Help! I’ve Been Memed!

This has never happened to me before. I feel kind of dirty, but I like it…

Per Hanuman’s request, here are my answers to the Book Meme:

1. One book you have read more than once:

Only one? The Lord of The Rings trilogy. Yes, I am just that geeky. And damn, that’s actually three books. But there are lots more books I’ve read more than once, and I have graphic novels I’ve read umpteen times.

I do, of course, have to give mention to Awakening to Animal Voices by Dawn Baumann Brunke, because not only have I read it several times, but I contributed to it!

2. One book you would want on a desert island:

I have to concur with the popular, if imaginary, "Surviving on an Island for Dummies” or “The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Building A Radio Contact System From Coconuts”.

3. One book that made you laugh:

Hmm… I’m not an easy laugh, but David Sedaris gets me, sometimes. The Santaland Diaries, which are in both Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice are a classic.

4. One book that made you cry:

On the other end of the spectrum, I am a very easy cry. If I am in an off mood or it’s a particular time of month, just looking at an envelope from an animal support organization can send me into a protracted weeping spell. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, definitely made me cry - especially the ending, which really upset me. But seriously, there are some books, like When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, that I read maybe one chapter of and put down, never to pick up again, because it made me bawl hysterically.

So, basically any book where an animal or someone’s mother dies, or there is a deep but difficult love, or passages inspiring one to re-evaluate one’s life and become one with the natural universe. Or in which people are mean. Or… well, you get the picture…

5. One book you wish you had written:

For back royalties, the Bible. Heh. But seriously, The Passion, by Jeanette Winterson. One of my all time favourite books, plus, it would get me in good with all the lovely lesbian ladies, if you know what I’m saying, and I think you do.

6. One book you wish had never been written:

Hard to top “anything written by Ann Coulter,” except by maybe “the Bible”, because it has been so misunderstood, misused and improperly contextualized over the millennia, and caused so much mishegoss. Yeah, I said it. So, there.

7. One book you are currently reading:

To The Ends of The Earth: The Selected Travels of Paul Theroux. I enjoy good travel writing, and I’d been told this is a good sampler to get acquainted with Theroux’s travel book style. So far, I am very much enjoying it.

8. One book you have been meaning to read:

Oh, jeez, my Amazon wish list is something like 12 pages long, so how am I supposed to decide? I probably should start reading biology, psychology and zoology texts to prepare for going back to school and deciding what program interests me most. Along those lines, I’ve been meaning to read Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premier School for Exotic Animal Trainers by Amy Sutherland and The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright.

9. One Book That Changed Your Life:

Dummies 101: HTML, circa 1995 or 96. Geeky? Yes. But it’s not what you think. You see, if I’d never learned HTML, I wouldn’t have my job, and if I didn’t have my job, I never would have met Mrs. Nator, who worked in a different department at the same organization. Meeting Mrs. Nator changed my life in more wonderful ways than just about anything else that ever happened to me, to say the least. (I know – AWWW!)

10. Now Tag 5 bloggers:

Helen at The Ninth Circle of Helen

Qenny at Qenny's Virtual Gob

Palochi at... Palochi

Lynette at Notes on My Life

First Nations at Paul. Because 'Paul' is a nice name.

Have at it, Meme-ettes!