How Random Do I Have To Be?

Beach Bum tagged me again for that infernal "6, 7, 8, a Billion Random Things About Me" Meme. I have done this meme so many times as well as listing 100 things about me. If I do it again I'm going to have to ask you all for a blood test or something. In the post below the one in which he tagged me Beach Bum had some random pick up a book and flip to some page meme. Well, I am making up my own thing here. You're going to get some random books on my shelf. Deal with it. These books are also going to function as Da Count this week because I love books. For the record, they are all books I'd highly recommend so I guess it's not entirely random...you'll live.


Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. Yep, Charlotte's Web is more famous and probably more beloved. But this is my favorite E.B. White children's title. When I was a kid my dad gave me the set of White's 3 kid classics. I loved them all but poor mute Louis and his struggle to win the affections of Serena captured me. I was rooting for him all the way. I loved how he found ways to adapt for his "handicap." I loved his humor and his work ethic. I loved that he lived and worked in the Philadelphia Zoo, which was one of my favorite places as a kid. I always looked forward to a trip there every summer. I look at that old book from my childhood and I smile.

Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization by W. Hodding Carter. Go ahead, laugh. I know most of you are scratching your heads while thinking, "Lime has really gone off her nut." Well, I like nonfiction. I like trivia. I like knowing "why?" I saw this title and had to pick it up to read the blurb. I read the blurb and had to buy the book. I read the book and learned more than I imagined I would. I also laughed like a loon at parts of it. Carter really makes his case as he chronicles the innovations in public sanitation from the ancient world to present day to innovations in the developing world that industrialized nations ought to be considering so we may all move forward. Not content to be a pie in the sky scholar, Hodding chose to experiment with making lead pipes the way the Romans did. In the process he learns more than he bargained for regarding lead poisoning. Ok, fine. I have weird taste in books but this is good, trust me.

Giraffes? Giraffes! by Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-on-Whey. It's the most hilariously disreputable thing I've ever read. In it you will learn such important tidbits as the Libertarian tendencies of giraffes, that conveyor belts are their preferred mode of transportation, and that they invented latex sometime after the period of time when they helped prehistoric man paint on cave walls.

Let Me Go by Helga Schneider. This is an absolutely gut-wrenching read in which the author chronicles her final visit with the mother who abandoned the family to be a guard at a concentration camp. The author struggles to understand what could possibly motivate a person to do such a thing and whether or not her mother feels a shred of remorse. Schneider also wrestles with what it means for her own identity to have such a monster for a mother even if that mother was absent for most of her life. I actually read this after Calypso found it in a bookstore and recommended it to me.

Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish by Sue Bender. This is much lighter reading but will also provoke thought. Bender became obsessed with learning about the Amish after seeing a traditional quilt. It struck a deep note in her with its simplicity and yet its depth. She was given a rare opportunity to live with an Amish family during which time she came to examine many of her own values and creative drives. She came away enriched in unexpected ways and with a greater clarity of thought. She shares insights that shattered some of her misconceptions about the Amish and presents a respectful though not romanticized glimpse into Amish life.

Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook by Shel Silverstein. Pretty much anything by Silverstien is a a book I love. His sideways perspective on things has made me laugh for a long time. This book as published posthumously and even though my own kids were more or less beyond the age group intended I couldn't resist a story told entirely with spoonerisms. The way he plays with language is just too fun to miss.