beth march wannabe
Apr. 12th, 2004 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fearlesstempI came into work at 9AM this morning and wrote "I need a Diet Coke IV drip. That's the only way I'm going to get through this morning. Clearly."
I now feel quite proud because I have made it through the morning sans carbonated IV drip and have even done a bit of work. I have also stared blankly into space a lot, and annoyed three people on the phone by making them repeat their names five times (it's something about this phone, I think, or maybe I'm losing my hearing -- let's go with the phone), and puzzled over a mysterious file folder that I'm supposed to put away. Have no idea where it's supposed to go so I keep picking it up and staring at it, as if the answer is going to come to me if I just stare at the folder really, really hard.
Nope, not working.
Oh, I hate it when I do this. I think of something I want to note down in LJ, and then open up the Update Journal window, get distracted by something and write a long paragraph about it (like, say, the mysterious file folder above), and get so totally absorbed in it that the original reason for the update has vanished. Annoying!
Oh! I remember! It's really not that interesting. I've been clicking around, reading this 10 Formative Books meme in different people's LJs, and they're all interesting and fascinating and impressive. I've sat here for a while trying to come up with my own answers, but I'm having a brutal time of it. For someone who spent most of her childhood and young adult life reading, I certainly don't have much to show for it. I guess my third grade teacher was right -- I shouldn't have spent all that time reading The Baby-Sitters Club books.
Oh well. What's done is done. But I do have to wonder if I'm the only person in the world who's never read The Chronicles of Narnia or anything by J.R.R. Tolkein.
One book that has popped up a lot on people's lists is Little Women, which I have read! And I read all of the sequels too. I loved that book to pieces, and have seen the three film adaptations -- wait, am I lying? I think I saw the Kate Hepburn version, but am not positive. I know for a fact that I saw the horrid June Allyson version. I can't forget that even if I wanted to. And I loved the recent one with Winona Ryder.
Anyway, Little Women: Loved that book. And I've actually often wondered how much of my personality and place in life is explained by the fact that the character I identified most with when reading the book wasn't Jo, but Beth. Who died! What does this say about me? Perhaps just that I was adolescent and morbid (possible). But the thing I remember most about Beth I'm not even sure came directly from the book -- I'm remembering it most from the 1994 movie, which came out at the tail end of my Little Women obsessive phase. There's a part where Beth says that she doesn't understand why people want to leave, that she loves home, and that the hard part of growing up had been other people going away. And that has always been me, for better or for worse. Especially at the age I was when I was very into Little Women.
I also think there's probably something in there about wanting to be liked more than wanting to be respected or admired -- because the one thing Beth always had was everyone's affection, in one way or another. Also, I was shy as a kid, just like Beth, and her bewildered admiration of Jo's ability to come up with crazy ideas and go through with them was something I recognized from my friendships, because until I got to college, I was always drawn to these forceful, outgoing personalities that allowed me to fade into the background. During and after college, not so much, and though I don't have a good job or many other tangible accomplishments to show for my four-year degree, I am happy about how it made me maybe a little more like Jo.
Also: I'm aware that it's more than a bit ridiculous to spoiler cut-tag for Little Women, but, well, better to cut tag too much than too little. All of this reminds me of the Friends episode where Joey reads Little Women and Rachel reads The Shining (I think?), which Joey keeps inadvertently spoiling Rachel for, and Rachel finally gets so annoyed with it that she responds with, "Oh yeah? BETH DIES!" and Joey gasps in this huge, horrified, hilarious way.
Ack, the headache I woke up with this morning is back. Must go find something to make it better. Perhaps Diet Coke? I'm convinced it cures (almost) all that ails you.
I now feel quite proud because I have made it through the morning sans carbonated IV drip and have even done a bit of work. I have also stared blankly into space a lot, and annoyed three people on the phone by making them repeat their names five times (it's something about this phone, I think, or maybe I'm losing my hearing -- let's go with the phone), and puzzled over a mysterious file folder that I'm supposed to put away. Have no idea where it's supposed to go so I keep picking it up and staring at it, as if the answer is going to come to me if I just stare at the folder really, really hard.
Nope, not working.
Oh, I hate it when I do this. I think of something I want to note down in LJ, and then open up the Update Journal window, get distracted by something and write a long paragraph about it (like, say, the mysterious file folder above), and get so totally absorbed in it that the original reason for the update has vanished. Annoying!
Oh! I remember! It's really not that interesting. I've been clicking around, reading this 10 Formative Books meme in different people's LJs, and they're all interesting and fascinating and impressive. I've sat here for a while trying to come up with my own answers, but I'm having a brutal time of it. For someone who spent most of her childhood and young adult life reading, I certainly don't have much to show for it. I guess my third grade teacher was right -- I shouldn't have spent all that time reading The Baby-Sitters Club books.
Oh well. What's done is done. But I do have to wonder if I'm the only person in the world who's never read The Chronicles of Narnia or anything by J.R.R. Tolkein.
One book that has popped up a lot on people's lists is Little Women, which I have read! And I read all of the sequels too. I loved that book to pieces, and have seen the three film adaptations -- wait, am I lying? I think I saw the Kate Hepburn version, but am not positive. I know for a fact that I saw the horrid June Allyson version. I can't forget that even if I wanted to. And I loved the recent one with Winona Ryder.
