Sunday, August 13, 2006

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

7 comments:

CyberKitten said...

Interesting....

I may have to 'tag' myself on that one... As I've been known to read a book or two in my time.

The 'Currently Reading' section might be a bit long though... [grin].

Unknown said...

1)One book that changed your life:
I would love to be more original... but The Hobbit, read it when I was 5 completely sparked my love of reading, SF and books with characters and plots and depth and emotion etc..

2)One book that you have read more than once:
LOTR - so many times and I can quote parts of, but at least I dont speak Elvish!

3)One book you’d want on a desert island:
Player of Games - Iain M Banks, evertime I read it I find more in it that I love

4)One book that made you laugh:
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - absolutely pissed myself laughing, recommend it

5)One book that made you cry:
When I was younger Call of the Wild, more recently tends to be film that make me cry - i'm a very visual person

6)One book you wish would have been written:
Hmmm....Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams, he started it and sadly never completed it

7)One book you wish had never been written:
Freedom of expressions means freedom to express hate - and while a part of me wishes that a number of extreme/fundamentalist works that advocate violence against another group of people hadn't been written to forbid people from writing them is just a different kind of oppression and discrimenation to that which they express.

8)One book you are currently reading:
Pretentious though it sounds - Homer's the Odyssey

9)One book you have been meaning to read:
Portrait of the Artist as Young Man by James Joyce, I've tried, oh boy have I tried but I can't get past page 25...

10) N/A
Boy that was long :-)

Meira{FB} said...

Saw it over at the hills. I'll do it sometime this week. Let ya know! Yeah I'd really have to think, I love most all the books I've read and to have to put them in catagory's I dunno.

Zeus said...

Wild Swans is indeed stunning! However, rather than have it in a desert, it can stay on my bookshelf in the air conditioning! I totally agree with your synopsis.

MaR said...

How do you manage to blog and read...I am so behind...I am back! I am tired, I have to catch up on so many blogs, oh dear....
happy monday
our tuesday is a holiday
hear Madonna singing? holiday....

craziequeen said...

Blimey - I'm impressed how many non-fiction there are on my list!

:-)

cq

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Hey! I love this list and the things you have said about all the books...It feels liuke a trip to China would be something that you might want to do? Yes?
I put my list up early Sunday A.M. and it's not nearly as interesting as this! (lol)