i spent the last two days reading A Discourse on Love A Lover’s Discourse (god) which some argue should not be read cover to cover, but I hate reading things any other way because I inevitably end up missing something, or just reading a few of the ones that I deem the best based on a completely uninformed perusal of the table of contents ANYWAY this chapter/section/etc is not my favorite, my favorite is CRYING (for obvious reasons) (I cry a lot) (jk) (well,) and also maybe WAITING (you’re either the One Who Waits or you’re not (I am)) or maybe LOVE LETTERS because there is this bit about Freud telling his fiancee that she BETTER WRITE BACK because this writing her letters every day with no response is a bunch of bullshit.
This fucking book. I remember standing in Bluestockings bookstore on Allen Street probably 4 or 5 years ago, flipping through this book nervously, grabbing it and pivoting towards the register and then putting it back, wondering if it was for me, or if it was for me yet. I stood there for a good 10 minutes deliberating, pacing nervously. if you are at a bookstore with someone, this is your basic nightmare (well, depends if you are the One Who Waits), but fun when no one else is with you, if not a little worrisome because YOU HAVE NO IDEA IF YOU SHOULD BUY IT AND WHAT IF YOU SHOULD AND DON’T? WHAT IF YOU DO AND IT SUCKS? If you do and it sucks (or is good but not in the You Needed It way), then you risk losing this sacred/secret idea that you always read the perfect book at the perfect time, that they come into your life just when you need them, etc etc. I’ll stop because these things are not supposed to be said out loud.
So for those of you at the edge of your seat, I didn’t buy that book that day in 2k7-ish and in the four years or so since it has come up a lot (guess I run in Sad circles) (and by run I mean blog) and I’m always like DAMMIT SHOULDA GOTTEN IT. I should be a Person Who Has Read That Book.
Well now I am (Why else do we read books?) (jk!).
It starts out weird unless you’ve been reading a lot of semiotics lately or something (nerd) but then a few sections in you adjust your expectations a bit and learn that what hits you hits you (resonates) and what doesn’t you can just fly by (I call this zen and the art of get a life, meaghan) and not-earmark. NB: when you find something that does SPEAK TO YOU, fold the page over from the bottom but without underlining because this is not your book and also, just-doggy-earing will be that much more mysterious when the bookowner/other/interlocutor picks it up and tries to figure out which sentences hit you (resonated) on that page. ie crying, waiting, regressing to infancy, the tautology of i love you.
it isn’t very SWEET, this book. My reading of it was basically to hide in the corner yelling OYYY every few minutes then reading it aloud/cringing w my interlocutor, both of us like, Yeahhhhh, dang.
But anyway I love this section because it makes me want to start a Lover’s Discourse or Carrie Bradshaw Column? McSweeney’s List.