Anyway, Little Women: Loved that book. And I've actually often wondered how much of my personality and place in life is explained by the fact that the character I identified most with when reading the book wasn't Jo, but Beth. Who died! What does this say about me? Perhaps just that I was adolescent and morbid (possible). But the thing I remember most about Beth I'm not even sure came directly from the book -- I'm remembering it most from the 1994 movie, which came out at the tail end of my Little Women obsessive phase. There's a part where Beth says that she doesn't understand why people want to leave, that she loves home, and that the hard part of growing up had been other people going away. And that has always been me, for better or for worse. Especially at the age I was when I was very into Little Women.
I also think there's probably something in there about wanting to be liked more than wanting to be respected or admired -- because the one thing Beth always had was everyone's affection, in one way or another. Also, I was shy as a kid, just like Beth, and her bewildered admiration of Jo's ability to come up with crazy ideas and go through with them was something I recognized from my friendships, because until I got to college, I was always drawn to these forceful, outgoing personalities that allowed me to fade into the background. During and after college, not so much, and though I don't have a good job or many other tangible accomplishments to show for my four-year degree, I am happy about how it made me maybe a little more like Jo.
Also: I'm aware that it's more than a bit ridiculous to spoiler cut-tag for Little Women, but, well, better to cut tag too much than too little. All of this reminds me of the Friends episode where Joey reads Little Women and Rachel reads The Shining (I think?), which Joey keeps inadvertently spoiling Rachel for, and Rachel finally gets so annoyed with it that she responds with, "Oh yeah? BETH DIES!" and Joey gasps in this huge, horrified, hilarious way.
Ack, the headache I woke up with this morning is back. Must go find something to make it better. Perhaps Diet Coke? I'm convinced it cures (almost) all that ails you.
Re: this is totally getting freaky
Date: 2004-04-12 07:54 pm (UTC)And I don't remember the spinoff, but yeah, Stephanie was the sleepover friend who always wore red white and black. LOL Taffy sounds like a familiar thing, though. I don't know. Need to think about this. <.g>
Yeah, Mallory and Jessi were 11. I think they were trying to get all the younger sisters to read, too. LOL Try the new series she turned it into. She took away a lot of the babysitting, and each book seemed to focus on one girl and one storyline. I actually liked the first one, with Kristy going to California for her father's wedding. It was good. And the finale, with the graduation. <.g> I'm such a sap, but even after so many years, I had to see what happened to them all. LOL
And dude, yes Gymnasts and Sweet Valley! I started with Twins, moved to High (my piano teacher let me borrow her daughter's old ones when I was in jr high) and then University. They have a new series now, where Liz left to go to school in England, but I can't bring myself to check any out. LOL
This is so freaking fun. LOL!! Did you read any Richard Peck? I loved the Blossom Culp books. And, um, oh, Lurlene McDaniel? Hugely melodramatic books there. <.g>
Hee! This is like reliving my childhood. <.g>
Re: this is totally getting freaky
Date: 2004-04-13 09:36 am (UTC)Richard Peck is a name I recognize and think I've read, but can't come up with any books off hand. Did he write The Chocolate War? I think I read that. But dude -- Lurlene McDaniel? I. was. obsessed with those books. God, I used to read ALL of them -- remember Six Months to Live? And then all of the sequels (like -- oh, I can't remember the names), and all of the other books, like the one about the girl with the disfigured face who falls in love with the blind boy! And the girl whose sister died (I think?) and then she fell in love with a boy who was going to go to clown school (I swear I am not making this up. It is actually one of my favorites.). Oh, and there was the girl with the heart condition who met the brother of the donor! I loved those books!
And! I can't BELIEVE you've read Sunset Island because outside of the friend who originally loaned me the books, I've never run across someone who read them. Sam with her little red cowboy boots! And Carrie and Billie were totally my favorites too. I actually liked Cherie Bennett's writing a lot and have tracked down a few of her other books -- Girls in Love, I want to say, and The Bridesmaids? And Life in the Fat Lane. Are there others? I try to look for her name in the bookstore.
I'm so jealous of you having a copy of one of the books with you! I borrowed them from a friend who had the whole series and with whom I've since lost touch. Am considering rekindling the friendship just to relive the Sunset Island glory!
This is so bringing me back!
Re: this is totally getting freaky
Date: 2004-04-15 06:02 pm (UTC)And the clown one!! his name was David, right? And he had a sister who was deaf, and he signed "pretty girl" to the chick, and it was so sweet. Was that Baby Alicia is Dying? I still have tons of those lying around. There's a stack on the shelf above me, even. <.g> I loved them, too. I even have a tape of the tv movie they made of one - I think it was the Dawn/6 months to live series.
I remember some of those other Cherie bennett books! I don't know if I read them. She had a little series about girls with disabilities, like Amber with arthritis. Then there was another series about a bunch of people working at an MTV_like station and living together, only there was a lot of SBlike plotlines. Oh, and there were a few spinoff books about Darcy from Sunset Island - the girl in the wheelchair who was an au pair. It was pretty interesting.
Let's see. LOL Did you read any Sunfire romances? The historical fiction romances, each with a girls' name as a title? I adored those. Still do. LOL