12 September 2006
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1. One book that changed your life - the hardest question first.
War of Honor by David Weber - why? because it's hard cover first edition contained a CD and introduced me to Baen and its addictive eBook crack. No it isn't profound, but it is true. It intriduced me to authors I would not otherwise have read, one of which - 1632 - led to my writing a short story that was published in the Grantville Gazette III - available on line now and in good bookstores from January.
2. One book that you've read more than once
Stalky & Co by Rudyard Kipling. Not by any means the only one, but representative and once that I have read sufficiently often that I barely need the text any more. I'm actually torn between this and The Day's Work which is at almost the same level of familiarity.
3. One book that you'd want on a desert island
You need a book with lots of content that keeps the attention. If I can read the CD enclosed then I want one of the Baen books with their CD - say At All Costs by David Weber. But if not then I'll go for the astoundingly brilliant Unto the Breach - which I've only read in eARC form and which gets printed for distribution in December so I guess I'd better hope I only get on the desert island after that. If not I'll cheat and go for Survival and Escaping Desert Islands for Dummies
4. One book that made you laugh
Pyramid Scheme David Free & Eric Flint - A science fiction fantasy romantic comedy novel or something like that. Appeals to people with warped minds and hence fits me to a T
5. One book that made you cry
I'm a man and real men don't cry (yeah right) - seriously though, what I don't read are sad books. There are two reasons for this - the first is that I read primarily for enjoyment and I don't enjoy being sad so sad books tend not get read and if they start being read they generally end up being dumped before I get to the really sad bits; the second is that a number of books that allegedly make other people sad make me angry except in the rare case where I find them funny. The closest I have come is reading some of the September 11th tales but they aren't as far as I know in book form
6. One book that you wish you had written
Any bestseller. But seriously there is a book about network and system design which I really ought to write. Of books that already exist that I'm jealous of the authorial talent then its a toss up between Heinlein and Bujold and I think I'll go for the former and in particular Starship Troopers.
7. One book you wish had never been written
That stupid French book claiming that Sept 11 was a hoax
8. One book that you are reading at the moment
Death of a Musketeer by Sarah D'Almeida (Hoyt) - it's an ARC so this is what is known as boasting - neener neener neener. It is also a most excellent historical whodunnit with characters that we already know - the notorious 3 musketeers plus D'Artignan - and lots of fun, derring do and "all for one, one for all".
9. One book that you've been meaning to read
I've been meaning to finish "The Tale of Genji", which I have in beautiful translation and which I have yet to get more than halfway through.
10. Five others that you'd like to do this
Time to pick on some barflies. Starting with a brace of Sarahs:
And continue with
before veering off to non barlfies such as
