[atari 2600]

I'll go ahead and give multiple answers since some already have.

1. One book that changed your life
The Outsider by Colin Wilson, The Denial of Death By Ernest Becker, Narcissus & Goldmund by Hermann Hesse

2. One book you have read more than once
Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing by Soren Kierkegaard, Psyche & Symbol (collected essays) by C.G. Jung, Picasso: Fifty Years of His Art edited by Alfred H. Barr

3. One book you would want on a desert island
SAS Survival Handbook by John Wiseman, the New Testament, Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, Picassos Picassos with photos by David Douglas Duncan, Lord of the Flies by William Golding might be good for a lark on a deserted island haha

4. One book that made you laugh
Without Feathers by Woody Allen, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol by Pat Hackett & Andy Warhol, Billy and the Boingers Bootleg (Bloom County comic book) by Berke Breathed

5. One book that made you cry
The Trial of Socrates by I.F. Stone, The Yellow House by Martin Gayford, the Diary of Anne Frank, The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (especially this one although many of his works have exceedingly sad parts)

6. One book you wish had been written
There's no one book specifically devoted to this true war story of a fighter pilot shot down over enemy territory during the fight for Gaudalcanal at the beginning of the conflict in the Pacific in WWII. I saw this program on PBS about it called "Dogfight over Guadalcanal" that was amazing.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case...ght/index.html
Also, Dogfights on the History Channel is a good series.

7. One book you wish had never had been written
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, Elements of the Philosophy of Right by Hegel, and I'll agree, anything by Ayn Rand

8. One book you are currently reading
none
(Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly magazines from this week)

9. One book you have been meaning to read
The Death of Socrates by Emily R. Wilson
It came out this year and this thread has reminded me to go and buy it.

[luxinterior]

Originally Posted by Alex's Trip

1. Harry Potter series. I'm proud to be a nerdy wizard! Really though, I think Harry Potter was very significant for me because it was the first real book that I wanted to pick up and read. I think it was Harry Potter that really got me into reading.

Fight the good fight.

1. One book that changed your life
Probably A Clockwork Orange, simply because it made me challenge what I had been taught up until that point. It's not my favorite book, but it was significant. If I were reading it today, I don't know what effect (if any) it would have on me. But it was very much appreciated, at that particular point in time.

2. One book you have read more than once
When I was in the 2nd grade, I read Treasure Island eight times. Eventually the librarian just let me keep the book.

3. One book you would want on a desert island
I really have no idea. I can't single out any one book. On my bed I keep a few books and movies that I basically sleep next to, because I like to have them near me at all times throughout the night in case I wake up and it's still dark outside...and these books/movies are constantly being switched out for different ones. The only one that I keep there all the time is The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara. But I don't know if that counts, or if that is even my answer.

4. One book that made you laugh
A Confederacy of Dunces

5. One book that made you cry
Most of the good ones do, to be honest. It it's good, I'm crying. Sadness has very little to do with it.

6. One book you wish had been written
A better 7th Harry Potter book. Hahaha. Seriously.

7. One book you wish had never had been written
On The Road? I don't know. Something underwhelming.

8. One book you are currently reading
Switching among a few different things, but honestly I am working on a project right now involving Hamlet, not for any particular school-related purpose though. But perhaps it will come to that.

9. One book you have been meaning to read
I can't really think of anything at the moment. Usually when I need a new book I just go to the bookstore and surprise myself.

Also, it was unusually difficult to exclude plays from most of these answers. I almost succeeded.

[jennthebenn]

1. One book that changed your life--The Choirboys...LAPD Sergeant-turned-author Joseph Wambaugh's breakout novel. Changed James Ellroy's life too. The characters and stories in this book are written on the page in a pretty straightforward style, but they pulse with
disturbing truths and dark humor. If you decide not to read this because
you think a story about street cops could only be dull or somehow propagandic...your loss!

2. One book you have read more than once--Sophie's Choice, by William
Styron

I single this one out just because it's over 500 pages, and it took what
seemed like ages for me to even want to start it. Some fantastic
paragraphs of hyperbolic writing.

3. One book you would want on a desert island--Two Girls, Fat and Thin

I read this book by Mary Gaitskill after coming across an article where
Kim Gordon praised it. But that's not why I hold in such high esteem. The
Dorothy character was/is me in practically every way.

4. One book that made you laugh--A Confederacy of Dunces

Lived up to the hype, what can I say? Masterful absurdity, and a classic
that really should be praised MORE.

