silly book meme

, originally uploaded by Bert Kommerij.

Lately I see the "book meme" spreading its 100 tentacles to encircle and engorge itself, like a deadly boa constrictor trapped in a slinky factory.

The books are an odd amalgam of pulp and plenty. They give wide scope to the kind of "sophomoric intellectualism" that makes the weblog reading/writing experience so much fun. The list itself often reads as it's compiled by people whose ambition in life is to write an album of songs which reply, song by song, to each song on Tracy Chapman's first record.

I revolt into style, myself. I assemble my own list. I apply the following criteria:

1. my list must be fun to read
2. my list must be things I actually have read
3. my list must make no sense
4. my list must be my list.
5. my list must read as if it were prepared nearer dawn in an International House of Pancakes even more than the other lists do.
6. My list may contain novels, poems, and short stories, in accordance with my attention span.
7. My list must not suffer from the former 6 rules.
8. My list must include both things I've loved forever, and things I've only read recently.
9. My list must begin with Dr. Seuss
10. My list must include at least one sequel.
11. My list must duplicate no author duplicated, except by accident
12. My list must contain outrageous omissions I will rue forever.

You can interact with this list if you like. I know that I'm supposed to ask you to bold some books, and underline others, and italicize others, and blush about others--or something. But I'd rather you spare yourself all that agony of annotation. I'd rather have you comment, and in your comments, write whatever you like.
I tag nobody and everybody and the toes of imaginary bodies in rue morgues, ascending to Heaven.

( the alternatively silly 100 )