Book Meme (Because You Care)

Yay, a book meme! The world shall flock to my blog, and cleave to my words.

... Okay fine, you're allowed to skip this one.

(Gleefully picked up from 50 Books, which is a wonderful place to visit, full of talking about books all the time. I am so jealous.)

1. A book that changed your life.
Changed my life is such a dramatic sounding turn of phrase. But to be equally dramatic, Tim O'Brian's The Things They Carried probably wins the title for book that has most changed my outlook on life, not to mention how I view stories and words in general, so I think it gets first mention. Everyone in the world needs to read this book, at least twice. So good and real and honest.

2. A book you've read more than once.
Considering I reread pretty much anything I even remotely like, we could be here for a while. In terms of most read, I would say that I've read Ender's Game the most times physically (very conservatively, at least 20 full read-thrus). It's a book that I can practically inhale in a day, and can't stop reading until it's done.

3. A book you'd want on a desert island.
Gosh. Well it would have to be something substantial, and really good. And it would need to stand up to multiple readings without getting old. And it would need to be able to serve at least some purpose in the wild. I'm sort of torn just thinking about it. In the end I think I would have to go with either Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson, or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, because both are pretty long, both are amazingly good and have plenty of repeatability. I'd probably perfer Amazing Adventures more at first (best book ever), but Cryptonomicon has so much more variety it might last longer. Plus if you had to burn it for warmth, it's like 1000 pages long. That has to be a consideration.

4. A book that made you giddy.
The first time I read Me Talk Pretty One Day, I laughed so hard that I was actually lightheaded and almost fell down due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. I think that counts. David Sedaris = Love.

5. A book you wish had been written.
This question boggles my fragile little mind. Umm, I wish that Douglas Adams had actually finished up the novel in Salmon of Doubt because the world can most certainly do with a little more Douglas Adams in it.

6. A book that wracked you with sobs.
Just because it is most recently on my mind, The Time Traveler's Wife left me sobbing like an infant, and I didn't even like the characters involved. That takes some skill, believe you me. What can I say, I'm a sap for love stories that have fantastic science fiction elements woven directly into their structure. That book tore me to pieces.

7. A book you wish had never been written.
You're allowed to be dumb and petty in an internet meme, right? Because I hate hate hate hate The Sound and The Fury. Like, irrational, deep-seated, utter loathing that defies all reason, time, and space. I have no problem whatsoever in wishing it off the face of the Earth. I know that makes me both shallow and illiterate, Faulkner is the best writer of the 20th century, but whatever. HATE.

8. A book you are currently reading.
House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski. So weird. But good. As much as I hate the whole experiment-in-semiotics thing he has going on, the story he's working off of is very compelling. And say what you will, but the boy can write. God, the footnotes, though. Save me from the footnotes.

9. A book you've been meaning to read.
In my latest Amazon ordering frenzy (damn them and their free super saver shipping that basically requires me to spend at least $25 every time) I finally broke down and picked up the box set of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy, which I have heard nothing but great things about. However this House of Leaves book sucks up so much time (footnotes!) I don't know when I'm ever going to actually bust them out.

10. Tag 10.
10? Are you serious? I'm not entirely sure I know 10 people who have read a book in the past two years, let alone would complete a book meme on the internet. Anyways, if you read this and have ever read a book, consider yourself tagged.