Tag Archives: idea

“I warn you,” said the funny-looking little man with the red beard, “I’m here to sell this caravan of culture, and by the bones of Swinburne I think your brother’s the man to buy it.” Christopher Morley’s unforgettably weird classic tale of adventure on a traveling bookstore called Parnassus, drawn by a steed called Pegasus. Not to be missed.

Miss Helen McGill lives on a farm with her brother Andrew. Everything is going great- until Andrew becomes an author. It starts with one book of his being published, and soon Miss McGill finds herself running the farm on her own, as her brother focuses on his new career. “He hardly ever looked at the ears Roebuck catalogs any more, and after Mr. Decameron came to visit us and suggested that Andrew write a book of country poems, the man became simply unbearable.”

One day a strange little man shows up with a wagon full of books, wanting to sell them to Andrew McGill. He’s been travelling around the country to introduce the simple folks to literature but now he wants to write a book about his travels, so he needs someone else to take over for him. Miss McGill realizes that if Andrew ever hears about this, she’ll never see him again, so on a whim she decides to buy the wagon herself and go on an unplanned vacation.

Thus begins a very entertaining adventure, with Miss McGill as the star, along with a dog, a horse and the strange little man. If you’re looking for a gripping plot – this is probably not the book for you. However, if all you need is a pleasant little tale with a few surprises and a crew of amusing characters – go right ahead. An interesting concept, a few laughs and a sweet ending – the best companion for a winter’s cup of chocolate milk.

Found this in a comment on John Scalzi’s blog. Thought it was beautiful. Anyone know where it’s from? (Or maybe it’s an original idea? If so, kudos to you, commenter, Jonathan Vos Post (<- leads to magicdragon.com.)

I’ve always found the concept of tattoos fascinating. The idea that someone can decide to just… print something on their skin, knowing it’s going to stay there forever and ever is astonishing.

Of course, having considered getting a tattoo at some point in time, I always wonder what I’d get. Even if I somehow managed to overcome my extreme phobia of needles, I am such a bad decision maker that I’d probably end up dying before I made up my mind. I have decided though that if I were ever to get a tattoo, or even a few, they would most likely be book related. After I discovered Sir Douglas Adams’s brilliant mind, that idea changed to “most likely be Douglas Adams related.”

Now that we’ve covered that little intro I think I can begin with the actual point of this post, instead of just rambling on forever. I used to think if I ever got a tattoo it would be a quote, but recently the idea of images has appealed to me as well. Thing is, seeing as I am an avid book-to-film hater, many famous book icons or symbols come from their films. Also, I would want to get a tattoo that isn’t the biggest cliché ever, one that I won’t find on every single living being were I to attend a convention of some sorts discussing said book. These two criteria make it sort of hard to think up of ideas, but thankfully I have a creative mind and lots of time – infinite amounts actually, since this whole idea is hypothetical – so I can spend forever wondering how on Earth (and surrounding planets) I’ll achieve this goal!

There are only a handful of books I’ve ever read that I can definitely define as “life changers,” whatever that means. In most cases I can’t even explain why or how – which is why I’ll avoid reviewing these books, they are too important to me for that. I just… know. That’s it really. I can feel them. I know that makes no sense at all. I feel like they have become a part of my thought, whether I’m aware of their influence or not. The books I put in this category are Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams. I am not so sure whether Harry Potter deserves a place in that category or a whole unique category of his own called “My Childhood.” As for my favorite quote, the one I think describes me most from all of the sentences I’ve ever read, that award goes to Jodi Picoult in House Rules where she writes “Frankly, I wonder who Frank was, and why he has an adverb all to himself. I think I’ll keep this post focused on these novels because I really can’t cover all of the books I love and my ideas will multiply over time.