The case of what’s yours is mine
We don’t often have to post a SheSaid/SheSaid because Stace and I rarely disagree. Unfortunately, this is one of those rare times, so the only obvious thing to be done was to bring it to Hag Court and lay the argument before the jury of public opinion… that would be y’all… and before I go on let me just say how nice you’re looking today. I sure do hope you all had a great Christmas and it was everything you hoped it would be… cause you deserve the best.
Anyway, here’s the background of the case:
Stace and I have been together for something in the neighborhood of 17 years come February 15th. I could narrow that down to an exact number but that would require complicated math involving how old the young’un was then and how old she is now and how much a dozen eggs cost in 1987 and how many times Billy Joel hit the top ten while we were still in Junior High… and it really doesn’t matter as I’m sure, in the interests of space, Stace will stipulate that we have been together for a very long time. And that’s good enough for my purposes here.
The point is that during all those years together we have shared everything. Mostly we just did this because that’s what felt right and natural to us, but also – in case Ms. Stace has somehow missed this little fact while busily swelling her vast stores of knowledge beyond compare – we live in a community property state.
She-Said Plaintiff: Hedon
So here’s what has caused all the trouble. Stace and I were completing an interactive list I had downloaded entitled “1000 Books to Read Before You Die” and I was spanking her on the “Read it already” count.
The trouble started when Stace checked “Catch 22″ and said, “There’s one I know you haven’t read. ‘Catch 22′ by Joseph Heller” while looking over at me smugly with her big old brain sitting up there all superior-like.
I looked down at my list and said, “I have that one checked, too,” and I smugged right back at her big old super-brain.
Then Stace said, “You have not read “Catch 22!”
I said, “Well you told me all about it when you read it so I’m counting it.”
Stace sat there for a while in stunned silence. Finally she said, “You do not get to count books just because I talked about them when I read them. You only get to count them if you actually read them. Let me see your list.” After studying my list, she added, “And you do not get to count books because you saw the movie… you never read “Enchanted April” you only saw the movie.”
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I object! Let’s just leave that movie point aside for the moment as it really doesn’t have any bearing on this case. The point is that we are a couple, we share everything and we live in a community property state… therefore I have every right to claim one half of Stace’s intellectual achievements – including all books she reads before either of us dies – as my own.
I maintain that intellectual property is certainly included in the community property of any given couple. As Plaintiff’s Exhibit A I would like for the jury to conjure up an image of Stace filling out a crossword puzzle. How many times during said crosswording would I hear something like, “Who was that Greek prophetess that nobody ever listened to?” And would I hoard the knowledge I gained so painfully from that extremely difficult semester of Greek History I had years ago? I would not! I would immediately say, “Cassandra” cause what’s mine is hers even if it’s only obscure Greek trivia!
I submit that everything in my brain is community property and Stace is welcome to any it. I also hold that the same thing should be true concerning books read by either of us. Besides, I was perfectly willing to let her check off all of Tom Clancy’s books if they had been on the list since she listened to me blab on about each one after I finished it. It’s not my fault that Clancy wasn’t on the list but some of her fancy-pants-I-went-to-college-to-get-my-masters-in-English-Literature books were.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the public-opinion jury, please vote today to support America’s families. Vote to strengthen relationships by encouraging the superior member of a couple to hand over half their mental abilities and achievements to their partner who may be lacking in that arena. Vote to support the little guy… the little guy who maybe wanted to read all those classic books for themselves but found that their busy Tetris schedule didn’t leave them the available free-time that others enjoyed. Vote today in favor of the plaintiff. Thank you.
hmmmmmmm.
Movies, definately do NOT count. Because most movies are not true to the book. I think in actuality, the list should have included ‘the book’ or ‘the movie’. (in fairness because many people would rather see the movie. If you are getting the jist of the story through a movie, that should count )
Now, I ‘sorta’ agree with you on the other part – her reading the book and ‘you counting’ the book. But only if you are an intent listener. I can tell Shane alllll about something I’m reading but he’s listening with his fake ears and not absorbing. If you truly understand what she’s relaying…it counts.
If you make a cheesecake and she watches you…and someone asks her if she knows how to make a cheesecake…would she say NO because she’s never actually made one? Or yes because she’s watched you and remembers the process?
