The X-Files

The X-Files: Empathy by Ellen Steiber 1997

The X-Files: Eve by Ellen Steiber 1997

The X-Files: Ground Zero by Kevin J. Anderson 1995

The X-Files: Ruins by Kevin J. Anderson 1996

The X-Fiels: Voltage by Easton Royce 1996

The Unofficial X-Files Companion by N. E. Genge 1995

Weight: 3 lbs

Method of Disposal: Put in Better World Books Bin

I found more X-files books, despite what I said in my previous blog about Gillian Anderson (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4552181075872894011#editor/target=post;postID=4546920244121391682).  It is not surprising because it was an obsession, and it was quite intense.  I cannot imagine feeling that way about anything now.  I cannot even think about what it was like to be in that mindset.  I should not admit this in public but I just, last month, got rid of my X-Files magazines and tv guides I had boxed up.  I collected them in the 90s and still lugged them around even though I never looked through them, was not all that proud of them, did not need them in anyway.  I just could not recycle all that Gillian Anderson, I guess.  I finally did it and, as you might have guessed, it was painless.  I am just not in a place (and probably will never be again) where I want to waste my time reading books based on television or lust after inaccessible people.  O.k. o.k.  I may still lust after her when I see her in movies, but I don’t need magazines to remind me.  Besides, I am not getting rid of my X-Files DVDs.  I am really not THERE yet.

The Stranger Beside Me

The Stranger Beside Me  by Ann Rule

2001

Weight: 8.8 oz

Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere

Another Ann Rule book is getting kicked out of the nest.  This is THE BOOK that really helped blow up Ann’s career as a true crime writer.  Ann Rule worked with and considered Ted Bundy a friend.  She had communication with him throughout his trials and was not convinced of his guilt right away.  The book is, obviously, eerie given the subject matter and the author’s insider information.  It is also, like all true crime books, sad and strange to read.  I could barely stand to think about the woman, killed in her own dorm room, so close to her friends.  I could barely stand to think about any of the women.  Again, I am not sure exactly what true crime offers us as readers.  Is it entertainment?  If so, is that okay given all the pain that rests within it?  Is it educational?  And to whom?  Is it a memorial?  Again, and to whom?  What do you all think about reading and/or watching true crime?  Fictional crime shows?

The Apartheid of Sex

The Apartheid of Sex: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Gender

1995

Weight: 8 oz

Method of Disposal: Left at a Mexican Restaurant in Oakhurst GA

I am lucky to have the experiences I have.  This book would have really impressed me so much more if I had not already read so many other books putting forth similar arguments and, in many cases, the same arguments.  I am completely on board with the notion that there are a multitude of sexes and sexualities.  I do believe that both sex and gender are on a continuum and are not actually binary systems, despite what we are socialized to believe.  I am lucky because nothing in this book was new to me.  I have had the privilege of accessing this information at home, being exposed to it in school, experiencing it in real life.  It is for this reason that I found myself bored so often while reading the book.  I wanted to get wrapped up in the revolutionary tone and the strength of the author’s voice.  I wanted to feel what the reviewers felt.  I have a lot of interest in the work of Anne Fausto-Sterling and was hopeful after seeing her comments on the back of the book.  I am going to leave this book somewhere in Decatur and hope that it finds a home with an open-minded individual who has never thought about questioning the sex, gender, sexuality binaries.  Good luck little ManifestO!

Einstein's Monsters

Einstein’s Monsters  by Martin Amis

1990

Weight: 4.8 oz

Method of Disposal: Left at the MOJOs in Oakhurst GA

It was time to pick up a Martin Amis book again.  I was so surprised by how much I liked Night Train.  I had to see if any of the other books I had on my shelves were worth a damn.  The title got me too.  Martin Amis does have some great fucking titles.  I guess that is how I ended up with so many of his books in the first place. 

I read the preface and was impressed right away.  It is about living in a world with nuclear weapons.   To show how impossible the situation we have created is he writes:

                                What is the only provocation that could bring about the use of nuclear weapons?  Nuclear weapons.  What is the priority target for nuclear weapons?  Nuclear weapons.  What is the only established defense against nuclear weapons?  Nuclear weapons.  How do we prevent the use of nuclear weapons?  By threatening to use nuclear weapons.  And we can’t get rid of nuclear weapons, because of nuclear weapons.  The intransigence, it seems, is a function of the weapons themselves.

And to represent how ridiculous the world leaders are in dealing with this issue:

                                At the multiracial children’s tea party the guests have, perhaps, behaved slightly better since the Keepers were introduced.  Little Ivan has stopped pulling Fetnab’s hair, though he is still kicking her leg under the table.  Bobby has returned the slice of cake that rightfully belonged to tiny Conchita, though he has his eye on that sandwich and will probably make a lunge for it sooner or later.  Out on the lawn the Keepers maintain a kind of order, but standards of behavior are pretty well as troglodytic as they ever were.

Oh.  Nevermind.  You would have to read it.  The only problem with this book is that the preface is so good and the stories really are not.  I was not impressed by them at all. 

It's Not Easy Being Green

It’s Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider  by Jim Henson, the Muppets, and Friends

2005

Weight: 5.6 oz

Method of Disposal: Left on a park bench in Oakhurst GA

This book was given to me.  I think it was a one of those hand downs I get.  “Oh, you like books.  Do you want this?  It is a book.”  I am not sure.  I know I wish I had timed this post to coincide with going to see the most recent Muppets movie, but it did not cross my mind back then.  In case you were wondering, it was surprisingly funny and enjoyable.  I did not know what would happen walking into it.  I have a lot of positive things to say about Jim Henson and the Muppets, but this is not my kind of book.  It is a coffee table read, and I don’t have that kind of house.  I hope someone else enjoys it in a way I could not.