INSIDE: A BOOK MEME

Nutbuk has tagged me to do a book meme, something new to me. Since the camera refuses to work at the moment and a photo of the yard might be too depressing to take, let alone post, let's stay in the airconditioning. Here are the questions:

1] One book that changed your life?

2] One book that you have read more than once?

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

4] One book that made you laugh?

5] One book that made you cry?

6] One book you wish had been written?

7] One book you wish had never been written?

8] One book you are currently reading?

9] One book you have been meaning to read

10] Tag 5 people to do the meme.


1] One book that changed your life? Hawaii, by James Michener. Although it might not be mind-expanding for a current high school sophomore, in my long-ago teenage life, this book arrived like an explosion. I was fascinated by the ideas of evolution and the birth of an island, by scientists who could not only trace the migrations of people across time and oceans but also track subsequent changes in their language. Michener touched on genealogy, real estate, geology, economics, leprosy, history and agriculture, introduced wonderful characters of other races, other religions, who ate unusual and followed different customs; he taught me what the word tsunami meant, and showed wars from other vantage points than that of old movies or the history books at school. I wanted to learn more about all these things, so I had to get more books and keep reading.

2] One book that you have read more than once? Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein, that beloved old curmudgeon. His writing reflects many of the sexist attitudes of his generation, while still letting women be heroes, and he has a deadly eye for the foibles of mankind. Plus there’s always some sex in the later Heinlein books. "Anne the Fair Witness" makes her first literary appearance in this book. She is one of the many Annes for whom Annie in Austin is named.

3] One book you would want on a desert island? Although a good answer is the Bible, at my age a large-type, annotated Collected Shakespeare might work better and weigh a little less. Logically, it should be something like A Guide to Poisonous Plants on Desert Islands. Thank goodness I no longer need to bring Do It Yourself Obstetrics!

4] One book that made you laugh? Crocodile on the Sandbank. This is one entry from the long and romantically comical archeological detective series starring Amelia Peabody and written by Elizabeth Peters. This is very arch, pseudo-British humor. You've been warned!

5] One book that made you cry? Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Buckets. Absolute buckets.

6] One book you wish had been written? A final chapter to the Brother Cadfael series. I’d like it to have been written by Ellis Peters while she was in her prime, but saved for publication until after her demise.

7] One book you wish had never been written? How can one undo what has been done? Maybe I’d wish away those books that encouraged home gardeners to use an arsenal of poisonous chemicals for the home garden.

8] One book you are currently reading? A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence is half-finished in one room, the original Giant by Edna Ferber has been restarted in another room, and just finished is a new collective memoir called Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?, from Chin Music Press.

9] One book you have been meaning to read? My husband has recommended The Future of the Past by Alexander Stille. Newsday is quoted on the cover, “An exhilaratingly panoramic, inescapably poignant snapshot of a world poised in a Janus moment, where technology is both bane and saviour of the past and present.” I promise I’m going to get to it soon!

10] Tag 5 people to do the meme. I’m not sure who reads this blog except those who comment. If anyone does the meme, let me know because I want to see someone else's answers! Carol, RSorrell, Pam/Digging, Blackswamp Girl, Firefly or Zanthan - would you like to take a turn? Christopher, your answers would undoubtedly be fascinating to read. How about it?

Thanks from Annie