5. One book that made you cry--The Stalking of Kristen.

George Lardner Jr's account of his daughter's relationship with, and murder
at the hands of, a brutish thug. It wasn't his writing that made me upset,
because Lardner is a journalist and avoided making this overly sentimental.
It was his matter-of-fact details, of his daughter's life and death, of the
life and death of the boyfriend, of the justice system that virtually aided
and abetted him.

6. One book you wish had been written--an above-average Sonic Youth biography. may
be on the way though, if David Browne does his job.

7. One book you wish had never had been written--On the Road

Overrated. "That isn't writing--it's typing", saith Truman Capote

8. One book you are currently reading--We Were the Mulvaneys, Joyce Carol Oates. I've had to start/stop a few times now. I have not read anything by her before.

9. One book you have been meaning to read--The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen. Yeah...it's over there in my bucket o' books. I'll get to it next year. And probably regret not picking it up sooner.

[Bertrand]

1. One book that changed your life
Joyce's Ulysses

2. One book you have read more than once
Joyce's Ulysses, Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, Toole's Confederacy of Dunces (which I appreciated more in French), a bunch of Ellroy, Paula Fox's Desperate Characters

3. One book you would want on a desert island
Ulysses once more; or Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex

4. One book that made you laugh
A Confederacy of Dunces, parts of Wilt by Tom Sharpe, Rupert Morgan's Let There Be Lite and the great Miss Agatha Runcible in Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies

5. One book that made you cry
Benjamin Constant's Adolphe (not Hitler-related)

6. One book you wish had been written

7. One book you wish had never had been written
Albert Cohen's Belle du seigneur

8. One book you are currently reading
Re-reading Master and Margarita (they're currently in the nut house and Rimski's fled from two vampires)

9. One book you have been meaning to read

[Confucious is sex]

1. The Princess Bride - I rediscovered the joy in willfully allowing the primacy of fantasy over reality
2. The Little Prince - every time I read it there's something profound uncovered
3. 1623 Shakespeare Folio or The Bible - both excellent reads, both take a bloody long time to get through. In fact, I took both to a desert when I went...
4. Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy/Good Omens
5. Flowers for Algernon - if you haven't read it, you must, it's absolutely devastating
6. Mine - though I appreciate that the employment of the past perfect tense here is a somewhat negative assumption that, despite my continued existence, it will never happen. It might.
7. Any of the unmitigated tripe that passes for 'celebrity autobiography'
8. Prisoner of Love, Jean Genet
9. I can't narrow it down to one as I have been meaning to read the entire corpus of literature. I'm getting there.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by Nefeli

do you mean 120 days of sodom by de sade or some other book?
had started to read that in my youth and decided to stop. had my reasons at the time.
complete Kane is the book that been meaning to read again and havent. its interesting to see the different effect, books have when you are in different state of mind. i remember not being shocked, it was emotional, it was making sense, but it was also very inspiring. am an idiot now and dont remember which play was the most inspiring for me.

l

Yes, 120 days, this is what posting drunk does for one.

Sarah Kane is someone I absolutely adore - I don't really keep up with contemporary stuff, for various reasons, but she's one of the few that makes me wonder if there's a subterfuge of brilliance underneath a lot of well-meaning but ultimately inconsequential writing. Margeurite Duras (sp?) does the same.

Mr 2600 - I haven't read the Kierkegaard tome you mentioned; I have read Either/ Or, Fear & Trembling, The Concept of Dread, The Sickness Unto Death and had a drunk attempt at Concluding Unscientific Postscipt (which I need to re-read sober). So, uh, I was wondering why you'd put a 'minor' essay over some of his other stuff? I don't mean this in the sense that one must adhere stringently to the canon of Kierkegaard, but in the sense that I haven't read it and would like to know why I should (besides Kierkegaard being entirely perfect, of course).

[atari 2600]

I've read those same ones too, Glice. I probably go back to Either/Or, Stages on Life's Way and Philosophical Fragments the most (to further elicit their meanings), but I don't know that I've reread those in their entirety because they are rather lengthy. All the above (as is the case with the majority of his writings) are, as you know, pseudonymous works. With their dialectic of meaning, they were written to prepare the reader for the edifying discourses. All of mine are the Howard & Edna Hong translations, the ones most widely in print.

