Sunday, January 28, 2007

A Bookish Moment

Flipping through a book catalog is a bad thing to do on a regular basis, when your house looks as if it will disappear beneath the mounds of books at any moment. But, in spite of that, I still do occasionally lose my head and peek through one of those wonderful catalogs that arrive in the mail.

I was flipping through the Daedalus Books catalog while hubby boiled some eggs (yes, he cooks) when I saw a familiar author's name: Gerald Durrell.

"Hey," I said to the spouse, "there are some books by Gerald Durrell listed in this catalog."
Blank look. "Who is that?"
"An author you've read."
"No, I haven't."
"Yes, you have. Remember, he wrote a book called The Overloaded Ark? You read it a long, long time ago."
"Never heard of it."
"We still have it, I think." At this point, I hopped up and walked to the nicest of our shelves, looked upward and plucked the book off the shelf.
I held it up. "See, this is the book. I think you really liked it."
Hubby squinted at the book and proclaimed it unfamiliar, so I told him the cover designated it as a travel book and I thought it was a memoir. He shook his head, again, and then stopped and stared.
At this point, the little bell finally rang over the husband's head and he said, "Oh, is that the one that -- where does it take place?"
The back cover said Africa and I read the blurb. Ding, ding, ding. Now, he remembered and started to babble happily about the book and how great it was; and, of course, I was laughing at my husband's funny tendency to shove aside certain bits of information that are just naturally filed in my own brain. We're so different.
Still, it was a nice moment.

20 comments:

  1. That's so cute. I was hoping as I read that he'd eventually remember and not keep denying. Is he very bookish at all? Are his books so far and few between that they are crystallized in your memory? That's how I am about my mom.

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  2. He did stop denying and chattered about what he liked in the book, once the little light bulb came on. LOL

    Yes, his books take a long time for him to get through because he's dyslexic. He's getting through them a lot faster than he used to, though. I don't know if his reads are crystallized in my memory because he reads so few or that's just the way I am. Good book recall was a great attribute when I worked in a booksstore. :)

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  3. I just assume that because I keep everything I read in my mind, other people do too. But, my boyfriend and best friend used to read, and now they are gamers. I will ask if they have read such and such a book before they gave up reading, and it takes them forever to put the pieces together. This from the guys that have games memorized. There is this certain Final Fantasy that my boyfriend knows where everything is in it, even the secrets. It's crazy to watch him. Although, he does still occassionally read Stephen King. I bought him the first four Dark Tower books one year for Christmas.

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  4. Kailana,

    I think people can shift gears and shove things to the back of the mental file cabinet and that's probably what happened to your friends. It takes a little bit longer to recall, perhaps, because details about books are no longer in the forefront.

    I've never read the Dark Tower series. Someone donated them to the library sale and I considered them, but they were a little too ratty. Did I miss something wonderful?

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  5. I do believe bibliophiles have a unique sense of recall for titles and authors, as they are our joy. :)

    Thanks for visiting my new blog, Bookfool!

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  6. Aisling,

    Exactly. We give our books first priority in the brain files. I thought this experience was interesting because I wasn't the one who read the book! But, I remember hubby telling me about it. :)

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  7. I don't look at book catalogs cause those would be dangerous for me. :) That is funny about how he didn't remember the book at first. That has happened to me but I know I have read it but can't remember details. :) I miss working in a bookstore.

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  8. Krista,

    Book catalogs are definitely dangerous. I've ordered from Daedalus Books and probably haven't read everything I ordered, so there's no point buying any more! But, it's still fun to look. :)

    I don't usually forget what I've read unless--as in the case of a Dick Francis book--they have titles that don't seem to have much to do with the subject matter. I do, however, sometimes forget I already brought home a copy of a particular book.

    I miss working in a bookstore, too. It was such a great job.

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  9. Cool new look to the blog!

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  10. Thanks, Angela!

    I lost a bunch of my cute little linky things, but I'm working on trying to add everything back. It may take a bit of hacking away over a week or so. :) I've been tired of my other template for quite a while, but didn't have the guts to switch till today!

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  11. Look at you with your swanky template! I likey.

    And too funny about the hub. Men have a tendency to let their light bulbs go turned off so often. Glad his finally came on. ;)

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  12. cute.

    how is the chunkster challenge coming along? other than the read and the black havent touched one though am thinking that after my bookclub meet on the First will finish GRR Martin.

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  13. Thank you, Miss Andi!

    I had fits with the new template, for a while, but it was time for a new look. :)

    Oh, men. Who gets 'em? That crazy hubster is a really sharp guy, but his area of focus is, shall we say "narrow". But, hey, I'm all for reasons to laugh!

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  14. Hey Nessie!

    Well, I managed to finish God is an Englishman, last night!! Yippee! I just haven't had time to write a review, with all the time spent fiddling around with templates, today. A friend told me I should rethink the first book I read, this year, and add it to my chunkster list because it was over 400 pages long and a it meets the qualifications. Her reasoning is valid, but I'm still considering.

    I'm probably going to head into Dickens, soon, but I need a breather. :)

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  15. I agree...your blog's new look is great! I'm dazzled.

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  16. Anonymous9:05 AM

    Sounds a bit like my husband!

    Not that I need it either, but I just requested Daedalus's catalog - thanks for the link!

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  17. Love the new template! I'm considering a re-do of mine, too, but I hate the thought of losing my sidebar material. Just need to devote some time to it, I suppose.

    Congrats on finishing up your first Chunkster!!! I'm trying to decide what to read in February...

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  18. Anonymous12:53 PM

    I tend to "forget" books, until I reread them. But then again, I enjoy them more the second time around. Too funny about your husband!

    I think Blogger has eaten all my comments to you lately. So annoying. I'll pray for a faster access coming your way soon too.

    Those hawk pictures are amazing!

    And a lettuce leaf as a book mark?

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  19. Bybee,

    Thank you. Dazzled - that's good. That's very positive. :)

    Lesley,

    Husbands are funny things. I guess I'll keep mine. LOL

    You're welcome for the link. Hope you enjoy the catalog without it killing the budget. I used to order from Daedalus quite a bit. I've been resisting, lately!

    Les,

    Thanks! That's exactly how I felt about changing the template - very, very hesitant because of what I knew I'd lose and have to replace.

    It was harder than I thought, at first; and then things quickly fell into place. As long as you've got all the info you need, the new templates are easier to work with. It just takes a while to get the hang of it. It was a quiet day, so probably a good time to change over.

    Thanks for the congrats. I need to review that chunkster. I've been gone all day and I'm behind on everything - laundry (a belt broke, so I had to wait to get that fixed), blogging, reading, cleaning. Need an extra 24 hours stuck in there but I think I'd probably just sleep. LOL French Women Don't Get Fat just arrived. I hope to get to that soon - thanks for the recommendation. :)

    Carrie,

    Maybe book memory is my specialty. My bookstore boss certainly appreciated my ability to lead people to the right place and remember titles without the authors or figure out the right book or author based on some bizarre description. LOL

    My husband does remember things that just baffle me. He can drive around a city once and then 10 years later he remembers which way to go . . . when he hasn't visited the town in a decade. I always thought that was bizarre.

    Blogger's eating your comments? Ugh! Sorry about that! That happens to me at other blogs, but it's usually because my connection is so bad that I get a message saying "connection has been reset" and then everything locks up. It's so annoying.

    Thanks for the compliment on the pics.

    And, yeah. A lettuce leaf! Can you beat that?

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  20. Hehe! Excellent moment!!!

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