Why we read

[resonant]

"The recycling bins have to go out tonight," I say to the spouse as he prepares to go back to work after dinner.

We've got a windchill of twenty below here, and on the ground there's about two inches of snow with a half-inch of ice on top. There's no actual sidewalk down to the alley where our recycling gets picked up; you have to slither down a small hill carrying a box the size of a coffin cut in half the short way, which has been laden with old newspapers, and then come back for an identical box filled with plastic, glass, and metal..

"Well," I say to him, "you can pretend that you're in a Siberian work camp."

His eyes light up! He flings his scarf over one shoulder with a theatrical flair and says, in what I assume is meant to be a Russian accent, "Ivan, I do not believe in God, but I shall suffer and perhaps then I shall understand!" And then he staggers off into the snow with two weeks' worth of newspapers and empty milk jugs.

Remember that when someone asks you, "What's the practical use of reading literature?"

Comments

[lasultrix.livejournal.com]

And suddenly, my rock-hard belief that I shouldn't get married springs a leak. Aw!

[timian.livejournal.com]

"Ivan, I do not believe in God, but I shall suffer and perhaps then I shall understand!"

That's remarkably clever. Hee. And yeesh, how sweet!

Um, btw, hi! My name's TimIan. I'm a big fan of your TS fic and have thus friended you. :)

[copracat]

Rofl! Drama is vital to daily life.

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

It's those whimsical, imaginative guys that make the best husbands. (And recycling bin toters.) Thanks for the great mental image!

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

OMG I've been teaching that book for three years and have never seen a reference to it. I keep telling my students that one of the reasons we teach classic literature is so that they'll get references like this in life. Or on the Simpsons.

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

..and when it's raining, there's always that storm-at-sea scene from Mutiny to fall back on, yes?

Sounds like you found one of the good ones!

[penwiper26.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing*

Thanks, I needed that.

[giglet.livejournal.com]

Can I move in with you?

[bowdlerized.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the laugh. It's eleven below here, so I feel your pain!

[xoverau.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing* That...that's a good one. I'll have to remember that.

Oh, yeah. I'm the one who takes out the garbage.

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

Your Russian reader is having much fun :)) "Ivan, I do not believe in God, but I shall suffer and perhaps then I shall understand!" Oh my LOL

Actually, it's about 15 below here but we don't have separate recycling bins, especially in Siberia :) We still aren't that concerned about ecology - too big a country and too many more urgent problems, I suppose.

[halimede.livejournal.com]

Ah, the power of the imagination! :)

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

That is wonderful!

Mer

Funny Husbands

[jenna-thorn.livejournal.com]

So many people don't realize that Jessica Rabbit was completely right.

"He makes me laugh."

Coming up on ten years together now and mine still makes me laugh.

Re: Funny Husbands

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

13+ years and I'm still profoundly grateful I chose one of the "makes me laugh" models.

[laurakaye.livejournal.com]

I ♥ him.

And really, isn't everything better when you can pretend you're in a Siberian work camp? Or an orphanage? Or a derelict space station? Or you can pretend you're a detective undercover as a maid? Or that you're a crime scene technician, and when you're through vacuuming you're going to go through the bag for fiber evidence?

...or maybe that's just me.

[helvirago]

Okay, I think I like your husband. On the other hand, having the quirk of humor to say, "you can pretend that you're in a Siberian work camp"? I think I like you just as much. You're both lucky.

Re: Funny Husbands

[jenna-thorn.livejournal.com]

Yep, hair greys, rippling pectorals sag (we won't even talk about my abs) but humor just gets better with age.

And anyone who married for money or politcal power, sigh, gets what they asked for.

I adore your icon, by the way.

[jood.livejournal.com]

This made me irrationally happy. Ahhhhhh, compatibility.

How Cool!

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

While I love my hubby dearly, he would never able to quote from literature. I'm pretty jealous over *that* fact. Now, which book is this from? I feel like I should know, but I have no clue.

And I'm one of those who chose the "makes me laugh" model too, although he's really more in the category of "not bored yet" (after 9+ years, I think that's pretty good).

A day in the life of Ivan Loquitervich...

[kulfold.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid my other half's favourite comment on books (all be it too annoy me) is "I don't need to read it, if it's any good they'll make it into a film..."

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Compatible weirdness. The secret to a lasting relationship.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Hi! Thanks! Glad someone's still enjoying the TS stuff. I don't always friend people back, but you won me over with your footnotes.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Sure. It's your turn to take out the recycling, though.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Have you read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books? Where she gets the girls to do the dishes by pretending that they're princesses kidnapped by a wicked witch, and the witch will have to let them go if they get the entire kitchen spotless?

I confess that sometimes when I'm dusting I pretend to be a tornado.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Our friends say, "You two were made for each other." They don't always mean this as a compliment. But I figure that we've actually made four people's lives better by marrying each other rather than two unsuspecting normal people.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

I confess that I had to ask. It's a paraphrase from The Brothers Karamazov.

I did read the book, but evidently the spouse is living in it.

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

My best friend is like that. Earlier this year she said to me, "So I was thinking about reading a book. Which one do you think I should read?" (I believe she decided on Holes, but she hasn't finished it yet. It's amazing that the two of us can communicate with one another at all.)

[kulfold.livejournal.com]

Someone asked me the other day "so whats your favourite book then?" was it bizzare of me to consider this question to be in the same unanswerable category as "well which one of your kids do you love best?"?

[timian.livejournal.com]

Hee. Thanks. I have a thing for footnotes. Also, love your icon. Yay frogs!

argh, second try

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I had almost finished my comment when my browser died:(

Just wanted to say thanks for id'ing the quote. I feel much better knowing it was from a book read almost 15 years ago. Shew.

Also wanted to say that I too married someone that fits me quite well and I had to laugh at some of the comments because I think that we also saved a few people the trauma of being married to a wacko:) How many people can say to a Dominoe's solicitor that 1998 was the last time they ordered out pizza?

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

Haven't read the books in question but I often pretended that I was a servant girl in a large palace, spying on courtiers and whatnot. I also used to make bunkers and trenches out of kitchen chairs, sofa cushions, and bedposts.

And tents too, of course. I also lived in my closet for a month or two when I was little, just because it was small and cozy and den-like.

[duende.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful. I'm going to have to add you for this entry. (You were recommended to me by a friend. :))