"Book 'em, Dano"

I've been tagged by Bethany, and since I really like talking about books anyway, I may as well participate.

1: One book that changed your life: Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. I have never had a story so impact how I view my relationship with God. Also, like Bethany, Anne Lamott ends up very high on that list.

2: One book you have read more than once: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. No matter how many times I read and/or teach that book, I never get sick of it. I want all of my students to meet and know the character of Atticus Finch.

3: One book you would want on a desert island: I agree with Bethany - I would take my copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - you get everything! Drama, suspense, prose, poetry, good characters, horrible characters, (flat characters), love, hatred, jealousy, mind games, frolicks in the woods with fairies...and it takes at least 3 hours to read a play!

4: One book that made you laugh: Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar. I was laughing out loud in Borders, and after I took it home, I laughed so hard I about fell out of my chair. Then, when I was reading it aloud to my students, I couldn't stop laughing. It's very difficult to read aloud while laughing. However, you may need to work in a high school to fully appreciate the humor in this book.

5: One book you wish you had written: I have to pick one? Made in America by Bill Bryson...or any of the other linguistic books I've read. It would mean that I would have gotten to learn a bunch of stuff I wanted to know, and I would get to be funny at the same time.

6: One book you wish had never had been written: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I hate teaching it. Kids hate reading it. The ending is HORRIBLE. Mark Twain should have left it in the cubby hole he put it in when he was halfway through writing it.

7: One book that made you cry: The Brothers K by David James Duncan. And it will make me cry again every time I read it.

8: One book you are currently reading: Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

9: One book you have been meaning to read: I have a list that could fill a filing cabinet. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Four Loves and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis top the list.

10. One book you wish everyone would read, and why: To Kill a Mockingbird, because I have never seen a greater literary example of integrity as Atticus Finch, and it is a story that gets across a point that no didactic essay ever could.

Now tag 5 people.

Umm....you're it. If you want to answer, go ahead.