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Another bloody meme

OK Simon and James at Inner West

1. Name one book that changed your life.

The Captive Mind By Czeslaw Milosz - Made me see the real nature of Communism when I read it at 14.

2. One book you've read more than once.

I re-read books quite regularly- I recently went back to The Earthsea Quartet by Ursula K. LeGuin- a slightly guilty pleasure, but fun nevertheless.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island.

Encyclopedia Britannica - especially the beautifully written 1911 edition- at least I would learn a lot of practical stuff.

4. One book that made you laugh.

The first time I read Spike Milligan's Puckoon I laughed like a drain, but Round the Horne scripts also have the same effect

5. One book that made you cry.

I do love Thomas Hardy- Probably The Mayor of Casterbridge might have had this effect, but the only thing I truly remember doing so is Psalm 121:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

6. One book you wish you'd written.

"Love Letters to Small Countries"- I really must get round to finishing it too

7. One book you wish had never been written.

The protocols of the Elders of Zion is fairly evil.

8. One book you're currently reading.

Haruki Murakami "The Elephant Vanishes"

9. One book you've been meaning to read.

The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. My ex-girlfriend's favourite book- maybe that is why I have not finished it

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