Anyway, here goes:
A book that changed my life - Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. I read it for the first time when I was just finishing sixth grade, and it opened my eyes to a new world, where a meeting of ordinary childhood experiences and a handful of common words could combine into the most magical sensations. Before this book, I enjoyed reading well enough. Since then, I have been madly, passionately in love with books.
A book I've read more than once - See above. Also, the Bible (I try to read a different edition every decade, for comparison). And Archy's Life of Mehitabel, the 1st edition copy I filched from Dad.
A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island - the natural inclination is to ask for this one, but I'm thinking it would be good to have a very large book of poetry, songs and nonsense verse. Preferably with waterproof binding & pages, and a raft, paddle & oceanic charts attached.
A Book That Made Me Laugh- Too many to count. Most recently, Annie Dillard's Teaching a Stone to Talk. And Bill Nye's Remarks (not that Bill Nye!) (although he's funny, too!).
A Book That Made Me Cry - Leaves of Grass.
A book I wish had been written - The DIY book which actually does the work for me. Something like "Now We Mow! the complete lawn care manual", or, perhaps, "The Dishwasher's Way". Most useful topics have been touched upon or are already being dealt with in print. The real problem there is that so many of them are badly-written or badly-researched trash. Of course, somebody will eventually write the book I should have written....
A book I wish had never been written — Gotta go with my predecessors' choices. Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion have done some serious damage. Also, though, every "Dick and Jane" reader. Those were the first real step in "dumbing down" the American education process -- plus they were deadly dull.
A book I'm currently reading - Peace with the Dictators? by Norman Angell, published in 1938. I may have to blog about this later. And, Algebra for Dummies, but I think it may be beyond my skills at comprehension. There are also 3 collections of poetry and a 1910 science text, The Fairy-Land of Science, (newly updated and illustrated) lying about in various states of completion. And a Lydia Adamson mystery next to the bathtub. I use a lot of bookmarks.
A book I've been meaning to read - I have about 3,500 of them in boxes and on shelves in my house. Top of the list, though, would be Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers. It's been sitting here, staring at me, for two years, now.
What turned me onto fiction- childhood: Wanda Gag. Robert McCloskey. Lois Lenski. Walter Farley. Arthur C. Clarke. Robert Heinlein. Ray Bradbury. Nobody can read just one.
Whom do I tag?
Publius
Tannish
Anybody who wants to play.
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