At long last a LiveJournal by Jeri Smith-Ready

Over on Facebook, my friend Kayley tagged me on a meme that I couldn't resist (which is saying a lot). The instructions were:

Don't take too long to think about it: fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. Make sure it's the first fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

Then we were supposed to tag 15 friends, but I didn't do that. I have a (nonexistent) sign on my (nonexistent) desk that says, "The Meme Stops Here."

With each of these books I remember something different--a scene, a character, a concept, or the way it made me feel in that moment. With most, I can remember where I was when I first read it, the same way I associate certain songs with certain stretches of highway where I first heard them (or where I played them on infinite repeat).

( Fifteen books I'll never forget: )


Rather than discuss the rationale for each one (because it was meant to be quick, after all), I wanted to point out one book that I was just thinking of a few minutes ago (which led to this blog post): Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

In a central scene, the novel's protagonist Tita is forced to cook the wedding food for her older sister Rosaura, who is marrying the man Tita loves (and who loves her back but for custom's sake has to marry the oldest girl because the youngest has to stay home forever and take care of her mom--bogus!).

Anyway, Tita cries bitter tears as she's preparing the cake, and the tears kinda get mixed into the batter. At the reception, everyone who eats the cake starts crying. These episodes continue throughout the book, as Tita's repressed anger and passion infuse her cooking.

Takeaway message: the spirit in which food is prepared affects its taste. So ever since I read this book, I try to be merry or at least calm when I cook. I have certain carefully chosen CDs that can play while I make dinner. (Most of my favorite music would make food taste really nasty.)

Oh, and a glass of wine or beer helps a lot, but not until I'm finished with the knives.

----

What are your "Forever 15" books? If you only have a minute, give me five, or even one, and tell me why. Which parts of the book will you always remember--the characters, a scene, the philosophy, or the feelings it gave you?

Need some nummies? Tails of Hope, the animal rescue organization I volunteer with, is having a giant Bake Sale tomorrow at the Guilford Mansion in Frederick, MD, from 11am to 3pm. One of the people making goodies for the sale is a professional chef, so this ain't your average Bake Sale with Duncan Hines cupcakes (although those will probably be available, too).

If you're in the area, please stop by. I won't be there due to this annoying cold (what with the swine flu worries, I might scare people by sneezing and coughing), but Tails of Hope could really use your help. They had $9,000 in vet bills last month for the shelter animals in their care. Yeesh!

Here's a map to help you find it, as well as more information on this and other Tails of Hope events.

If you're not in the area, you can still help my favorite animal folks by helping them win a grant. It's super easy to do. I'll let Linda Junkins, our president, explain it:

The Animal Rescue Site is having another Shelter Challenge, and Tails of Hope has the potential to win up to a $20,000 grant! You can help by voting for Tails of Hope--today and every day--and by forwarding this to everyone you know.

To vote for us, simply click on the above icon, and then search for "Tails of Hope" in Maryland. You can vote every day until July 26, 2009. So program your PDA, set your alarm clock, tie a string around your finger--whatever it takes--but please don't forget to cast your daily vote!

Thanks for all you do to help our animals in need.

Since I don't have much time to volunteer these days due to book deadlines, this is one of the few ways I can help, by spreading the word. So please in turn help me by reposting the link and the voting instructions on your blog, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever.

Thanks and have a great weekend! If you go to the bake sale, tell them Jeri sent you. :-)

(Another quasi-personal post exclusive to the LJ community of like-ish minds--i.e., not cross-posted to my other blogs.  Which is another way of saying I don't want my mom to read this.)

Just now, for the first time in years, I drank a cup of French Roast coffee. French Roast is my favorite, but I haven't bought it lately because at my local Giant, the organic fair trade brand doesn't offer that variety. But for several months they've sold Newman's Own French Roast one shelf over. Newman's Own--fair trade, organic, profits go to charities, etc. You'd think I'd grab it with glee.

No. It costs fifty cents more. I was "saving" it for a time when I really deserved it.

But for some reason last week I'd had enough. I bought the Newman's Own. This morning I took a sip of the first cup and thought, hmm, I made it too weak. But as I kept drinking I realized it wasn't too weak, it was just smooth. Sweet. It didn't burn the back of my tongue with bitterness. It didn't make my stomach roil and rebel and crave the Pepcid AC.

It got me thinking: what the hell is wrong with me? Why am I such a masochist? Why do I habitually deny myself the things that would make my life a little brighter? What did I do to deserve such self-loathing? (Don't answer that.) Or am I just a modern-day Puritan?

For instance, the books I most want to read, the ones that would make me happy (such as Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job and a handful of funny contemporary romances) aren't even in my TBR pile. They're on my bookshelf, the place for books that will be read someday but right now don't even qualify for the on-deck circle. Because I don't deserve them until I've slogged forty-nine more dreary, "edgy" novels where tortured souls try to stop the Apocalypse of the Week. (Right, like there's a lot of suspense there. Gee, I wonder if the world will end? Please please please let it happen and put these characters out of my their misery.) 

Fuck that. Life's too short. From now on I'm going to read books that make me laugh and coffee that makes me go "Yum!" I'm going to reward myself for reaching milestones, instead of just telling myself I should've reached them sooner.

But I don't know how.  How do you reward yourself?  Can you teach me?  Can joy even be taught? 

What about you other workaholics?  Do you punish yourself for not living up to your own impossibly high goals?  Or am I the only one half-soaked in this ever-present puddle of dread?

The winner of the CD giveaway for Monroe's story is...alishsmom!  So just send your mailing address to jeri AT jerismithready DOT com, and I'll see that your brand-new copy of Alvin Youngblood Hart's Big Mama's Door gets on its merry little way.

You have until 9pm eastern tomorrow night to enter to win a signed copy of the phenomenal debut novel by Stephanie Kuehnert,  I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.  See my interview with Stephanie for details.

Now...my birthday is Friday, and I'm hoping to get all my work done before then so I can take the day off.  I'm trying to figure out how I want to spend my day.  So far I have two ingredients:

1. Sending Chris to Sam's Bagels for breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and a dozen bagels, a treat I usually save for Deadline Hell.
2. Reading the entire Y: The Last Man comic series by Brian K. Vaughn. The tenth and final volume just came out a couple weeks ago.  I've read the first two, but then stopped and waited for it to be over so I could glom it all at once.  That's how I tend to operate with series.  Does anyone else do this?

Other than that, I'm coming up dry.  I'm so unaccustomed to days off that I don't know what to do with them, and I'm afraid I'm going to end up wandering aimlessly around the house, then accidentally fall into a mad fit of filing.

So I'm looking for inspiration.  If you had a free day with no responsibilities, how would you spend it? 

I mean, Blog Tour.  If you're not already sick of reading my inane babblings, here are three more opportunities to have your brain cells coated with my thoughts (I recommend a nice vinegar rinse afterward).  One of them has something in it for you.

Interview at Ann Aguirre's blog.  Find out my secret celebrity boyfriend, my favorite drink, and whether a dolphin could take on a ninja.  Or a pirate, I forget.  Anyway, one lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Wicked Game.

Interview at Fangs, Fur & Fey. Rachel Vincent asks about my favorite scene from Wicked Game, how I researched the book, and why the hell I chose to write in first person present tense.

Big Idea at John Scalzi's Whatever blog.  This is one of my favorite blogs going way back, so I'm tickled and terrified at being featured on it myself.  The Big Idea is--well, just go look.  It's pretty short.

Thanks to Ann, Rachel, and John for picking my brain!