I’ve never been meme’d…but my lovely blogging buddy Dovegreyreader has seen it fit to tag me and make me a meme-virgin no more.

This Very Selective Book Meme came her way via Ex Libris, and now it’s on to me to fill in the blanks. Here goes…

1.One book that changed your life
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I first read this book when I was young…maybe eleven or twelve. I can remember feeling changed by it and thinking, ‘here is someone who understands that ALL stories count, that there is importance in ALL observation.’ I will always be grateful to Ms. Lee for creating the shining voice of Scout.

2.One book that you’ve read more than once
Hmm, I don’t know that I’ve read any novels clear through more than once. (I have two sons and I do know that I’ve read Horton Hears a Who at least 50 times. Try giving Horton a Brooklyn accent. “Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor!” very fun.) I will add that I do make a point of marking and reading portions of novels over and over again because certain passages inspire me.
The opening of A Tale of Two Cities, parts of The Bluest Eye, Middlemarch, Little Women, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, A Room with a View, The Hours, and Love in the Time of Cholera are just a few I’ve gone back to in the past few weeks.

3.One book that you’d want on a desert island
I agree with Dovegrey reader, if I had the complete works of Shakespeare on hand, I think I’d be in excellent shape for the duration.

4.One book that made you laugh
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I know, it sounds cliche since so many Austen novels have been made into films these last few years, but I honestly can remember being a bookish fourteen-year-old and laughing out loud over the beautifully brutal sarcasm that rests in Austen’s prose. (this question made me pause and think, hmmm, why haven’t I read more novels that have made me laugh?)

5.One book that made you cry
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon. Christopher is one of the truest characters I’ve ever read. If you’ve ever had someone like him in your life, you’ll know what I mean.

6.One book you wish you had written
oh geeze…I’ve had this question put to me before and as a writer, it makes me feel all weird and creeped out. I start to imagine I’m in an old episode of The Twilight Zone and if I answer it, I’ll suddenly be thrown into the life of the writer who wrote whatever novel I chose – and I’ll be living at the exact time that he/she was writing it. There’s so much baggage that goes along with writing a novel, who knows what I’d be getting myself into. I’ll stick with my own steamer trunk of quirks and neurosis, thanks.

7.One book you wish had never been written
Well, maybe that’s the flip side of what I just said…
If a writer didn’t have the outlet of penning a novel,(even if I think it’s the worst drek on the planet), then what would he/she have done instead?
Maybe it should read, “one book you wish had never been published?” Now that’s a horse of a different colour.

8.One book you’re currently reading
The Story of Chicago May by Nuala O’Faolain
(it’s a biography of “The Queen of the Underworld”)

9.One book you have been meaning to read
Under the Net – by Iris Murdoch

10.Now tag five people
I’m thinking…I’ll have to post names soon!