Monday, August 14, 2006

Book Meme

I've been tagged by Ezzie! Now this is a meme I can get behind. :-)

1. One book that changed your life? The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, by Richard Dawkins. This book made the world make sense to me.

2. One book you have read more than once? The World According to Garp, by John Irving. There's so much in this book it never gets old.

3. One book you would want on a desert island? The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. Are anthologies cheating? Maybe Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. (See my review.)

4. One book that made you laugh? Gotta agree with Ezzie here: Calvin and Hobbes.

5. One book that made you cry? I don't know about outright crying, but Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami came close. It's a beautiful and sad love story, written very well.

6. One book you wish had been written? Don't Listen to Paul, Jesus.

7. One book you wish had never been written? Leviticus? Revelations?

8. One book you are currently reading? Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. Thanks to Marina Grace for the recommendation, although I think I like it for different reasons than she.

9. One book you have been meaning to read? One? Haha. Let's go with Beware of God: Stories, by Shalom Auslander. Former Orthodox guy writes good fiction about it. What's taking me so long to read it?

10. Now tag five people. Baal Habos, Laura, dbackdad, cyberkitten, and Ben Avuyah. Actually I'm fascinated to see what Ben Avuyah reads since he writes so well.

18 comments:

Wandering Coyote said...

I don't think anthologies are cheating. I have a Norton from university I traipsed around Europe with, despite its weight. It just had so much great stuff in it and I knew I would would be worth it.

Anonymous said...

I just added The Blind Watchmaker to my "must read" list. Thanks!

CyberKitten said...

I have a few days vacation coming up this week... I'll do mine then...

Ezzie said...

Hehe. One wasn't surprising at all... maybe I'll get you a couple books that you should read along with it. ;)

I thought alternatively of Torah, the New Testament, and the Koran for 7, but I think people would have either misunderstood me or wanted to kill me. Neither was too appealing.

I knew you'd have a nice list. I always have been of the opinion that the simplest books (such as children's books) often contain the deepest lessons and/or have the largest effect on our lives, hence my list. I wonder how many people caught that.

Jewish Atheist said...

WC:

The anthology it is then! Infinite Jest was great, but it might be too depressing if it's all I could read for who knows how many years. :-)

jg:

Hope you like it!

CK:

Sounds good.

Ezzie:

You wish the Torah hadn't been written?? Now I'm intrigued.

Anonymous said...

Yay, Gilead! I'm so glad you're reading it. Let me know when you're done and we'll have a book club meeting. :)

dbackdad said...

I'm on it. Thanks for tagging me on this one. One of the more fun (and relevant) memes I've seen.

Ezzie said...

JA - See? Everyone would be. :) :X

asher said...

Garp was a very popular book when I was in college (I know I'm dating myself) It is a very crude formless book which revels in it's obscene graphic details of dismemberment of people's tongues, eyeballs and penis. I actually winced several times while reading it wondering what kind of diseased mind could come up with this and what type would think it was funny

Great choice!

Jewish Atheist said...

Marina:

I'll be sure to post about it. Probably on the other blog.


dbackdad:

You're welcome. :-)


Ezzie:

Come on, you tease.


asher:

LOL. I love that you argue with even this post.

Ezzie said...

JA - Too long and complicated. Suffice it to say that (from my POV) while I understand the idea of free will/God needing to be hidden from us, it would be far simpler if God were obviously there and we didn't need a written - and therefore less "divine" book about Him. Know what I mean?

Jewish Atheist said...

Ezzie:

Gotcha.

Baal Habos said...

Oy Vey, I am indeed flattered. It will take me about a week, I'm just in middle of some other posts, right now. I guess a book I should be reading is "how to stop procastinating"

Sadie Lou said...

I love John Irving.

oh, and Calvin and Hobbes. I laugh and cry with those two...

Raindrop said...

The Blind Watchmaker changed my life too. Dawkins become my hero soon after I read that. And might I recommend 'Dreams of a Final Theory' by Steven Weinberg.

Ben Avuyah said...

I'll have to take a look at "the world according to Garp", sounds interesting.

Thanks for the tag, I hope you won't be to dissapointed, most of my reading these days are medical journals...

stc said...

Just so you know … the "one book" meme was the brain child of a biblioblogger, Ben Myers.

For "one book that you wish had never been written", I put The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. I'm surprised, but no one else seems to have thought of it. In general, I wouldn't oppose the publication of any book — but the author of that work deserves the worst fate anyone might imagine.

Baal Habos said...

JA, My Meme's Done, twice. I'll try to get hold of the Blind Watchmaker, even though I'll probably regret it.