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The Ten Questions on Everyone's Mind

Rating: 4 votes, 5.00 average.
Following Antiquarian and Virg. with the ten questions vogue:

1. One book that changed your life: Wendy Mouse and the Windy Day. First book I ever read all by myself. It was the beginning of a beautiful addiction.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Lots, but a few favorite re-reads are Spenser's Faerie Queene, Milton's Paradise Lost, any of Shakespeare's plays, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
If I could only take one I think it would be a volume of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, probably the Norton edition because Greenblatt puts in all the alternate texts for plays like Lear. I think I could be content with being stranded with Shakespeare for years.

4. One book that made you laugh: I've got to go with Antiquarian for almost anything by PG Wodehouse, but especially the Jeeves and Wooster books. I'll put The Hobbit down too. It's one of my delightful escape books.

5. One book that made you cry: I think Dickens is the author most likely to get me to tears. Several of his have made me grab for the hanky.

6. One book that you wish you had written: Again, so many! As long as I can pick anything, I think I'll pretend I was the one who wrote Hamlet. Now theatre companies all over the world owe me huge royalties.

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Huge amounts of literary theory. How do you choose just one, and which one to choose? A deconstructionist? One of the wackier Marxist critics, or perhaps one of those super ferocious feminists who tend to hurt more than help their sisters' cause? So much dross; so little time.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Among other things, I've been reading an anthology of epyllia (short epic style poems) from the Elizabethan era. Some of the lesser works are actually much better than you would imagine, while others are decidedly dull. I'm sifting through them as a part of coming up with my dissertation topic.

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: I've got an overwhelming list of unread books. I think the next classic book I'd like to read when I get a break from my scholarly reading is Dickens' Bleak House, since it's one of the three by him that I haven't read. There are also a whole bunch of recent things I'd like to read when I get the chance.

10. One book you recommend to almost everyone: It being my profession, I tend to recommend that everyone brush up their Shakespeare and read one of the plays.
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  1. Virgil's Avatar
    7. One book that you wish had never been written: Huge amounts of literary theory. How do you choose just one, and which one to choose? A deconstructionist? One of the wackier Marxist critics, or perhaps one of those super ferocious feminists who tend to hurt more than help their sisters' cause? So much dross; so little time.
    I didn't think along those lines, but I agree. Where's Unnamable now to see that?
  2. 's Avatar
    Great answers! I love Shakespeare too, so that would be perfect for the island... I found Bleak House to be Dickens driest work... Hardest to stick with... though it is still a wonderful read... What are the others you haven't read by him? Have you read his short stories? I'm just working my way through them right now... cheers
  3. 's Avatar
    Nice answers, remind me so much of old days when I was in my late teens, loved Shakespeare, (the years when Mel Gibson played Hamlet in a movie that infuriated me but I loved his acting!) read Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained for 'fun', had time to read and enjoy poets like Herbert, Wyatt, Marvell etc. Now I only read Donne out of that blessed company. Wish I could give more time to poetry but "at my back I always hear..."
  4. stlukesguild's Avatar
    Petrarch... Great idea for dealing with all those repetitive questions posted here... and at every Lit and Book site on the net, no doubt. Perhaps I should post a similar blog of my own from which I might cut and paste answers as needed.