Getting my Meme on, Part One

Well, Nordette, damn you very much...you've got me on what is tantamount to a blog chain letter. And, media-whore that I am, I dare not refuse. I'm going to be a total jackal on this one and let you know that I believe in what Benjamin Disraeli said "When I want to read a good book, I write one."

So, forgive me if a few of the titles below are self-referencing as I join the chain of memes.

1. One book that changed my life?

The Compleat Panther Cycles. The writing of those works and the events that inspired them changed my life. The publication of that book raised the bar for me and all poets going forward. It is my cornerstone and, perhaps, my tombstone. But, I have been honest, earnest and true to my heart and my art.

2. One book you have read more than once?

An Incomplete Education by Judy Jones. A marvel of a book, outlining everything you'd have learned in college if you'd stayed awake. This should be a recognized substitute for a four-year degree. Well written, educational, and my favourite gift book to give to others (aside from one of my own).

3. One book you'd want on a desert island?

See #2.

4. One book that made you laugh?

Shut Up and Eat Your Snowshoes by Jack Douglas. The former writer from "Rowan and Martin's Laugh in" wrote a fantastic account of his life when he and his wife and son moved to a remote cabin in the wilds of Canada. I would sometime reread it to help me relax and go to sleep. Before I discovered sex.

5. One book that made you cry?

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. I hate farewells.

6. One book you wish you'd written?

The Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. Good enough for a Nobel. The monolithic poetic genius of the 20th century at his mightiest and most brilliant. William Butler Yeats wrote the foreword. Yeah, the foreword. How cool is that?

7. One book you wish had never been written?

Anything written by Anne Coulter. Too much hate in this world, already. The good side is, by exposing the Right as the hate-filled army of madness it is, she is giving the Left back the country.

8. One book you are currently reading?

Ronin in the Temple of Aphrodite. I have to, as I edit it. I am so damned. It is eating me alive, but it is necessary. This one will probably eclipse The Compleat Panther Cycles as my landmark book, but I may not be sane to realize it.

9. One book you have been meaning to read, but just haven't gotten around to it?

An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. But I have seen the movie. Twice. And dragged friends to it.

10. Now, tag five people... (Give me a few hours to find a collection that will not be repeats of people already used by others...)