Book Meme from Terrapin Station

Mary Beth at Terrapin Station has tagged me for this meme...

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Tomes by candidates for office - whether I support them or not!

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

Miles Vorksogian (Lois Bujold's short, but concentrated creation); Daav yos’Phelium of Clan Korval (Sharon Lee and Steve Miller elegantly cynical interplanetary scout); Mary Russell (the brilliant woman Laurie King gave Sherlock Holmes' as a wife) - if one of them could not make it, Blackie Ryan from Andrew Greeley's imagination. Dinner and conversation late into the night, with good food and wine and an incredible chocolate dessert.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can't die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it's past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

Ack...I can read almost anything and enjoy it! The Name of the Rose?

Come on, we've all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you've read, when in fact you've been nowhere near it?

This is too close to home. A few weeks back, when dropping off my oldest for his youth group meeting, I got drafted to lead a discussion on the novel "To Kill A Mockingbird" -- which I've never read, or even seen the movie! I had 5 minutes to prepare for a 90 minute sesion- even Cliff's notes weren't going to get me through this. Thankfully, the kids had all read the book in school, and we watched clips from the Gregory Peck movie, so I had something to work with. Once the kids were going, I mostly had to referee. But I'm sure if you asked them, they were left with the impression that I'd read the book!

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to 'reread' it that you haven't? Which book?

Like Mary Beth, I have a good memory for books, so I can't remember this happening to me.

You've been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who's not a big reader). What's the first book you'd recommend and why? (if you feel like you'd have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP)

Sherlock Holmes - the stories are short and compelling, and they invite (and reward) careful reading!

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?

Can I pick two?? I'd love to be a better reader of Latin!! And my Spanish is fluent enough, so I pick French --- all the better to read romances?!

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Gerard Manley Hopkins' Poems

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What's one bookish thing you 'discovered' from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?

Some new authors (Julia Spencer-Fleming), poetry (Mary Oliver's Thirst)...

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she's granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.

Auto-reshelving and cataloging!! Somewhere I read that you can track up to about 10,000 volumes in your head, but after that a catalog is helpful. We have only about 5,000 in the family collection, but I still long for more organization! Oh, and one of those wonderful sliding ladders would be awesome....

Who to tag?? Postcards from Ann Arbor should give this one a fly, and anyone else who'd like to play, let us know in the comments!!