Teenage Kicks
Oct. 26th, 2006 05:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysI was talking to somebody I hadn't seen in many years. As part of the catching up, he asked me the question "so what is your favourite book?" I was at a loss. In the past I have got the favourite author question and that one is hard enough to answer but to try to single out a single book just seems impossible. I have toyed with the desert island volume notion and tried to name 5. It starts ok, but then you get into "but what about...". No sooner do you have a candidate than another "better" one comes to mind. It is the same way with music - I could never pick a favourite song.
But for some people, it is quite easy. They can name a favourite and probably even rank a top 10. It always amazed me that John Peel could pick a favourite song from the many many thousand he must have been exposed to over the years. So why can they do it? Are they more decisive? Is it a more linear, single variable, view of the world? Is it because of a much more narrow definition of favourite? I tried to test that last one. I tried to find a book or song that just gave me the best "feel good" feeling without worrying about notions of quality or influence. I still couldn't do it.
Context must have something to do with this inability to find a favourite. Where am I? What is my mood? What has gone immediately before? It makes sense that I cannot have a favourite because I am not always the same. Which raises another question. How much truly great stuff have I missed out on simply because I wasn't in the right mood at the time?
But for some people, it is quite easy. They can name a favourite and probably even rank a top 10. It always amazed me that John Peel could pick a favourite song from the many many thousand he must have been exposed to over the years. So why can they do it? Are they more decisive? Is it a more linear, single variable, view of the world? Is it because of a much more narrow definition of favourite? I tried to test that last one. I tried to find a book or song that just gave me the best "feel good" feeling without worrying about notions of quality or influence. I still couldn't do it.
Context must have something to do with this inability to find a favourite. Where am I? What is my mood? What has gone immediately before? It makes sense that I cannot have a favourite because I am not always the same. Which raises another question. How much truly great stuff have I missed out on simply because I wasn't in the right mood at the time?