HateToHelp

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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Thing 15: Tuesdays with Morrie

A diligent reader has sent this plea for help to HateToHelp@gmail.com. What can we do? Option 1, 2 or 3? Readers?? Your comments continue to delight us.

I have a copy of "Tuesdays with Morrie." I did not buy this book. There are two interlinked stories here. One is of the Book and one is of the Boy. I will talk about the Boy first because that is simpler.

The Boy was my first love. But then the Boy was insecure and after a while I realized that I could not continue to apologize for being me, and downplaying my achievements to make him feel better. So I dumped him.

We were sad for a while. But we are ok now and we are friends. In fact, we have been friends for a very long time. We did lose touch as we grew up and went away to college, but we still talk now every once in a while. I consider him a Good Friend. Just a couple of weeks ago, I met up with the Boy for coffee. It was a totally non-aggressive situation.

A few years ago, the Boy gave me a book for Christmas. It was "Tuesdays with Morrie."
I read it, and I hated it. I think it is a sappy book with very poor writing to appeals to people who buy "Men Are From Mars; Women Are From Venus" dietary supplements . These people would buy MarsVenus placemats if they could.

However, there is an inscription to me on the front page of the book. And I like books with personal inscriptions in them. They make me feel special. But I cannot bear the sight of that book on my bookshelf. It irks me so much I have turned its spine to the wall, and put other books in front of it. I feel that my bookshelf is a form of self-expression. Although noone looks at my bookshelf on a daily basis except me, I feel that each time I look at my bookshelf, it tells me a little about who I am. But each time I think about "Tuesdays with Morrie" I am torn. I hate the book. I hate it there on my bookshelf, a fungus marring the expression of self that my books represent to me. But the inscription has sentimental value. And although I do not love the Boy anymore, I do not wish to hurt his feelings because he is a Good Friend. I feel that disposing of the book might hurt his feelings if he found out.
It is important to note that the Book has no negative Boy-associated karma. The Book's bad karma is entirely because it is such a poor piece of writing.

Should I...

1. Tear out the front page and keep that, but toss/ give the book away;
2. Keep the book there and just try not to think about it; or
3. Give the whole book away because it's not really nice to give damaged books away?

posted by Claire and Lara at 11:11 AM

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3 Comments:

At 12:05 PM, Claire and Lara

Its great that the book does not give you negative feelings, but the book still makes you think unnecessarily about the past and, for a number of reasons, irks you. I say get rid of it.

If you can't bear to part with the inscription yet, then simply tear out the inscription and keep in some keepsake box hidden under your bed that you dont look at. One day, you won't want it anymore maybe. But you can deal with that then.

Now: as for the book. Tuesdays with Morrie really is crap, so I dont know if I want you polluting our world with that. Did you know the writer, Mitch Album, was caught on plagiarism charges after faking an article about a local sporting event for the newspaper he writes for?
At 9:36 AM, The Pirate

What a strange world we live in. Hello from the Arctic Ocean, better known as Santa's back 40.
Although, the book sucked-i read it, AND the Album did get popped faking, not plagerizing i believe, an article, he came clean. He's actually a decent columnist (I used to live in Detroit) and jammed "Journey to the Center of the Mind" live on the radio w/ Ted Nugent once. He's a class act that wrote a shitty book (ok, two shitty books) and faked a column. He's still one of the very few sports writers arond with half a brain and can actually write about something other than sports. "I've got yer back, Mitch!"

btw, Claire and Laura-tripping is a cool blog. how in the hell can you afford to just travel??
At 5:59 AM, Unknown

I randomly stumbled on this blog when trying to find out why my friend refuses to let me read this book. Your blog gave me the answer (yay). But I'd suggest that you do something to disguise the book without bringing attention to it (as when I look at people's bookshelves, I always pull out the turned around books and try to figure out why they're turned around, which etches that title deeper into my mind). Try a) hiding it inside another book so that you can't see it. b) taking a magic marker to the spine, c) wrap it in a paper bag (like a high school book)... I wouldn't chuck. But of course it's been a year since you wrote the blog so I bet it's already gone.