A very long time ago I discovered Susan Sontag’s list of likes and dislikes — in classic S.S. form, she takes what could be low-stakes drivel and infuses it with humor and wry charm, specificity and observational nuance.
I will never not love this as a general combo, and am excerpting here as an amuse bouche to set the tone for the week.
(Note: this list was published in the second installment of her collected journals here. I take issue with the fact that her raw journals were published posthumously, sans permission (the absolute horror!!), but that’s neither here nor there.
Things I like: fires, Venice, tequila, sunsets, babies, silent films, heights, coarse salt, top hats, large long-haired dogs, ship models, cinnamon, goose down quilts, pocket watches, the smell of newly mown grass, linen, Bach, Louis XIII furniture, sushi, microscopes, large rooms, ups, boots, drinking water, maple sugar candy.
Things I dislike: sleeping in an apartment alone, cold weather, couples, football games, swimming, anchovies, mustaches, cats, umbrellas, being photographed, the taste of licorice, washing my hair (or having it washed), wearing a wristwatch, giving a lecture, cigars, writing letters, taking showers, Robert Frost, German food.
Things I like: ivory, sweaters, architectural drawings, urinating, pizza (the Roman bread), staying in hotels, paper clips, the color blue, leather belts, making lists, Wagon-Lits, paying bills, caves, watching ice-skating, asking questions, taking taxis, Benin art, green apples, office furniture, Jews, eucalyptus trees, pen knives, aphorisms, hands.
Things I dislike: Television, baked beans, hirsute men, paperback books, standing, card games, dirty or disorderly apartments, flat pillows, being in the sun, Ezra Pound, freckles, violence in movies, having drops put in my eyes, meatloaf, painted nails, suicide, licking envelopes, ketchup, traversins [“bolsters”], nose drops, Coca-Cola, alcoholics, taking photographs.
Things I like: drums, carnations, socks, raw peas, chewing on sugar cane, bridges, Dürer, escalators, hot weather, sturgeon, tall people, deserts, white walls, horses, electric typewriters, cherries, wicker / rattan furniture, sitting cross-legged, stripes, large windows, fresh dill, reading aloud, going to bookstores, under-furnished rooms, dancing, Ariadne auf Naxos.
Weigh in if you care to: any favorite lists?
i often return to the iconic likes and dislikes lists that lorraine hansberry would make every year 🖤
as of april 1 1960 her likes included:
“my husband...most of the time”
“having an appetite”
“slacks”
“my homosexuality”
“being alone”
“to **feel** like working”
and some of her dislikes:
“being called to speak”
“speaking”
“too much mail”
“Racism”
“Jean Paul Sartre’s writing”
“being hungover”
“sneaky love affairs”
https://www.lhlt.org/news/private-life-lorraine-hansberry-letters-lists-and-conversations
Making my list!