By contrast, Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing: the Good in Truth is a slender volume (that I've reread many times, thus the mention under "a book you've read more than once") containing (as implied in the title) one of Kierkegaard's rather religious (although, as you know, he broke from the Church) edifying discourses. This particular edifying address (as they are also sometimes referred) was his first to be translated and published in English. So whereas it might be "minor," as you described, in size, I do not feel that it is minor in importance. I don't know how much you might enjoy it, (it espouses persistent self-examination) but here it is online:
http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=2523

[Glice]

Spiffing, many thanks. Will digest at some point this weekend.

[Hip Priest]

1. One book that changed your life: A Bear Called Paddington (1958) by Michael Bond. Paddington is a perfect role-model for children and, come to think of it, a pretty good one for adults too. The world needs more Paddington, and the good news is that it is going to get some: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main...paddington.xml

2. One book you have read more than once: The one I've re-reaad most recently is probably The Doctrine of the Infallible Book (1924) by Charles Gore DD, in which Mr Gore argues against the idea of Biblical infallibility. Charles Gore was an Anglican bishop who caused considerable controversy with his ideas about Biblical infallibility (he was editor and contributor to the famous Lux Mundi, in which the theory was outlined). I own a lot of his work - he's another of my favourite figures.

3. One book you would want on a desert island: Carlyle's The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell. Actually, no, probably The Poems of Jesus (2 vols, 1965), 'taken from the gospels by Dom Robert Petitpierre', in which the forementioned Petitpierre takes the words of Jesus as recorded in the Bible and presents them as, no surprise, poetry.

4. One book that made you laugh: The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) by Saki. Saki (HH Munro) makes me laugh like no other literary figure, but it was The Chronicles of Clovis that introduced me to his work, so I'll vote that. The Reginald stories are perhaps even funnier though.

5. One book that made you cry: I don't think I've cried as a result of reading a book, but I was very touched by Nicola Barker's exquisite Small Holdings (1995). She is by some way my favourite living author of fiction, and this is a wonderful little novel.

6. One book you wish had been written: A Complete Guide to English Commemorative Medals. I would probably be well advised to write the hefty and very expensive 20-volume work myself, but I'm not sure I could be bothered. I'm especially interested in medals commemorating local (ie Wirral and Birkenhead) events, religious activities and 19th century political reform. I've been asked to give a speech illustrating the history of Birkenhead seen through commemorative medals. We'll see. I'd rather lend my collection to someone else; that way they can do the presentation and I can just take some of the credit.

7. One book you wish had never had been written: John Steinbeck's The Pearl. We had to read it at school. I remember it quite clearly as a travesty of literary justice. I hated it. It occaisionally haunts me still, I have to confess; it is testament to the depth of my love of books that The Pearl didn't compel me to despise the written word.

8. One book you are currently reading: The Apocryphal Gospels, Acts and Revelations (1870, as part of the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, but all written before the Council of Nicea, obviously). I like to read early Christian stuff; it's great to see ideas being formed and stories being reported that didn't eventually become part of the main Christian canon.

9. One book you have been meaning to read: I've bought a lot of books this year, so there are quite a few waiting for my full attention. Both Leyland Buses and Shakespeare and Religion are ones I'm especially keen to get round to.

[Lamont Cranston]

1. One book that changed your life
-
2. One book you have read more than once
Currently re-reading Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
3. One book you would want on a desert island
a Desert Island survival guide?
4. One book that made you laugh
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
5. One book that made you cry
The Unlucky Australians by Frank Hardy
6. One book you wish had been written
?
7. One book you wish had never had been written
Licensed Fiction: Star Wars novels, Star Trek novels, all that stuff
8. One book you are currently reading
Currently re-reading Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
9. One book you have been meaning to read
Don Quixote

[k-krack]

1.One book that changed your life
The Trial
2. One book you have read more than once
1984
3. One book you would want on a desert island
On The Road (see everynewwwww's reason)
4. One book that made you laugh
Hitchhikers GUide to the Galaxy
5. One book that made you cry
Blankets (it's a graphic novel)
6. One book you wish had been written
Kind of a weirdly phrased question... I'd love a book of all my lifes fuck-ups, though.
7. One book you wish had never had been written
n/a, I guess.
8. One book you are currently reading
Kingdom Come
9. One book you have been meaning to read
My dresser has 28 of them, take yr pick.

[me.]

