THE RELIGION WAR

began reading a new one. (no, it's not a scary spiritual/Christian book. it's by scott adams, author of the Dilbert cartoons. so it's a gas!) it's a relatively short read but i was exhausted, so i didn't finish it last night. i think this caused some dreams that i now can't remember. as part of the prologue, the author briefly comments on the first book, god's debris, and that some people get amnesia just after reading the book, 'aggressively arguing' that there were no new ideas in the book. actually, i got amnesia not b/c i didn't think there were new ideas, but b/c it was written in the manner of the socratic method, so i tried to keep up and focus so hard i kept losing it. i can't handle very many scenarios in my head at one time. i'd have to write all my arguments down, w/c i didn't do while reading.

anyway, this sequel has a plot and the idea-laden sentences are more spaced out, so more easily digestible. i'm enjoying it. there's this really funny line about a frenchman on a plane. and so much more. i laughed out loud a few times. the author masterfully weaves together psychology (including organizational! the bit about self-managed groups!!!! whoopee! that was SO cool and funny!), physics, religion, sociology, mathematics, etc, etc. so much for such a little book.

ps
the chapter on MENSA was priceless!

pps
i know just to whom i'll give this book as a gift. hope they haven't already read it, the dilbert fan.

update: 3/29/05
that book gave me dreams. i remember i also dreamt i fell victim to credit card/identity theft.

it seems i live in my dreams these days. walking a straight line by day and drawing squigglies in the dark.

i'm not quite sure how i feel about how the story ended. i don't know about the pantheistic slant, and that's giving it more definition that it's claiming, even. there's something so sanitized and inadequate about the theory. sad to think it, but the 'moral' of the story is like a bejeweled finger eagerly pointing at a sewer. this battle between the good speck and the bad speck that causes chaos...eh. i disagree that the bad speck is exactly the same as the good speck but just fighting for space. people value originality, right? that would make the bad speck a poor imitator, at best, and a fraud for sure, wouldn't it?

ah well, to cheer myself up, i think i'll read mark or luke or matthew. still haven't read those guys. i have to say, i was surprised to realize that john was the most loved, and he seemed so harsh and almost intolerant. perhaps it is his passion misunderstood. dunno.

ROSIE DUNNE

some girls retain their girl-next-door aura years later. even if they've become successful, professional-whatevers. and if they haven't achieved fortune & fame, they're still cool b/c they'll always have the title. and i suppose there's something alluring about that. some girls even spend whoknowshowmany hours tyring to look like the girl next door. sadly, some of us can never be jello.

how come i picture the girls as pretty enough, but i have this innate anxiety around the boys being dorky and scraggly? i guess it's those years of watching family ties. oh, skippy. dork or no dork though, so many of them end up together anyway. the beauty of close quarters in the formative years. ha. sounds like a TLC or discovery special.

i guess i can relate to rosie, more b/c of the attitude, less b/c i'd have caused more irreparable damage, and i don't have a childhood boy-friend.

C fits ruby. a true pal. smart enough to tell you what you want to hear, but friend enough to warn you (though not-so-aggressively) when your heart needs protection. and of course there's no pity for the fool. a lot of pointing and laughing, but no pity.

i wonder if the story would have worked if divorce didn't exist? WHAT IF divorce wasn't an option. would all those years have gone by wasted?

PURPLE HIBISCUS

almost done with purple hibiscus. what a great title. this nigerian author utilizes many similes. many are unique and quite creative. lots on food and ordinary, everyday things used to liken/describe certain things, engendering staggering visual images. you'll get what i mean when you read it.

did make headway on the self-help book while on the ride to (friday eve).

on the ride fro, i'd picked up the novel at left bank books and it was a much shorter trip back. i'll be done with this one tonight.

update: 3/29/05
a bit about purple hibiscus...

it's so frightening how people can get it so wrong. it's so dangerous to be so misguided. the father character is deplorable, but there are many such fathers. there are many such people with unbelievably warped ways. can't even call them hypocrites because the horror of it is they just don't get it. i was having a conversation w/my boss today about something kind of related- about how some things happen in homes you wouldn't think they'd happen in, but when you find out about them, you're not all that surprised. unfortunately classic psychological phenomenon to rebel when coerced. to lash out when suppressed. sometimes i think i'm more scared for people who've always had everything go right in their lives (or think they have). it's like middle-aged men and the chicken pox.