Nikki tagged me the other day. Life’s been a little busy, so I am just now getting around to accepting the challenge. Here goes nothing …
Name One Book:
- … that changed my life? I would say Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo. Oddly enough, I sought out this book during my senior year of high school, all on my own. My reason? Metallica. “One” — from 1988′s And Justice For All — was inspired by Trumbo’s novel. The video was composed primarily of clips from the film of the same name. And what I found was the most realistic and soul-wrenching account of the intimate, personal cost of war that I’d ever read. Until then, the most subversive book in my reading history was the single copy of Stephen King’s Carrie housed in our high school library. Oh, and probably Mike Baker’s dog-eared copy of Naked Lunch, though I think we were all too young to get Burroughs back then.
- … you have read more than once? Since college, I’ve read Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta about once every other year. I’ve owned about three copies of Good Omens for similar reasons.
- … would you want on a desert island? I know that I am supposed to say something like the collected works of William Shakespeare or perhaps the Holy Bible, but I’ll be practical and admit the truth. I’d want the US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76.
- … that made me laugh? Only one? The Robert Rankin book I read a year or so ago (The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse) was incredibly funny and more than a little subversive, but there have been others since.
- … that made you cry? Cry? How about choked up? Maybe The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, or specifically the last chapter of the third book in that trilogy, The Golden Compass. The rest of that last book was hit-or-miss, but the visual at the end just worked so well.
- … that you wish you had written? American Gods by Neil Gaiman. How one book can be so epic in scope and yet so personal (there’s that word again) in tone is just astounding to me.
- … that you wish had never been written? The Mayor Of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. I’ve some bad high school English memories about that book.
- … that you are currently reading? I have a list of them. God’s Politics by Jim Wallis. The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. The Seven Soldiers of Victory series of graphic novels by Grant Morrison.
- … that you have been meaning to read? Possibly Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash, as I’ve heard nothing but good. Next month sees the release of a new full-length novel from Mark Z. Danielewski and another story collection from Neil, so I’m all about both of those.
- Tag five more people. I doubt anyone is left untagged … so if you wish to be so, consider yourself summarily tagged.
There. All done. Someone ought to do a similar meme about albums … as in music.
