... by greenreflex
05/04/2007 16:22 EDT - 194
6 woo hoo! by CindySheehan
05/04/2007 09:34 EDT - 164
7 Tip Jar by BriVT
05/04/2007 12:36 EDT - 151
8 Tip Jar by Jesselyn Radack
05/04/2007 06:57 EDT - 145
9 Tip Jar: You hate me! You really hate me! by Bill in Portland Maine
05/04/2007 18:04 EDT - 116
10 Tip Jar - 4 May by Jerome a Paris
05/04/2007 12:10 EDT - 115
11 Tips to end this war!! n/t by TomP
05/04/2007 12:18 EDT - 103
12 I have one by keirdubois
05/04/2007 12:38 EDT - 95
13 I'ld like the netroots for all their support... by Ron Sparks
05/04/2007 17:52 EDT - 95
14 Now the official POV by smintheus
05/04/2007 15:56 EDT - 95
15 * by pastordan
05/04/2007 12:18 EDT - 87
16 Karl Rove by turning blue
05/03/2007 23:37 EDT - 77
17 Tips for getting older, wiser, and more fabulous! by Elise
05/03/2007 22:11 EDT - 76
18 My brother Kestrel by Kestrel
05/04/2007 08:15 EDT - 73
19 Stop by and say Howdy by WI Deadhead
05/03/2007 22:42 EDT - 68
20 Illegal wire tapping. by srkp23
05/04/2007 01:03 EDT - 66
21 Bravo! by extratime40
05/04/2007 09:29 EDT - 66
22 Watershed moment for us children of the sixties. by VolvoDrivingLiberal
05/04/2007 07:34 EDT - 63
23 Did someone mention sponsors? by boofdah
05/04/2007 10:10 EDT - 63
24 ... by kestrel9000
05/04/2007 07:57 EDT - 63
25 That's why they don't believe in evolution - by RandomSequence
05/03/2007 21:49 EDT - 62
26 They've Been Stating This Formally If Quietly by Gooserock
05/04/2007 15:53 EDT - 59
27 Oh, Cindy! by JoeW
05/04/2007 09:33 EDT - 57
28 tips & recommendations if you loathe Reagan era by DrSteveB
05/04/2007 10:28 EDT - 57
29 I'd like to THANK the netroots for their support by Ron Sparks
05/04/2007 17:57 EDT - 56
30 Tips by the choice is yours
05/03/2007 23:09 EDT - 54
Send your Top Comments submissions to the team at TopComments AT gmail DOT com, and remember to include your Dkos handle so we give you the proper credit! We couldn't do it without YOU.