Another Book Meme

Jeff "the Curt Jester" Miller tagged with a book meme. I am awed and humbled...


1) Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
The Lord of the Rings. My older sister said to me once when we were in college, "Barb, there is something wrong with the universe in which you have not read Tolkien." I did get through The Hobbit, but when I started on the trilogy, I was so annoyed that Bilbo wasn't going to be in it much that I put the book down and never managed to pick it up again.

2) If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
It would definitely have to be a world cruise, because I tend not to make very good first impressions. But I have basically a good heart so I wear well.

Hmmm.. characters. So that means not real people? Because that would be Jesus, Cicero and Alexander Hamilton. But characters....

I would say Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables...because she was so formative for me in my childhood), Perry Mason (because he was so formative for me in my adolescence), and Ivan Karamazov (because he has been the spectre of my adulthood).

3) (Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for a while, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Left Behind

4) Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. At least three people have given me this book, but it always seemed to me like it would be cheating to acquire success for $24.95 with a 40% mark down from Borders. But when people ask me if I read it I always nod and get glassy-eyed.

5) You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP).

I'm so tempted to say Hillary Clinton and Hostage to the Devil. (Oh, did I just say that?)... How about Britney Spears and Till We Have Faces? Because I find myself with a lot of compassion for this young woman who has lost the ability to see herself from the inside out and it means she won't be able to give hersel fin love, and so will probably end up losing herself completely. This book is about getting past the visage to what lies beneath.

6) A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
Real easy. Russian. I just know I am missing a lot of Brothers Karamazov and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch in translation.

7) A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
The Bible...or if that's too much of a given, then The Dialogues of Plato.

8) I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?
Every week, Eve Tushnet has made me ashamed of myself (in a good way!) for how much she reads and how little I do by comparison. I just can't seem to stop reading bad screenplays.

9) That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather bound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.
In my dream, all my books are bent back and barely have their covers on from over use. They have lots of notes from me and writing in the margins and in the title pages one sentence that describes the essence of all the principal characters. And there is nothing in my library that people won't be reading in fifty years.

At the risk of losing their friendship, I tag Karen, Justine, Alice, Sean G, and... Jan.