Azeem wrote: We have an expression to denote complete indifference: "I couldn't care less" - - in other words, it would not be possible to care less than I do now. It seems that in American English the phrase is "I could care less." i've heard both, and agree "couldn't" is the original. i think it's just evolved to "could" over time, and it usually is delivered with disdain. what i read... i read a lot more when i was younger, lots of biographies (mostly directors & actors & musicians - tons of dylan bios) & non-fiction (film & music books & political stuff). in college, i read tons of plays, especially shakespeare (almost all of them). i went through a real reading drought for about 10 years, and just a couple of years ago, started reading again. it was the loan of "widow for a year" by john irving that restarted me. he was interviewed for a documentary series i work on called "great books" for an episode on dicken's "great expectations". i went from "widow" to that book. then read "cider house rules", which made me want to read "david copperfield". i can really see how influenced by dickens irving is. then i read "the world according to garp". i had read "garp" in college, and it's now only the second book i've ever read twice (it was better the first time - it seems a little dated now, but still good). the other one was kerouc's "on the road", which i loved as a young adult, but found totally depressing as a grown-up. anyhow, i liked the feel of reading something current and then a classic, so i kept in that pattern and read some jane austen. then i read irving's "owen meany". gotta say that "widow for a year" and "owen meany" are maybe my two favorite books ever. mary shelley's "frankenstein" is also unbelievable, not anything like i expected it to be. i read a lot of vonnegut in the 80s; "galapagos" is a favorite, as is herbert's "dune" and styron's "sophie's choice". i'm still in the modern/classic/modern/classic mode, so i've read books by george eliot, thomas hardy and gabriel garcia marquez in the past year or two. right now, i'm reading tolstoy's "anna karenin", after having finished kingsolver's "bean trees". i'm just discovering her - "poisonwood bible" is a masterpiece, though i haven't found the other books i've read of hers to be anywhere near in that league. i've never read russian authors, so "war & peace" and "crime & punishment" await me. i also recently read my first toni morrison (solomon's song), and "jazz" is in the to-be-read stack. i've been meaning to get "prince of tides". i picked it up in a condo rental last year and only had time to read the first few chapters. the writing in that book is exquisite - i'm going to have to pursue reading more by that author (can't remember name). i'm also looking to read abraham lincoln's letters & recently enjoyed bios of louis armstrong and andrew wyeth. occasionally i try to get through the old testament and "ulysses", neither of which i have much luck with; though i did read up on jacob a few weeks ago (after jane siberry recorded "jacob's ladder") and found myself actually feeling a sense of suspense reading that story. barbara np: youssou n'dour, the lion