1.1 book changed my life- Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu
2.1 book read more than once - none.
3.1 book desert island - Woman Of The Dunes - Abe
4.1 book made me laugh - Jim The Giraffe - Daren King
5.1 book mde me cry-At Swim Two Birds-Flann O'Brien
6.1 book wish i'd written- At Swim Two Birds-Flann O'Brien
7.1 book wish never been written-none.
8.1 book currently reading-I am cat - Natsume Soseki
9.1 book meaning to read-Philosophical Investigations-Wittgenstein

[hat and bread]

1. I think Hermann Hess has some kind of revelatory effect on many a young person, my 19-20ish year old self included. Steppenwolf was the one that really did it for me, though I've recently tried rereading it 4 years or so later to no avail. I'm not sure why but it doesn't affect me nearly in the same way anymore.

2. I have a habit of reading books in two languages at the same time for to master my foreign language skillz, so A LOT.

3. Nudy magazine.

4. The Ark Sakura (Kobo Abe) be the last I recall.

5. sissy.

6. A really good one.

7. Yukio Mishima... hate hate hate hate.

8. Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch (Henry Miller)

9. Against the Day... So long, so daunting, so busy.

[hat and bread]

Originally Posted by me.

3.1 book desert island - Woman Of The Dunes - Abe

Huzzah for Abe!

[k-krack]

In the "changed my life," I didn't want to be cliche and put philosophy, but I could have put some Kierkegaard, Neitzsche, etc...

[matt g]

Originally Posted by Dead-Air

Please let us know:

1. One book that changed your life
2. One book you have read more than once
3. One book you would want on a desert island
4. One book that made you laugh
5. One book that made you cry
6. One book you wish had been written
7. One book you wish had never had been written
8. One book you are currently reading
9. One book you have been meaning to read

Write as much or a little as you like (but preferably the former). I'll post my answers later.

1. Buddhism For Everyday Living (?) as a high school kid, the ideas totally blew me away
2. The Dark Tower (series) (Stephen King) entertainment purposes only
3. Cheek! (Trevor Watson) if i'm on a desert island, i'm gonna get my blackbelt in jerking off
4. Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (Christopher Moore) chris moore pretty much fucking rules
5. The Divine Invasion (Philip K. Dick) i cried because i realized i will never ever be smart enough to understand anything this fucking guy writes about
6. Something devoted to Flagg in the Stephen King multiverse
7. Chicken Soup for the...
8. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) i got excited about news of the film happening so i decided to pick it up again
9. Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas (Tom Robbins) i just can't get past the first 5 pages without nodding off

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

1. One book that changed your life The Counte of Monte Cristo
2. One book you have read more than once Clive Barker's Everville
3. One book you would want on a desert island the Holy Bible
4. One book that made you laugh Patrick Suskind Purfum
5. One book that made you cry the Agpeya
6. One book you wish had been written Ethiopia: A History by Harold Marcus
7. One book you wish had never had been The God Delusion by Dawkins (because it has ZERO science yet it is written by a scientist, wtf?)
8. One book you are currently reading Clive Barker' Mister B
9. One book you have been meaning to read Blessed Toni Morrison

Write as much or a little as you like (but preferably the former). I'll post my answers later.

[gmku]

Please let us know:

1. One book that changed your life -- The Dagger Affair (Ace Paperback, The Man From UNCLE series, #4, by David McDaniels), because it made me want to write something like it when I read it in 4th grade, and from there I got this silly notion of becoming a writer.
2. One book you have read more than once - Lolita.
3. One book you would want on a desert island - Lolita.
4. One book that made you laugh - Lolita.
5. One book that made you cry - I can't remember a book making me cry. Movies can do that, but not books, for some reason. Perhaps, though, Geronimo Rex by Barry Hannah came close in a couple of parts.
6. One book you wish had been written - On the Road Revisited by Jack Kerouac (a follow up 30 years later to the original in which Kerouac realizes how lame his vision of the American road in the first book was)
7. One book you wish had never had been written - I don't wish this.
8. One book you are currently reading - a couple of things by Bill Bryson
9. One book you have been meaning to read - I have been meaning to re-read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for several months now. It's on my desk.

[afterthefact]

my answer for every question:

 

[Danny Himself]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

^ the "rest" of the divine comedy is boring. circling planets & light everywhere--yawn. inferno is where it's at. but yeah skim thought it you'll find out.

Depends what you consider to be interesting. Reading about the journey through Purgatory and Virgil's disappearance at the entry of heaven (him being a pagan) is quite bleak.. in a way that I enjoy. And the description of God when Dante meets him is pretty good.

The Inferno is probably the part most full of fantastic imagery (trapped in a flaming tomb!) and maybe the bits about Purgatory and Paradise pale in comparison, but they're both still very good and I wouldn't reccomend just leaving them out.