To get people in the proper frame of mind to purchase a book about how a book saved one's life and could very possibly save theirs, too, and starting next month, to boot, one subtle and extremely shrewd move is to casually pose the question, was there ever a book that saved your life?
So, question to you: was there ever a single book, other than the Bible, the Koran, or a holy book, that saved your life, in the sense that it brought you back to reality, or kept you from making a serious mistake? If so, what was the book, and how did it work for you?
The sort who probably will be buying Dreher's Dante book:
Blog commenter Mark Hamann says:
March 26, 2015 at 2:31 pm
Yes. The Ink Dark Moon, a book of Heian period tanka written by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu. Once in the early 90's I was suicidal over the lack of traction in my love life, and that book made me realize that I’m supposed to suffer over that. And write tanka to express my suffering which I did on index cards which I still have.
Blog commenter McKay says:
March 26, 2015 at 2:50 pm
If you haven’t read David James Duncan’s The Brothers K, you are living an incomplete life. I read it in the midst of my PhD program, while I was reading all this counter-Enlightenment philosophy stuff and critiques of modernity (MacIntyre, the Southern Agrarians, Camus, et al.), and I really was growing profoundly depressed about the state of the world. The entire structure of secular modernity, and thus the structure of daily life, was starting to seem like some cruel techno-managerial artifice designed to force us into solipsism, atomism, and self-absorption...
The sort who probably will not:
Sherelle Taylor* says
March 26, 2015 at 3:09 am
Yeah, well you know Shirley got beat up real bad, yo, that man never did treat her right but they're gonna let me take her shift too since it starts right when mine ends, mmh hmmh, but I'm young and in pretty good health so God willing I can pull it for at least a month if I need to while she gets better which means I can get Jayden that bike he's been wanting for his birthday instead of putting my Mama's ring in the pawn shop again which is pretty sweet if you ask me though I really feel bad for Shirley she deserves better God knows she does.
* Cashier, 10:00 pm - 6:00 am shift, Big Bargain World. Not suicidal over the lack of traction in her love life, just has her hands full at the moment. But ask her nicely anyway.
I know who will but it. The Insomniacs who tried everything under the sun to cure their Insomnia. Given what I have heard this book will put you to sleep! Jonathan Carpenter
ReplyDeleteI sure hope
ReplyDelete[t]he entire structure of secular modernity, and thus the structure of daily life, was starting to seem like some cruel techno-managerial artifice designed to force us into solipsism, atomism, and self-absorption...
was a put-on. If not, I think I'll skip the book club night with Mark Hamman and McKay. I'm afraid it'd sound a whole lot like this (before the reaction at the end, anyway).
In the final analysis, this will likely be an accepable win for both Regan and Dreher. While Regan can't possibly expect the returns her other life-saving book realized - oops, not that one, this one - she very wisely kept her production costs to a bare minimum and so will probably realize a modest profit while - who woulda thunk it? - luring a certain percentage of Dreher's book's audience to sample her other wares as well. After all, she'll never tell on you for seeking greater traction in your love lives.
ReplyDeleteDreher, in turn, though probably not making much in royalties directly from this book, is actually purchasing something more valuable from it, namely, admission into collegiate circles as a marginal intellectual and with that, then, greater odds of an inside track on university imprint publishing. Together with inheriting his family's land, being able to push "How the Works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Paradoxically Helped Me Realize the Full Potential of Etruscan Pork Chops" through a modest run at Squaw Lick College Press and then rinsing, repeating, rinsing, and repeating, will probably see him through until his children can finally support him in his dotage.
How come he is so sick now, but magically can summons the energy to travel when the spirit moves him? I think he either suffers from straight-up depression and needs meds, or is totally adverse to spending any time actually helping his wife homeschool and wrangle their three kids. Mrs. Dreher must be a very patient woman.
ReplyDeleteSorry that should be averse.
DeleteHis priest is even shilling for him on Facebook...DreRod has no taste or shame...
ReplyDeleteStephen, do you have a link? What is his priest's name? Thanks in advance. ;)
ReplyDeleteStephen, I found you on FB. So glad the thyroid scan did not find cancer! I had Graves' Disease 23 years ago ("cured" by radioactive iodine), so I am sensitive to thyroid issues. Also, my husband's dissertation director, Angeliki Liaou, a vibrant, beautiful woman, died of thyroid cancer in her 60s a few years ago. It should have been caught years earlier...she was always almost unnaturally intense. But doctors knew so much less then than they know now. Anyway, really glad you are OK!
ReplyDeleteQ: Who will be buying Rod Dreher's Dante book?
ReplyDeleteA: Mark Shea, so he can lerns to rite reel gud! ;)