Book meme

I don't usually do these meme-y things, but this one is more interesting than most. Cribbed from Claude's blog. (Runner up in parentheses, if applicable.)

1. One book that changed your life?

I'll have to put Davy by Edgar Pangborn as this one. It really gave me an appreciation for the emotional as well as the speculative power of SF. (Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop -- turned me on to one of my favourite writers)

2. One book you have read more than once?

I don't usually read books multiple times. Lord of the Rings comes to mind, three times. (Davy, above, twice)

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

Something really thick. How about The Essential Ellison. (If I can have a chess set too, a really thick games collection like 500 Master Games of Chess by Tartakower & du Mont)

4. One book that made you laugh?

Mort by Terry Pratchett. (HHGttG by Douglas Adams)

5. One book that made you cry?

The Green Mile by Stephen King. On a bus, no less.

6. One book you wish had been written?

Easy: another Kane novel by Karl Edward Wagner. In fact, any book by Wagner.

7. One book you wish had never been written?

The Gor series by John Norman. A blight on the world of SF & F.

8. One book you are currently reading?

River of Gods by Ian McDonald. Thick, complex, amazing, very reminicent of Rushdie's Midnight's Children. About 150 pages to go. (Burn by Bill Buford -- just started. Mario Batali uber alles.) (A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Not perfect, but makes science interesting and scientists, cool & funny)

9. One book you have been meaning to read?

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson is next on the list. I've been meaning to read it for a while, winning the Hugo is just the kick in the pants I needed to put it on the top of the pile. (Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson.) (Also a lot of Year's Best anthologies to catch up on.)