Hello and welcome to How We Do Run On, a joint project between longtime windies and recent bloggers iso and Bugsie. It started with our mutual love for Gone with the Wind and our increasingly long conversations about
Some of the things you can expect to see around here: various historical tidbits, quotes from the book analyzed in their historical context, Victorian fashion, architecture and mores, book & movie discussions, pretty collages and a fair amount of rambling.
What is fair to assume you won’t find on this page: too much talk about any of the sequels/prequels as we like to pretend they don’t exist, any form of Civil War mythology/racism apologia (we can discuss it, but we can’t and won't defend it) and the snows of yesteryear. The last is the only one prone to change.
What is fair to assume you won’t find on this page: too much talk about any of the sequels/prequels as we like to pretend they don’t exist, any form of Civil War mythology/racism apologia (we can discuss it, but we can’t and won't defend it) and the snows of yesteryear. The last is the only one prone to change.
Our calling hours: Visit us each day at any time you'd like and we'll try to make sure there is something new for you to read.
In the interest of full disclosure, below you’ll find our vital GWTW stats; feel free to point and laugh leave your own GWTW coordinates in the comments here if so inclined. And of course, if you have any other comments, requests for things you'd like to see covered or simply want to say hi, we'd love to hear from you. Other than that, enjoy!
Our Vital Stats
iso:
Age first read the book: 14, scientifically proven to be the ideal age to first read Gone with the Wind. (Just old enough to think you are very grown up and fully understand it, but young enough to swoon hopelessly over the romance.)
Number of movie viewings: Countless- I actually *wore out* my first VHS tape of the movie from repeated use.
Number of book copies currently owned: Four. I own a paperback for frequent reading, a pocket paperback (good for on the go travel), a Southern Classics Library special edition from 1984, and a June 1936 edition.
Favorite Quote from Gone with the Wind: "Talking love and thinking money! How truly feminine!"
Bugsie:
Age first read the book: 7, empirically proven to be the ideal age for starting life-long obsessions and learning to use a dictionary.
Number of movie viewings: one and a half.
Number of book copies currently owned: Four, including a 1936 book club edition.
Favorite Quote from Gone with the Wind: "If you were run over by a railroad train your death wouldn't sanctify the railroad company, would it?"
Age first read Gone with the Wind: 11. On a road trip across America. Perfect time to read a very long book. XD
ReplyDeleteTimes Seen the Movie: COUNTLESS. Two copies owned.
Copies of the Book: Four. First copy in paperback. A travel copy. A republished copy. A hard back.
Ha! I knew there were people out there who read the book before iso's "perfect age." Thanks for your comment!
ReplyDeleteMais où sont les neiges d'antan? So are you two the Dames du Temps Jadis? Je voudrais savoir.
ReplyDelete@Iris. Damn, that would have been a good name!
ReplyDeleteEn ce qui concerne les neiges d'antan, pardon my French, elles ont été emportées par le vent :P (Unless, they are the snows of 19th century Atlanta, because on those we'll have a post later on ;)
Age first read the book:
ReplyDeleteI was 9 or 10 when I first attempted to read the book straight through, but I got bogged down in the chapter where MM talks about Ellen and Gerald's family backgrounds. I then started skipping ahead to more interesting parts (namely, wherever I spotted Rhett's name). I read it all the way through for the first time when I was 13 and have read it countless times since.
Number of movie viewings:
Not sure, but I much prefer the book.
Number of book copies currently owned:
Seven:
1. A 2007 Scribner trade paperback edition that I use for reading. I bought it to replace...
2. A circa 1992 mass market paperback edition I bought when I was 13 and was reading the book straight through for the first time. It is now literally falling apart and the cover is taped in several places, but I keep it for sentimental reasons. To keep it from getting damaged any further, I use the 2007 edition now for reading/research. If I need to quickly find a passage, I use this one because I know approximately what page to look on, whereas I'm still learning that with the 2007 edition.
3. A November 1936 edition (hardback)
4. A 1964 edition (hardback)
5 A different 1964 hardback (different cover)
6. A 1996 commemorative hardback boxed edition with a foreword by Pat Conroy
7. An October 1938 edition (hardback)
Favorite Quote from Gone with the Wind:
I have many favorite quotes, and it's impossible to pick just one. So here they are:
She silently watched him go up the stairs, feeling that she would strangle at the pain in her throat.
***
There were many things she kept from her mother these days. But, most of all, she kept secret the fact that Rhett Butler called frequently at Aunt Pittypat's house.
***
For all his exasperating qualities, she grew to look forward to his calls. There was something exciting about him that she could not analyze, something different from any man she had ever known. There was something breathtaking in the grace of his big body which made his very entrance into a room like an abrupt physical impact, something in the impertinence and bland mockery of his dark eyes that challenged her spirit to subdue him.
"It's almost like I was in love with him!" she thought, bewildered. "But I'm not and I just can't understand it."
***
"I think we agreed on the occasion of our first meeting that you were no lady at all."
***
"I'd rather faint in the road than be here with you.
"Just the same, I won't have you fainting in the road."
"Let me go. I hate you."
A faint smile came back to his face at her words. "That sounds more like you. You must be feeling better."
***
"Are you suggesting by that 'our' that you and I will have mutual grandchildren? Fie, Mrs. Kennedy!"
***
Drink and dissipation had done their work on the coin-clean profile and now it was no longer the head of a young pagan prince on new-minted gold but a decadent, tired Caesar on copper debased by long usage.
***
For all its brightness the house was very still, not with the serene stillness of sleep but with a watchful, tired silence that was faintly ominous.
@scaratthedisco- welcome and thanks so much for commenting! :)
ReplyDelete@bluesneak- oh I love all your quotes. Glad you're enjoying the blog!
ReplyDelete