Let's go back to the Fahrenheit 451 part. Which book would you take to heart? I like that expression more than memorize, don't you? Particularly in this sort of instance. To memorize a book would become more of a passionate obsession than just an exercise of memory.
I think I was about 16 when I first read Fahrenheit 451. I hung out with a bunch of literary types (for high school), and we read a lot of books and talked about them. About the same time, we read Animal Farm, Brave New World, Stand on Zanzibar, Black Like Me, and many others. As part of our discussion about Fahrenheit 451, we each chose a book that we would memorize if we were stuck in the book. I've been trying for three days now to remember the book I would have chosen at 16. Some of you are probably a lot closer to 16 than I am now, so you don't have to reach as far into your memory, so if you did play this little exercise when you first read F-451, can you remember your choice of book? This is going to bug me all week.
Geez, I can't remember what I did , much less a million years ago when I was 16.
Nevertheless, as I recall I wasn't very literary-minded. But sometime back then I read Leon Uris' Exodus. At that time I had just escaped from the little-bitty Baptist church I was raised in, and questioning everything I had been raised to believe. For all its faults, Exodus made a big impression on me, and set me on the road to broader horizons.
Posted by: andante | April 12, 2005 at 07:18 PM
Ummmm, HTML goof. "What I did yesterday..."
Posted by: andante | April 12, 2005 at 07:18 PM
I still can't remember the book I would have chosen. It wouldn't have been one of those epic novels--shit, I was a lightweight in those days, too. I did have an overly developed sense of "specialness" so I would have chosen a classic. I just can't remember which one.
Funny thing about memory, though. I can remember some of the details of high school better than I cam remember yesterday.
I am teased by several friends who tell me it just gets worse.
Posted by: Houston | April 12, 2005 at 09:40 PM
I am stuck inside The Great Gatsby.
There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life [. . .] it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.
Alright, alright. Cut me in on this. What do I need to do...?
Posted by: Jaye Ramsey Sutter | April 13, 2005 at 12:12 PM
I am stuck inside The Great Gatsby.
There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life [. . .] it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again.
Alright, alright. Cut me in on this. What do I need to do...?
Posted by: Jaye Ramsey Sutter | April 13, 2005 at 12:14 PM
I remember reading "Advice and Consent", by Allen Drury. It was special to me because it educated me about basic government stucture, and it contained a interesting look at a man who was running for a Senate seat, and was being dogged by the other side for possible homosexual activity during his time in the service.
Posted by: Mike/Baltimore | April 13, 2005 at 01:50 PM
"I am teased by several friends who tell me it just gets worse."
It does.
:)
Posted by: andante | April 13, 2005 at 03:02 PM
Hi, Mikey.
Jaye, I was going to say The Great Gatsby, too, but I know I didn't get there until sometime in the 70s. I'm glad, too, because I wasn't ready for it in the 60s. Of course, in my real life, I became Jay Gatsby but with a twist.
Still, I like the voice used in Angela's Ashes. When I recite it, I have a clipped Irish accent that tells you I've lived in New York in the Irish ghetto for 30 years. I have a friend who says I sound just like his Aunt Moira. I take it as a compliment.
Posted by: Houston | April 13, 2005 at 08:22 PM
*feels good about the fact I'll always be nearer to 16 than Houston*
I've been racking my brains about this one too and it's beginning to bug me. I really can't remember what my book of choice was way back then.
I was very into horror stories at that age, for some reason, so don't think I would have chosen one of them for obvious reasons.
The book which really sticks in my memory though, is 'White Fang'. The sad thing is, I can't quite remember why.
Posted by: Piggy & Tazzy | April 14, 2005 at 09:23 AM
I've been doing a bit of reminiscing lately. My son and his girlfriend are going to her Senior Prom tonight. It's been a hectic week, getting a tuxedo, her flowers, trying to find a limo service, and making reservations for them at the beach for the after the prom party. All of this has reminded me of my own proms. Oh what fun they were.
I don't know if I was even aware of F-451 when I was 16. It was all boys, dates, cheerleading, school, friends, and phone calls for me back then. School was incidental. A place where I could hang with my friends and have fun. Where we suppose to be learning something?
Posted by: wanda | April 15, 2005 at 12:35 AM
Age 16 was a long time ago. It would be very difficult to remember anything particular from that time.
Posted by: oldwhitelady | April 16, 2005 at 04:27 PM
Hi sweetie; I'm off to Bluebonnet country in North Texas on Tuesday. At 16 I idolized the self-destructive confessional poets. Now at 48, I'm a battle-scarred ex-confessional poet. I would have taken Ariel by Sylvia Plath or just about any Anne Sexton to heart. Come to think of it, I nearly have . . .
Posted by: fragileindustries | April 17, 2005 at 12:46 AM