Bloot

The word sounds suspiciously like bloat, which is sometimes how I feel. But more importantly, it's what my book collection is always in danger of becoming (if it hasn't already).

Bloot is my shorthand for book loot. To be fair to myself (which I always try to be ;-P), I've been better now about buying books. No longer do I buy dozens a month. I buy 1 or 2 or six. That's a big improvement, trust me. I find that the emptiness in my life and the desire to fill it with unabated consumerism is no longer as compelling as it was before.

And though I don't usually--almost never--post about books I recently acquired, I am happy enough about these to show them off. And I am happy about them because, well--do you get the feeling that sometimes you buy books because some people around you talk about them so much, and you feel that you have to read them too, so you sort of adapt a little bit to fit in to what others around you are reading?

Or maybe you're not as neurotic as I am.

Anyway, I'm happy about these because these are books that I chose on my own. With no other influence except the mass media. (haha!) But seriously, I feel joy when I look at these--not just a triumphant sense of ownership--like I want to jump into all them at once, simultaneously. These, in the most real sense of the word, are mine.

I actually have no idea how good they are. For all I know, they might be lemons. But I was excited enough to buy them because there's something in them that fascinates me--happy, wide-eyed fascination that makes me willing to spend a few hours on each to confirm or disprove that fascination.

• Take Stories, the short story anthology edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. Before I saw the ads, I read about Gaiman's introduction to the whole anthology. It was an ode to story and the experience , as Gaiman explains, of reading something that makes us ask, "and then what happened?". So, of course, how could I not buy that? (By the way, I'm three-fourths into it and it is worth the full-price I paid for the hardbound book.:D)
• Then there's The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer, which I've had my eye on for a couple of years, but finally decided to get now. Kinda like working up the nerve, after two years, to finally ask someone out. (Oh wait, I'm past that stage. But that's what it felt like.) Max Tivoli is a person who was born with the physical appearance of an old man, but gets younger as he ages. Remind you of another story? Well, yes. But this is curious enough for me (no pun intended) because I know that Benjamin Button the short story sort of lacked the heart that it had in the movie, and I'm wondering if this is the book that inspired the makers to put in the heart.
• The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. Well,...vaginas. 'Nuff said.
• Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore. I can't remember where now, but I do remember reading an article about great young adult books that frequently get overlooked, and this was one of those mentioned. Plus the fact that I've been seeing this book, too, for the past year in my favorite online secondhand bookstore equals that I should get this book and find out if I should try to bring it towards pop culture awareness.
• The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007, edited by Dave Eggers. Ok, this one, I admit a bit of influence from a friend who said she read David Foster Wallace's This is Water speech in one Nonrequired Reading compilation. I figure, any compilation that recognizes the excellence of that piece of work must be good! So, I finally got my hands on this. 

But you know what really fascinated me about this? Like, did you know that The Best American Nonrequired Reading (BANR) is actually put together by a committee of high school kids from San Francisco? I honestly did not know that. Granted that their editor is Dave Eggers, nevertheless... according to the Q&A at the beginning of the book, this committee works the whole school year, browsing and reading through 140 magazines, journals, and websites until they select, as a committee, the pieces they will include in each year's BANR compilation. 

You know, I honestly thought that the BANR was compiled by some old writer or editor (like Dave Eggers, probably), who got frustrated with his high school or college required readings that he thought to make this book. But no! It's high school students, and a few college kids, who come up with the collection themselves. 

To a former high school English teacher like me, that just makes my whole soul light up! Fantastic idea! I mean, if these high school kids--granted they're very talented high school kids--can do that, why can't we get some of our talented English students or classes to sort of do the same thing? I swear, it would make for a great year-long project for an Advanced English class. Heck, who's to say that it even has to be limited to Advanced English students? 

Anyway, I sincerely believe it would be a great thing for a teacher to try out, since it will require students to read extensively, discuss and argue amongst each other the merits of each work, and finally, put together a collection of readings that THEY decide upon. It would be a fantastic process that will hopefully lead to an awesome output. Any English teachers out there? Come on, it would be worth a shot.:)

So, after I've waxed poetic about my bloot, I hope I haven't waxed out all the enthusiasm to read them. Wish me way more than luck!