ll right, so yesterday’s Top Ten topic was one I’d actually done months ago: Ten Books I’d Like to Reread. I was thinking of adding another 10 books to the list and posting that but I couldn’t think of anything beyond Madame Bovary and The Second Sex (both for the newer translations). I’ve fallen into something of a reading slump (I’m reading but ridiculously slowly…because it’s Fall and that’s how I roll in the Fall apparently), which means nothing to review. Anyway, I tweeted yesterday that I plan to name all the children I have no intention of having after Salinger characters. Now today I see that there’s an old Top 10 topic from February called Characters (and Literary Figures) That I’d Name My Children After so I figured I’d do that…even though I have no plans to have children.
1. Franny (Frances) from Franny and Zooey – well I’ve said many a time that Franny Glass is my homegirl.
2. Zooey from Franny and Zooey – this one’s short for Zachary but I’d probably just name the kid Zooey. Jury is out on whether or not I’d use this for a boy or girl. Either way, I’d definitely pronounce it Zoo-ey, not Zoe-y
3. Holden from The Catcher in the Rye – I have this itching desire to name a GIRL Holden to be honest. And why not? I mean, what the hell is a Holden anyway?
4. Boo Boo from “Down at the Dinghy” (Nine Stories) + numerous mentions in other Glass stories – You know, Boo Boo is such a ridiculous name for a child, and to be fair, it’s only her nickname (real name is Beatrice), but I always thought there should be more Boo Boo Glass, so this would be my homage to her.
5. Esmé from “For Esmé — With Love and Squalor” (Nine Stories) – more ridiculous Salinger names.
6. Salinger – middle name? I don’t know but I’m on a Salinger theme here so I figured I’d might as well keep it up and yeah I have actually thought about this.
OK, and now for some non-Salinger related names
7.Sylvia after Sylvia Plath – Actually I’ve always liked the name Sylvia
8. Eveline from Anthropology of an American Girl – Eveline, called Evie throughout most of the novel, seems like a pretty name
9. Marcheline from Here on Earth – For short, she’s called March…never thought of using the month of March as a girl’s name until this book!
10. Gemma from A Great and Terrible Beauty – name of one of my favorite fashion models as well so it’s a natural choice (even though I spent a couple of years pronouncing it with a hard G sound for some reason)
ook trailers seem to be increasing in popularity. I still remember some of James Patterson’s book trailers on TV, my “favorite” being the one for Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas, where James Patterson pretends he can write Nicholas Sparks’ type books. I have hopes that this trailer will one day make its way onto youtube so that I can share its amazing awesomeness with the world. More often than not, however, book trailers are confined to the internet. But I wonder, how effective are they? A lot of these trailers seem to be trying to do the impossible — merge two forms of media that don’t necessarily work together.
