Book Meme

I got tagged by my sweetie, Dawn. So here goes for my Book Meme!

1. One book that changed your life:
I don’t think I have ever read a book that changed my life. Some have made me think differently, some have made me go find other books (Tokyo by Mo Hayder set me to read The Rape of Nanking for example) – but none have actually changed my life.

2. One book that you have read more than once:
Death’s Acre by Bill Bass, the world-renowned forensic anthropologist. I have always been interested in forensics and Dr Bass wrote an eminently readable autobiography on his life and his career. I go back to it again and again.
And most of my Dan Brown, Matthew Reilly, Nelson DeMille, Clive Cussler, PJ Tracy, Mo Hayder, McCall Smith – my favourite authors are like family and I visit and revisit their stories again and again…….

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Wild Swans by Jung Chang. This book is stunning, a no-holds-barred tramp through China over the last hundred years, following the lives of Jung, her mother and her grandmother. From warlord concubine through Maoism to Western education, this is a roller coaster ride through some of the most turbulent periods in China’s history.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Books don’t tend to make me laugh but Alexander McCall Smith does it every time. His series ‘No 1 Ladies Detective Agency’ is a delightful ongoing series set in Botswana, following the life of Mma Ramotswe and the wonderful people she meets along the way.

5. One book that made you cry:
In the Company of Heroes. Oh god, this made me cry. Anyone seen BlackHawk Down? This is the story of Mike Durrant, the pilot of the crashed BlackHawk taken hostage at the start of the battle in Mogadishu. This book was written by Mike himself, using notes he made in code in the margin of a Bible he was given while imprisoned.

6. One book you wish would have been written:
.With the millions of books out there, there probably isn’t a book which hasn’t been written yet – if you see what I mean!
Unless you count JD’s ‘Official’ Autobiography – there isn’t one, they are all unofficial. I would love to read his own words about his extraordinary career.

7. One book you wish had never been written:
I would never wish any book unwritten. Of course, I have read some stinkers in my time – or rather I have donated some Yawn-Fests to the charity shop.

8. One book you are currently reading:
I am currently re-reading Dissolution by CJ Sansom. It‘s a murder mystery set in the time of Henry VIII, 1537 to be exact. The monasteries are being closed down during the reformation, but at one lonely monastery a Commissioner of the King is murdered. Commissioner Matthew Shardlake is sent to investigate. I strongly recommend this and the sequel Dark Fire. It's not a history book - Sansom just plonks you into the 16th Century and drags you along with him :-)

I am also reading ‘Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation’. Quite a title, huh? Chris Turner looks at the unique two way interaction of inspiration and influence The Simpsons has with the real world. but it gets kinda slow and sluggish – a Steven Spielberg book – Turner doesn’t know when to call it a day and put his pen down.

9. One book you have been meaning to read:
None I’ve been ‘meaning’ to read, as I have just finished The Rape of Nanking, which has been on my ‘must-read’ list for years. But I am eagerly awaiting ‘Mao’ by Jung Chang and ‘Cell’ by Stephen King and ‘Solomon Key’ by Dan Brown.

10. Tag some others:
Nope, no…….not me………if you do this – and it is kinda cool ‘cos it makes you really think….let me know in the comments.

cq