an open letter to whoever.

[two_grey_rooms]

i believe the kids are callin' it a rec post these days? at any rate, i commanded cool_rain_kiss to go read the things they carried and she demanded i make her a rec post. because apparently Our Modern World is too frightfully harumscarum to carry around the memory of ONE lousy book title. that's fine with me, cool_rain_kiss. i will make you a rec post. and then i will facebook message you. and then i will tweet you every ten seconds. and then i will record a youtube video of me yelling at you. and then i will youtwitface your sorry ass.

without further preamble:

dear world/f-list of two_grey_rooms/mostly cool_rain_kiss,

you should consider picking up a copy of the things they carried, by tim o'brien, if you never have (i know it's A Modern Classic* and a high-school curriculum favorite). it is about the vietnam war, but more truthfully it's a story about the brittle, strangely redemptive place where lives intersect with language; what happens to the human heart after it survives something unimaginably horrible; the obdurate fibers of memory which keep us looking back; and the mutable nature of truth. also, rat kiley is one of my absolute favorite characters in all of literature. you might want to meet him.

if you do read or have read this book, talk to me.

*OXYMORON AHOY!

Comments

[laughingrat.livejournal.com]

It is a fucking good book.

[two-grey-rooms.livejournal.com]

it is a very fucking good book. i don't have the words for how brilliant it is yet, but i'd better find 'em soon, 'cause i have an essay on it due in a week and a half :P.

[cool-rain-kiss.livejournal.com]

YES MA'AM

Also I demand you record yourself right now. o__________o

[two-grey-rooms.livejournal.com]

that is possibly the creepiest dema--naaah. you're capable of far creepier.

[quadruplify.livejournal.com]

You know, I would totally say that I would add this to my ever-growing to-read list, except that I don't actually keep one written down. ^_^; But I guess this'll be a start, then! :D

(I remember a couple of kids from high school who had to read the book, and they said it was really depressing and they didn't like it for that reason. Yeah, as if depressing things aren't worth reading ever. >_< Though I think I'm getting to a point where I'm less inclined to read depressing stuff myself, for a whole number of reasons I could get into here but I won't because I can't formulate the words right now. D8)

[two-grey-rooms.livejournal.com]

you should keep a virtual one at goodreads. goddamn that internet and its usefulness.

...okay, those kids are fucktarded. the only thing that isn't worth reading solely because of its capacity to depress you into a coma is ethan frome. OH GOD. SO BAD. DO NOT READ. EVER.

[sixteenblue.livejournal.com]

I'm re-reading "The Things They Carried" RIGHT NOW! Haven't read it since high school, where I was given the opportunity to take an English class called "War & Literature" (shakespeare for me? fuck no!), which was coupled with Poetry, of all things, for the second semester. ANYWAY, awesome book.

[two-grey-rooms.livejournal.com]

auspicious timing ftw! i'm just gonna sit here and pretend i MADE you pick up the things they carried by transmitting my brain waves to yours with this post, k.

i would be all over war & literature. so fascinating (and so fucking horrifying). and well, did you read war poetry? or was it just, like, haphazardly inserted in the middle of the curriculum like la-dee-dah vonnegut BOOM ANALYZE THE SHIT OUT OF THIS COCKSUCKING RED WHEELBARROW, MOTHERFUCKERS.

[ms-guillotine.livejournal.com]

Hi there,

LJ won't let me use the 'send a message' function so I have to hijack your latest post! Sorry! I'm a moderator for the Linkedbyletters community you applied to join and I'm just letting you know that I sent a message to the email address listed on your profile page - neologist@mail.com if this isn't the correct address lemme know and i'll send it to the right one!

Las

[ohdelighted.livejournal.com]

to be totally fair, i hated the fuck out of this book when i first read it back in high school. now i think it's fascinating in a way that makes my skin crawl.