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http://www.davidshrigley.com

whatever you like

it's time to tell a secret... i'm an avid gossip girl fan and proud of it(!). while watching this week's episode a song started playing and my reaction was woah what is that? after much searching, i discovered that it was a cover of the t.i. song "whatever you like" by singer-songwriter anya marina.

here it is; i like it so much more than the original version:

my favorite photos

mischievous.

my life's work.

know your onion!

shut out, pimpled and angry.

i quietly tied all my guts into knots.

gave up on trying to make them,

i figured it'd take them too long to look up and besides...

it was undeniably clear to me i don't know why

when every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters

i knew what worthless dregs we've always been.

lucked out and found my favorite records

lying in wait at the birmingham mall.

the songs that i heard,

the occasional book

were the only fun i ever took.

and i got on with making myself.

the trick is just making yourself.

but when they're parking their cars on your chest

you've still got a view of the summer sky

to make it hurt twice when your restless body

caves to its whims

and suddenly struggles to take flight...

three thousand miles north east

i left all my friends at the morning bus stop shaking their heads.

"what kind of life you dream of? you're allergic to love."

yes i know but i must say in my own defense

it's been undeniably dear to me, i don't know why

when every other part of life seemed locked behind shutters

i knew the worthless dregs we are,

the selfless, loving saints we are,

the melting, sliding dice we've always been.

-- know your onion!; the shins

how i read

i get obsessed. with genres, with series, with certain book cover designs, and, mostly, with authors. the best examples: i read fight club almost three years ago and then proceeded to read everything else chuck palahniuk had ever written. last year, for my non-fiction novel class, we read what is the what: the autobiography of valentino achak deng by dave eggers and, after being told by rascal that eggers is her favorite author, i have read everything by him -- save for a few short stories and the second half of the wild things, which i'm reading now.

palahniuk has perfected the plot twist -- anyone who has seen/read/heard of fight club will agree wholeheartedly with this -- while still playing with the form his novels take. one of my favorite books by him (it's so hard for me to rank) is titled rant: an oral biography of rant casey. the story opens with the reader discovering that the main character, buster "rant" casey, for whom the novel is named, is already deceased. from that point, various people discuss their memories of rant and present stories that serve to form and push forward the story. not only does rant provide a really great plot twist, but it also is one of the most interesting ways to form a work of fiction that i've ever read.

my eggers obsession took a bit longer to kick in. while i loved the way he wrote what is the what: the autobiography of valentino achak deng, especially the idea of a fictionalized autobiography, i wasn't sold on him until reading you shall know our velocity!. i would recommend this book to anyone (and i have) but only if it contains the section narrated by the character hand. for some reason, not every copy of the novel contains this addition -- the first time i read you shall know our velocity!, it wasn't included. i didn't even realize what i was missing until rascal referenced it and then forced me -- thank god she did! -- to read the addition. it changed everything. without revealing too much, essentially what hand does is call into question the reliability of the novel's narrator and, therefore, undermine everything presented in the story. you'll finish reading it feeling lied to, cheated, and, i dare say, hurt -- but, also, confused because it's only a work of fiction, so why should you care?

i think what sucks me into my obsessions is the twist a novel provides. if an author can play with accepted literary norms and make me question everything i believe, then he has my heart.

also, from another of my authorial obsessions... i wish this was for me: