The Voracious Reader

(With apologies to The Occasional Athlete)

One book that changed your life.
Encounters with the Archdruid, by John McPhee.

I'm pretty sure this is the book that made me decide for sure I wanted to do environmental work, and eventually become an attorney. I read it my senior year at Cornell, in a class called Religion, Ethics, and the Environment. Probably my favorite class, too.

One book that you've read more than once.
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott.

What can I say, a fabulous book about girls becoming women and learning to become themselves. I still love it.

One book that you'd want on a deserted island.
Gone With The Wind, by Margaret Mitchell.

I find something new every time I read it. You can read it through, cover to cover. Or you can pick a certain vignette and read it as a short story. It has love, passion, desire, war, politics, drama, and even a bit of comedy, tucked in here and there.

One book that made you laugh.
Anything by Bill Bryson.

One book that made you cry.
Paula, by Isabel Allende. So so moving.

One book that you wish you had written.
Slow Fat Triathlete, by Jayne Williams. See the quote in my Inspirational Quotations, above.

One book you wish had never been written.
I can't imagine wanting a book to have never been written. If I had to pick one, maybe Mien Kampf, for the pain and sorrow it eventually caused?

One book that you are reading at the moment.
I am about to take on The End of Surrow, by Eknath Easwaran. Time to expand my repertoire, and finally get into the Gita.

One book that you've been meaning to read.
I'm pretty good at keeping up with my lists, so I can't think of anything at the moment.