I’ll take Mitch’s general tagging (hey, I live in New Hampshire, it’s the best I can get) and, because I’m a huge film buff, add movies to the list:
1. One book that changed my life: Catch 22. Confirmed my teenage observation that the people in charge are idiots and cannot be trusted to protect or look out for you. Might explain my conservatism. One film that changed my life: Dr. Strangelove. Made me laugh and showed me how to poke fun at authority with subtlety. A man named Vladimir Chang would never have been born had it not been for Dr. Strangelove.
2. One book I’ve read more than once: Hamlet. One film I’ve seen more than once: Love and Death.
3. One book I’d want on a desert island: The Bible. (That way, if I don’t get saved, I still get saved.) One film I’d want on a desert island: Casablanca.
4. One book that made me laugh: Original Color by Hugh Kennedy (About a gay art dealer from Charlotte who moves to Boston). One film that made me laugh: Duck Soup. Greatest film by history’s greatest comedy team.
5. One book that made me cry: All Quiet on the Western Front. One film that made me cry: Saving Private Ryan.
6. One book I wish had been written: Why it’s not OK to kill in my name, by Allah, as told to Mohammad. One film I wish had been made: General George Washington, starring Liam Neeson, directed by Akira Kurosawa.
7. One book I wish had not been written: Das Kapital. 100 million dead because of that book. One film I wish had not been made: Dirty Dancing. I did not have the time of my life.
8. One book I am currently reading: In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Norton. Outstanding scholarship and narration. The book you have to read if you want to understand the Salem witch trials (and who doesn’t?). One film I’m currenly watching: A Mighty Wind.
9. One book I’ve been meaning to read: Citizens, by Simon Schama. I’ve literally had this on my bookshelf for years. One film I’ve been meaning to see: Corpse Bride.
