Fortune Not Cookie by gh◌st ᵰⱥ₥ing
August 29th, 2010 6:43 PM
Snag them and use them as bookmarks. Start tearing them in pieces, deposit random notes to the outside world buried inside your returning books.
A little more orderly: chopped into the appropriate shapes, these check-out cards become fortunes. Each is a simple summary / impression of the book being returned.
Greed by Elfriede Jelinek
Appetite will devour you.
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Transformation will never alter who you are.
Ravel by Jean Echenoz
Work, not sleep, shall be your providence.
Marcel Proust by Edmund White
You will have your own story.
Marcel Proust by Mary Ann Caws
You will be documented.
Proust by Samuel Beckett
You will be indifferent to the understanding of others, and their love will be an importunity.
Camera by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
You will fall in love with yourself once again.
The Land of the Green Plums by Herta Muller
You will sing if you have to.
Collected Poems by Zbigniew Herbert
A light will be offered to you.
Voss by Patrick White
There are occasions when, out of almost voluptuous perversity, you will respect the feelings of others.
Shedding Life by Miroslav Holub
Your illness will lead to the health of future generations.
Loving Sabotage by Amelie Nothomb
All roads lead to you.
The Edge of the Horizon by Antonio Tubucchi
You will be able to recognize the vacuum before you.
Stories of Happy People by Lars Gustafsson
You will be happy, sad, and then happy again.
Barbarian in the Garden by Zbigniew Herbert
To build your altar to the sky you will have to leave another's in ruins.
The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Pick up and go, when the time comes the haruspices and augurs will no longer count, theory is useless, and you will learn along the way.
Shame by Annie Ernaux
You will feel things beyond your need of them.
American Medicinal Plants by Charles F. Millspaugh
Everything necessary will be at hand.
King of the Ants by Zbigniew Herbert
To no end, you will control whatever you are able to.
The Book of Prefaces by Alasdair Gray
Any introduction, no matter how grand, will always pale in comparison to the phenomenon of you.
The World within the Word by William H. Gass
Offered any number of others, you will live in your own and only world.
Camouflage by Murray Bail
You will be gifted with the ability to hide in plain sight.
Concrete, Bulletproof, Invisible + Fried: My Life as a Revolting Cock by Chris Connelly
You will rock out, and (more or less) never repent.
Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D. H. Lawrence by Geoff Dyer
The concept of 'heroes' will only be of use to you until you become one.
Working by Studs Terkel
You will have to work.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
From out of the sky, at an undisclosed time, it will be you, too.
Grammars of Creation by George Steiner
You will bend earthward and towards the night, as do heliotropic plants.
To Begin Where I Am by Czeslaw Milosz
You will remain an unrequited romantic until you find the way to dispel the invasion of desires, to make the desired object yours -- by naming it.
14 vote(s)
Markov Walker
5
artmouse
5
Donna de Fuera
5
shady grey
5
Pixie
5
Kate Saturday
5
Sass Afrass
5
Julian Muffinbot
5
Sombrero Guy
5
Dan |ØwO|
5
[øwo] lady minirex
5
Picø ҉ ØwO
5
Likes Music 0w0
5
done
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(none yet)10 comment(s)
This proof was un-submitted - any comments before this one are from before the un-submit.
(Pulled back briefly because there were a couple praxis up that I didn't want to push off the front page earlier in the day.)
vote for the winsome fortunes, but i can't condone defacing them!
i like the use of thematic media and the thoughtful fortunes. when you said the borrower records were left in the books, i had visions of you writing cryptic messages on them and returning them, intact, to their pouches for an inquisitive eye to find and i got really excited!
I had been returning cards intact with crypticisms upon them for some time, though for this task I decided to get the most out of each. One borrower record = 7 or 8 fortunes, depending on how small I could write. (I'm sure there are others who could stretch them into many, many more.)
I wanted it to be self contained (about the book and/or from the book) and with thematic media, so hopefully it's less of a defacement than a reincarnation.
at least your handwriting is killer sweet ;)
I really appreciate your words. This praxis is beautiful, and I would be thrilled to find one of these fortunes in a library book.
The last one is my favorite, Mr. Naming.
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Begun at the start of summer. For some reason I feel today is the end of summer, though I am assured it isn't. This may continue / be updated as we go. Open to post-posting collaboration.