Count the book she read and relayed.
I second sheila on this one. Movies do not count. Sometimes the closest resemblance they bear to the book is the title and a few characters names. That’s not enough.
Being an avid bookworm myself, I’d also have to say that listening to Stace talk about the book isn’t enough to count it as reading it. I’m sure she left out parts she didn’t like, didn’t think were important, etc. Her reading experience is bound to be different than yours.
And, comparing reading a book to doing a crossword puzzle is a bit of a stretch. Yes, they’re both intellectually stimulating and involve words, but that’s about the end of it. I admire your effort to link the two, though.
Captcha: Financial Bernin. It sounds quite dangerous and I don’t want it.
Uh-oh… I think Stace may win this round. Unless you can actually discuss said book in a conversation with a third party and make sense, I don’t think you can count the book as one you’ve read.
Just because I know something doesn’t mean my husband knows it – in fact, it usually means that he DOESN’T.
Signed,
The person who wrote a book report on a movie because she didn’t have time to read the book in high school (but fortunately the movie actually resembled the book enough for her to get away with it)
I think the ruling on the book case (lol), is if you could write an essay or an exam about the book and pass with a minimum grade of C- or the reader’s mark (if their mark is lower than a C-) then YES you can keep the book as READ on your list. If you can’t pass or get an equivalent mark to the reader, then the book shouldn’t qualify.
Yeah, I’m going to go with movies don’t count but if Stace told you EVERYTHING about a book, what’s the point in reading it? I believe you have a strong case here, Hedon! Well done!
Um, Hedon? Yeah, uh, well….it’s not looking good for you here. First, I’m with all above who said movies don’t count. Pfft! They don’t.
As for counting the book as one you read when you didn’t actually READ it (see that action word there? READ) doesn’t count. That’s like when someone says, “I’ve been to Minneapolis!” when in actuality, it was a stop-over on their flight to somewhere else. Doesn’t count. TECNICALLY they’ve been there, but not REALLY.
TECNICALLY you know all about the book, but not REALLY. Like Raven said, if there was a passage or line she didn’t like, she might not have passed it on. Unless you two truly share one brain (like my friend Vicki and I) where I would know EXACTLY the line she was talking about when she said, “Remember the part…”
Still – no readie, no countie. Sorry Charlie. Er, Hedon.
I’m curious though – how many books on that list of 1,000 have you actually read??
Hedon, I have to go with Stace on this one. Neither movie versions or other individual’s rants about books counts as reading, as Salena pointed out.
Sorry, so sorry. You made an impassioned case and I might vote for you if you ran for district attorney (despite no actual time spent in law school), but I can’t give you this one. Read means read.
So how many books have you two read on the list, and where can I see a copy of said list. BTW, Tom Clancy only writes one book, just as Stephen King does.
Sigh. Ok… ok… I get it. I would be really bummed out if this whole case didn’t end in a mistrial thanks to a lucky — and completely accidental — case of boobery on my part.
I guess I’ll just go back to the count of books I’ve actually read. Which if you don’t include the ones I’ve seen the movie of, or the ones Stace told me about, or the ones I overheard two little old ladies at the grocery store talking about… adds up to about 80 or so for me and probably 120 give or take for Stace.
We got the list somewhere over at Salena’s site so you could probably find it in her archives. I might have to do it again with the new rules and see how it would come out then.
Oh and thanks Raven — I thought comparing reading a classic piece of literature and doing a crossword puzzle was a daring bit of stupidity that might hold up in court.
About this list of 1,000 books. I hadn’t even heard of the majority of the authors it listed for books in the 20th century. And it had some very questionable books on it like Erica Jong’s “Fear of Flying” and I think a Stephen King book or two. Stephen King is fun to read sometimes, but come on now.
Lists like these could be debated forever, I suppose. Still, I was completely disgusted that my recent find, “Cryptonomicon” had recently been removed from the list. What’s up with that? That book’s a masterpiece, I say. :::grumble, grumble:::
As for the list itself, I can’t find it. I searched Google trying to find it, and came up with some others that aren’t the same, but that I like better, since “Cryptonomicon” is on them, and from a brief glance, I’d be able to check off a lot more of them than on that other list. Always a bonus.