Every Day I Write the Book

A recent reader of ze blog said that I had good taste in books, which made me wonder when I last mentioned a book on the blog. And, it reminded me that I've been meaning to respond to Two Timing the Cosmos's tag, so here goes my version of the book meme:

1) One book that changed your life?

Wow. I'm drawing a blank. I'll go with Law School Confidential - I read it when I was in the process of deciding/committing to going to law school. It's not that it changed my life; more like I was in the process of changing it myself.

2) One book you have read more than once?

All of the books that made it through the Great Purge of '05 (i.e. the move from DC to SF) are books that I have read multiple times. It's more than that: I read every book on my bookshelf multiple times during law school. I'm a voracious reader and have difficulty reading a chapter or two and putting a book down. I knew that I couldn't afford the time (or, really, the $$) to read new books in law school, so when I needed a break from caselaw, I would read a few pages from an old favorite.

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

How to Survive Anything, Anywhere. ;)

4) One book that made you cry?

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver. This could also easily fit the book I have read more than once, and book I would want on a desert island categories. I've read it repeatedly, and I've cried every time. This is saying something as I am not a big cryer. Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors - if I could write like someone, I'd choose her. This novel is a little hard to get into as there are multiple narrators, etc. but it is so worth it. The story is of a Baptist missionary family stationed in the Belgian Congo in the 1960s, but really it is an allegory about American foreign policy.

Man, I may have to re-read it again soon.

5) One book that made you laugh?

A Moveable Feast. I feel pretentious having "a Hemingway" on this list, but I have a very particular memory of reading this book on the metro going home from a party and (literally) laughing out loud at Hemingway's memories of living in Paris as a young man.

6) One book you wish had been written?

The book my best friend is always hassling me to write.

7) One book you wish had never been written?

The Celestine Prophecy - highly, highly overrated. So they are making it into a movie.

Oh, oh - even better! Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus!! One of my best friends mind-tricked me into reading it. I yelled "oh fuck off" twice on the first page, and I threw it across the room by page 5. At that point, I had some kind of vendetta against the book and was hell-bent on finishing it. Don't make the same mistake.

8) One book you are reading currently?

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris. I've been meaning to get to the collected oeuvres of Mr. Sedaris and checked out a few of them during my last visit to my public library. I am loving this collection of autobiographical short stories. Sedaris' tales of learning French are fantastiques!

9) One book you have been meaning to read?

Footprint: South India. I finally ordered a guidebook to South India because I need to get serious re: planning. Things have been so crazybusy. 7 weeks to go? Whoah.

This is the part where I'm supposed to tag peoples. Let's go with the A's: archana, ads, ashvin, and a n n a.