Desert Island

1. One book that changed your life?
Ouch. Just one? I would have to say (surprisingly), Richard Wright's Black Boy. I was working in a coffee house in Portland, and every time we had a lull in customers, I'd run to the back and read as much as I could before I made another capuccino. Later in life, I am not a huge fan of Wright's work, but that book changed me to the core.

2. one book you have read more than once?
Oh shit. This list is probably longer than I have space for.... Moby Dick, Invisible Man, The Grapes of Wrath, Little Women, Jane Eyre, Split Infinity, etc etc etc.

3. one book you would want on a desert island?
The Confidence Man. It has everything you need to know and it would take a million readings before I would every truly get it.

4. one book that made you cry?
I think pieces of books make me cry more than a whole volume. Although, I have to say that Roland Barthes' A Lover's Discourse has produced more tears than all the others, so I'll go with that.

5. one book that made you laugh?
Red Sky at Morning. I read it in middle school, but it still cracks me up when I think about its dry wit.

6. one book you wish had been written?
I've been thinking about putting together a book that's never been written, an interdisciplinary approach to women's health and American Literature. Terribly exciting, I know. That, and a lovely and glossy knitting book with all of Jesse's work in it!

7. one book you wish had never had been written?
The Left Behind series.

8. one book you are currently reading?
Mary Roach, Spook. And, I'll probably borrow the first Harry Potter because I'm SO behind on the phenomenon!

NOW: I would change this list, too, from books to music:

1. One album that changed your life?
Depeche Mode, Violator.


2. one album you have listened more than once?
Ha! That would just be obscene....How about: albums you've listened to obsessively?
any Depeche Mode album; any Cure album; NIN, Pretty Hate Machine; Coctea Twins Blue Bell Knoll and Victorialand; The Smith, The Queen is Dead; Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender; Beirut, Gulag Orkestar; Rachmaninov, "2nd Piano Concerto." You get the idea....

3. one album you would want on a desert island?
U2, Joshua Tree.

4. one album that made you cry?
Enigma, Cross of Changes.

Ha. Kidding.

Joanna Newsom, The Milk-Eyed Mender


5. one album that made you laugh?
Dr. Demento, french class, sophomore year of high school.


6. one album you wish had been produced?
K's mix for me!


7. one album you wish had never had been produced?
anything by Linkin Park


8. one album you are currently listening to?
PJ Harvey, White Chalk