Book Meme

I was tagged by both Token Woman and Miss Eagle to complete this meme on books:-

1. One book that changed your life:
Despite being brought up as an environmentalist, I don't think I fully realised my own environmental principles until I read Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer.  I first read this wonderful book as a teenager, I think, and remain enormously fond of it.  I re-read it often, and recommend to people almost as soon as I meet them.  It will always remain on my list of absolute favourite books.  Deanna and Lusa (a biologist and entemologist) are two of my most beloved characters, and I love the idea of connection that Kingsolver weaves through her narrative.  "Everything alive is connected to every other by fine, invisible threads. Things you don't see can help you plenty, and things you try to control will often rear back and bite you, and that's the moral of the story."

2. One book you have read more than once:
I have no idea how I'm supposed to answer this question.  I re-read books all the time, probably cycling through my collection every three years or so.  In fact, probably every book that I'm fond of, I've re-read at least once.  Nope, there's no way I can come up with a succint answer to this one.

3. One book you would want on a desert island:
An omnibus edition of some sort, I would think!  Perhaps a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories?  Or an Agatha Christie or PD James collection?  Or my Learning Italian book, which I haven't looked at in far too long.  Or some classic that I've been avoiding reading because I think it'll take too much effort.  Perhaps Anna Karenina or War and Peace .  I tried to read War and Peace once, actually, but gave up when I couldn't keep track of the characters.

4. One book that made you laugh:
Michael Bond's Paddington books never fail to make me giggle hysterically.   Terry Pratchett generally makes me laugh out loud, as does Gerald Durrell, but especially My Family and Other Animals, probably my favourite of his books.   I remember reading it out loud to Mum when I was a teenager, and being speechless with laughter over some passages.

5. One book that made you cry:
Most recently, it was Naomi Novik's Temeraire (also published as His Majesty's Dragon).  I was sitting next to Prince Valiant at the time, who was peacefully watching cricket on TV, and was understandably a little alarmed when I burst into loud sobs and cried out, "He died!  I can't believe he died!"  (Hopefully that's not too much of a plot spoiler.)  I think the true mark of a sad book is one that makes you cry when re-reading it - for me, that's been April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtenay, The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay - in fact, pretty much every book Gavriel Kay's ever written.  It's very unusual for me to finish one of his books and not have collapsed into floods of tears at least once.

6. One book you wish you had written:
Any book!  No, not really.  Um.  I find it difficult to imagine myself writing any book that I read, because they are so very definitely their own author's creation.  I'd love to have written one of Barbara Kingsolver's books, though.  Or Ursula Le Guin's. 

7. One book you wish had never been written:
Well, I don't think any book shouldn't have been written - but there's a few books that I probably shouldn't read.  Books that make me feel physically sick, for instance - while I enjoy a good cry, I don't enjoy feeling ill.  Stephen Baxter's Silverhair almost made me throw up at one rather gruesome point, which puts me off reading any Baxter in the near future.

8. One book you are currently reading:
I'm devouring Robin Hobb's latest, Forest Mage, which is enjoyable, but not her best, unfortunately.  I'm also reading PD James' Cover Her Face, because I decided I wanted to read all her Dalgliesh books, finishing off Castle Waiting by Linda Medley, and am about to start Naomi Novik's Throne of Jade, because it just appeared on hold for me at the library.

9. One book you have been meaning to read:
After visiting Port Arthur, and realising how much Australian history I've forgotten, I want to read some books about women convicts.  I've read Damned Whores and God's Police before, which is one of the classics, so I thought I'd try The Floating Brothel by Sian Rees and then perhaps Depraved and Disorderly by Joy Damousi.  I'd also like to read Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, because while not specifically about women it's one of the classic works about convict Australia and includes a bit about Port Arthur.

10. Now tag five people:
Only if you feel like doing it... but I'd like to hear your answers - Oanh, Be-Zen, Cat, Diana, Barbara, and anyone else who'd like to join in.