My good friend Charles Halton likes to play tag [1], and apparently I’m “it,” or one of a few “its” al least. It’s summertime, so I’ll play along the recent TV personality’s [2] little book meme. Here goes:
1. One book that changed your life.
The Man Who Was Thursday [3], by G.K. Chesterton
2. One book that you have read more than once.
The Cost of Discipleship [4], by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
3. One book you would want on a desert island.
How To Build Seaworthy Vessels With Your Bare Hands (forthcoming)
4. One book that made you laugh.
A Confederacy of Dunces [5], by John Kennedy Toole — without a doubt the funniest book I’ve ever read.
5. One book that made you cry.
John Adams [6], by David McCullough. I’ll have to admit I teared up a bit there at the end.
6. One book that you wish had been written.
The follow-up that Dostoevsky reportedly had in mind to The Brothers Karamazov [7].
7. One book that you wish had never been written.
8. One book you are currently reading.
The Foreign Correspondent [9], by Alan Furst. There’s no time like the dog days of summer to read good spy novel.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read.
The Chronicles of Wasted Time: An Autobiography [10], by Malcolm Muggeridge
10. Tag five other people.
I tagged my wife — she just rolled her eyes. My son ran and hid when I tried to tag him. My neighbors punched me when I tagged them, and the responding officer didn’t take too kindly to being tagged, either. I recommend extreme caution when tagging.