book meme

I borrowed this peculiar list from Phoenix14159. It seems to be some kind of overview of "What does it mean to be a best-selling novel in different times and places?" I've seen others post the list in terms of "the average person has only read 6 of these, how many have you read?" That seems odd to me, because so many of the books were part of my school curriculum.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ.

( Read more... )

The list came from The Big Read at the BBC, as part of a search for "the nation's best-loved novel." http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml
The list they have up now is slightly different from the one being passed around LJ, presumably because the top 100 shifted as people added votes for books they loved. It makes a lot of sense to me that people of different tastes are going to love different books. It's easy and not a bit blameworthy for one to not read books another loves. Though it still strikes me as odd that so many of the books on the list are books I had to read for school.

shutdown

The company I work for is having a plant shut down this week. It's not quite the kind of shut down where all work stops and everybody goes home (as is customary in the auto industry, the last week of December.) It's not a maintenance shutdown, either (which is kind of a nuisance, because one of the machines I work with is in dire need of an upgrade, and the main stumbling block to getting the upgrade is that they say they can't afford the 2 days of down time.) They would really like to stop all work and send everybody home, but they're keeping one production line running however long it takes to finish a couple of critical orders.

Most of the regular employees have to take 4 of their vacation days this week. (And usually 3 vacation days during the December shutdown.) The manufacturing workers on that production line don't know yet if they'll be working 2 days and taking 2 vacation days, or working 3 days and taking 1 day of vacation, or what. Even though being a temp means all my days off are unpaid, I'm feeling rather lucky not to have a limit on how many days off I can have in a year.

So, here I am, with free time. Wanna do something this week that does not involve fireworks?

fixing broken things

My Summer Vacation, by Adrian Turtle, age 40.

Saturday: slept almost all day.

Sunday: I tried to scoot to Arlington Heights. This was not a good idea at all. People on the bikeway laughed at me for wearing my helmet, denim jacket, and wrist guard to go along at 6 or 7mph. Furthermore, it was much too hot for my denim jacket. And the helmet was too old to be useful (I never fell on this one, but the foam degrades over time.) I was on the bikeway most of the time, but went through the business district in Arlington Heights proper. The business district with brick pavement. Bricks may be easy to repair, but they make a rough surface for steering a scooter over.

The main reason I was in Arlington Heights was that I thought there would be a community bulletin board in the Trader Joe's. Or the convenience store by the Penzeys. Or the hardware store. Or the Panera. Nope. There's one at the Foodmaster, but when I didn't see anybody advertising carpentry/handyman/furniture-repair services there, I thought it would be a good idea to check other likely locations. When I'm not in the market for the kinds of things that get advertised, I walk right by such bulletin boards without even looking. ("Everybody's looking for the same thing/Same thing it's plain to see/It's an old chevy, a bass player/A country house on 3 acres, 3 bedrooms/Absolutely free.")

I took the bus home. I had thrown away the helmet in Arlington Heights, after the guy at the bike shop convinced me it was useless and I should buy a new one. And my jacket was in my backpack after the first couple of blocks. But it was still pretty awful. I put the scooter away and went out on foot to use the nearest available ATM. To my surprise, THERE was a community bulletin board. Right in the entryway of the bank, behind where people stand to use the ATM. Dozens of people put up cards and flyers advertising different things, including one advertising exactly what I was looking for. I can't quite name what this says about public space, but I feel like it says *something*. That space in the bank is only accessible to people with bankcards. You don't have to pay to use it, but it's not exactly public, either.

Monday: The repair guy came over to look at my couch this morning. He suggested a fix that would make it even sturdier than it was when it was new, and offered me a choice between that and the fix I had in mind. I am tentatively pleased, pending the actual repair work (to be done Wednesday.) He had put his card up in the bank more than a year ago, and forgotten about it, so he was surprised I'd seen it.