Tuesday Teaser 7

Alas, I am terribly behind (yet again) on everything else, and only just remembered the Tuesday Teaser dealy-o. So sorry!

What, oh, what, you might wonder, did my lackadaisical bum read today (or rather, the eyeballs attached to the brain in the head atop the neck over the shoulders of the torso connected through the spinal column and a bunch of fatty muscles to the bum read today) ? Err.. well frankly, a great deal of boring shmoring things...anywhosers, later I treated myself to a bit of Douglas Adams.

Now, here's the thing. Perhaps you are like me, or perhaps my brain is full of root rot and I'm the only person to whom this ever happens, but I quite frequently remember reading things I have in fact not read.

Example: When peer helping a group of wonderful fifth graders, one day they realized I was this huge book geek who loved reading stories and hearing stories and telling stories. I was asked if I'd read the newest Harry Potter. Why, no, I told them. Had I read any of the Harry Potters? (At the time I think there were only two...) I said, you know, I think I have. Of course, yes, I remember now. It's the one with the boy in the cupboard, isn't it? Yes yes! They told me.

In reality I hadn't read a smidgen, not a page, of any Harry Potter book, and yet somehow I honestly thought I had, and it wasn't as if I knew it from the movies, as there were none yet. Who knows. This sort of thing happens all the time; I think I have read something, then when I actually read it  I realize I have never cracked open the said book in my entire life. Which is what I discovered after popping open my first H.P book. And it is also what I discovered this afternoon when I popped open The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

*Sigh* I could have sworn I'd read it. Yellow. That whole thing about "yellow;" I know it. How is it you know a whole chunk of a book and then realize you've never read that book? Bah! Incidentally, yes there is a movie, and no, the "yellow" bit does not figure into it whatsoever, if I remember correctly. Go figure. How's that for a priori knowledge, Kant? lol. I doubt that's what he meant, but perhaps on some level, literature is an instinctual thing. In my case I'm sure it's just an instance of a forgotten book club meeting or random airplane conversation, but still. It's nice to think such a thing is possible.

To continue. Today's teaser, from The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is.... (*dum dumm duuhhhhmmm*)

"`Oh, that was easy, ' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.

Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book Well That About Wraps It Up For God. "

Perhaps you can't tell it, but that's in the midst of a very funny part. Actually, the whole book is in the midst of a very funny part. I really like Douglas Adams; for anyone interested check out his [lengthy but worthwhile!] TED presentation by clicking the link in the top right of the page. Really an interesting guy.

That's all for now, I shall catch up everything very soon!