Following the "Meme"

The fun starts at Darko's place - he's just been "memed" by Cowtown Pattie. For those who don't know, a "meme" is a questionaire that works something like a chain-letter, minus the dire consequences should you choose to ignore the darn thing. The questions in question are:

1. What is the total number of books you have owned?
2. What is the last book you bought?
3. What is the last book you read?
4. What are five books that mean a lot to you?
5. Who are five people you will lob the meme to?

Darko acquits himself with the expected finesse: excellent titles all, including a few delightful surprises.

From there, I moseyed over to Texas Trifles, to see Ms. Pattie's picks. Ms. Pattie is a regular favorite of Michael Blowhard, for good reason. Her observations have a deceptively light touch, but stay with you for days. Read her short bit on Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago, and I think you'll see what I mean.

Then I visited the blogs she "memed", and was especially taken by two:

Hokule'a speaks movingly about the emotional echoes that occur when a straight woman's soul-mate is a gay man - here.

And Mary Lee at Full Fathom Five seems like the sort of woman my mother would take a shine to - straight-forward, no-nonsense, innately curious ... and a host of other attractive qualities to boot. Here she undertakes a subconscious whodunnit (whatdunnit?):

One woman, my roommate D., told a fascinating story. She talked about a recurring nightmare she's had of a bloodcurdling female scream that seems to go on forever, and when it finally stops she feels like something is crushing her chest and she can't breath or cry out for help. She's been awakened by this nightmare all her life, and puzzled over it because as far as she knows, she's never heard a scream like that.

This sort of thing hooks me in pretty quickly. I found the final "missing link" both fascinating and incredibly moving. All in all, a wonderful round of provocative reading.