The Book Title Meme

From Gordon comes a rather interesting meme-tag thingy…

1. The Dying Of Delight – “Briefly describe an aspect of your life for which ‘The Dying Of Delight’ would be an apt title.â€?

  My delight died a long time ago. At the time I didn’t know what it was I was losing, or that it would still bother me so long after it went. I didn’t know what I was doing, I was too young to understand the choices I was making, or that were being made for me.
  Looking back, I wonder whether I would change those events – so life-changing in so many ways, I know that if I were to change them, I would be a very different person today. But at the same time, because of those events and the way they changed me, I now sit in a place where I can understand myself well, and by extension can also identify with many other people, and empathise with their lives. Would I change that? I don’t know.
  The man who changed me is dead now, I can’t go back and ask him why, I can’t change things, or get questions answered now that at the time I deemed irrelevant. Now, though, I would like answers, and they are as unobtainable as a jar of moonlight.

2. Woken Furies – “Pick another book whose title has some resonance in your life, and write a little about it.â€?

I guess that the entire concept of “Woken Furies” resonates with me quite a bit, the concept of revenge, of letting ones anger and fury freeze over, to wait years even decades for the perfect time when that fury could be thawed out, woken up, and used in the most powerful and righteous way possible. In a different universe, or a parallel existence, I could have found myself becoming a truly vengeful person, wanting retribution against those who have wronged me, or even – in an extreme case – those who I think have wronged me.

3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time – “Write one more short personal piece – one which matches the book title chosen (in part 2) by the person who tagged you.â€?
Why is it that dogs only ever choose to bark through the night at the times when you’re most exhausted, and most in need of sleep?
(How’s that for short?)

4. Wireless, by Jack O’Connell – “Take your favourite little-known book and plug it to your readers. Authors need incomes, and word of mouth is one of the best ways to sell books.â€?

I never quite figured out why I love Wireless so much. It’s a very odd story where you never actually find out who two of the main protagonists are, and where strange things happen for various reasons. Centring (loosely) around a bar called Wireless, but looking at hackers, radio jammers, DJs, talk radio, and a whole lot of other things, it grabbed me on the first read and has been one I regularly return to ever since.

Jack O’Connell’s work isn’t for everyone – most of my friends have absolutely hated the stuff he’s written, mainly (I think) because it’s a) bloody weird, and b) a lot of it is obscure and seems to go nowhere. Box Nine was memorable, Wireless I love, Skin Palace is good, and Word Made Flesh is just supremely weird. He seems to have disappeared off the face of the planet now, although I’d love to see something new come about.
5. Sit back and marvel at the magnificence of this meme.
It was brought to you by an out-of-breath author, reduced (on account of her publisher having expired) to trundling copies of her book across the internet on a rusty old trolley with one wheel missing, sweating and shouting “Buy me book, Gov?� Now visit www.TheDyingOfDelight.co.uk and see if you’d like a copy for yourself.

6 .Tag five people with this meme
Hmm, a couple of people have already been tagged with this who I’d have asked (Karen and Gordon), so I guess it’ll have to be :

• Dragon
• Razorhead
• BSAG
• SkyTower and
• Lori