The Book Meme

1) One book that changed your life.

There have been many, but the most recent is The Book Thief.

Stylistically, as a writer, I am impressed by the simple storytelling, the powerful effect of "less is more".

By the story itself, though, I am still haunted. I suspect it has changed me on a molecular level.

2) One book that you have read more than once.

The first novel-sized book that I read over and over again was Frosty: A Raccoon to Remember. I got it in one of those Scholastic book orders in Grade Three, and I read it more times than I can count.

Not only do I still have this book, but in the chaos that is my office, it is safely on a shelf, within easy sight, above my head.

I know, without a doubt, that this is the first book that "took me somewhere else" while I was reading it.

3) One book you would want on a desert island.

No question about it: Wuthering Heights. (I can hear our school's grade twelve kids groaning from here, and, to be honest, I hated it too -- the first time through.) It's really one of those books you need to read more than once in order to fully appreciate. And I could read it again and again.

(Or maybe I should pick a book about how to get off a desert island?)

4) Two books that made you laugh.

Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes: The Revenge of the Baby-Sat, and James Herriott's Vets Might Fly. (I've read most of the work by both of these authors, and loved it all, but I'm picking the first ones I read because they started me off.)

5) One book that made you cry.

Many books do, but the first one that did was Anne of Green Gables. (It was about Matthew, in case you're wondering. I was about nine years old and I was devastated.)

6) One book you wish you'd written.

Another easy one. I actually remember saying, "I wish I'd written that." It was Mariana, by Susanna Kearsley. I immediately became a big fan then and there.

7) One book you wish had never been written.

This is a tough one. Any book that encourages blind hate, of a person, a people, a country -- that would be my answer. We human beings have an easy enough time distrusting one another. We don't need any validation of it.

8) Two books that you are currently reading.

I'm re-reading Mariana in order to review it for my Susanna Kearsley fan site right now, and I also have Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and The Secret, partly read on my bedside table.

9) One book that you have been meaning to read.

I am eagerly anticipating reading Susanna Kearsley's latest, The Winter Sea, the moment I finish writing the review of Mariana. I also tend to cloister myself when reading Susanna's books, so I'm not going to start it until I have a weekend ahead of me. (That's also why I haven't finished my re-read yet, either. Need space! *grin*)

I really think there needs to be a #10, but for the life of me, I can't think of one to add.