Since I love to blether on about books

From Sofiya who is far funnier than I.

1. One book that changed your life?

The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer. A friend in my archaology lecture at the University of Edinburgh had me go along with her to a reading of it. It introduced me to feminism.

2. One book you have read more than once?

All the Anne McCaffery books. Because I started reading them as a child, I find them very comforting reads. I read a lot of things over and over again though.

3. One book you would want on a desert island?

A very, very long one. Maybe War and Peace, which I started once and then had to put aside for a week long hiking trip when I was halfway through. I really liked it but have never gotten back to it. And I suspect it would fill up a lot of time, as I kept forgetting all the relationships between the characters. I could construct a giant family tree out of tree branches or something else suitably desert island.

4. One book that made you laugh?

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss. While on a Korean subway. And yes, everybody stared at the bizarrely cackling waegook.

5. One book that made you cry?

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It wasn't terribly well written, but had me sobbing.

6. One book you wish had been written?

This is quite a hard question. Perhaps a History of the Punics? Though I'm sure they wrote a great deal that simply didn't survive.

7. One book you wish had never been written?

There are books that have been written about terrible subjects and books that have been written terribly. But it's not really my place to wish them unwritten. The most annoying read I can recall off-hand is Swiss Family Robinson. It annoyed me soooo much. The misogyny. The way they either shot or captured every animal that crossed their paths. Just everything. And to think I was in love with the old Disney movie as a child.

8. One book you are currently reading?

I am about a chapter into The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. No idea how it ever took me this long to get to it. I actually borrowed it off of someone in first year university but exams prevented me from reading it.

I just finished Motya by Gaia Servadio. Badly written but the Punic site is fascinating, as was some of the information about the British in Sicily.

9. One book you have been meaning to read?

Well, I'm about to join a book group, so Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik and A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (which I don't even own yet, though I have Tuesday off to go and find it, I guess.)

10. Now tag five people.

Do I have to? Anyone else who feels like it can do it and say I tagged them, if they want. (This is stolen from Sofiya. I am too lazy to think up my own response!)