(Almost) Overdue Book Meme

"And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost."
- Simon and Garfunkel, "The Dangling Conversation"

I was tagged by Lady Light with the "Book Meme", and since it's been exactly two weeks since the tag, I figure I'd better get it out today before the dreaded library police come after me. With yeshiva tuition what it is today, I can't afford the fines!

1. Name one book that changed your life: Would the Torah be too obvious? I don't know that I'd credit any humanly-authored books with really changing how I live my life, though a few have provided me with tremendous joy and insight, most especially Lord of the Rings.

2. One book you've read more than once: There are three multi-book series that I've read many times:

• Lord of the Rings: over a dozen times
  
• The Chronicles of Narnia: probably almost as many times; I'd say at least ten
  
• The (original) Foundation Trilogy: four or five times
  

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: Besides a siddur and a chumash, I'd say the complete works of Mark Twain. It's long enough to keep me busy there for a while, and something I've always wanted to read but never had the time.

4. One book that made you laugh: Any of the glossy paperbacks by Dave Barry, but if I had to pick one favorite, it would be "Claw Your Way to the Top: How to Become the Head of a Major Corporation in Roughly a Week".

5. One book that made you cry: Not quite a full book, but a (longish) short story that makes me cry every time I read it: "The Ugly Little Boy" by Isaac Asimov.

6. One book you wish you'd written: The Harry Potter series. I'd love to go from (almost) pauper to billionaire by writing delightful children's books!

7. One book you wish had never been written: Besides the obvious anti-Semitic propaganda that others have already listed, I'll pick "Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels" by Julius Wellhausen, in which he published his infamous Documentary Hypothesis.

8. One book you're currently reading: I'm reading several at once, as usual, but the main one this week is "Off The Derech".

10. Tag 5 people: Do I know five other bloggers who would be interested - or at least won't throw bricks in retaliation for the tag? Maybe not, but I'll try tagging Pearl, Jack, Soccer Dad, Shira, and Shifra - and then duck just in case!