My good friend Charles Halton likes to play tag, 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 little book meme. Here goes:
1. One book that changed your life.
The Man Who Was Thursday, by G.K. Chesterton
2. One book that you have read more than once.
The Cost of Discipleship, 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, by John Kennedy Toole — without a doubt the funniest book I’ve ever read.
5. One book that made you cry.
John Adams, 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. One book that you wish had never been written.
8. One book you are currently reading.
The Foreign Correspondent, 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, 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.