The meaning of books

I have to tell you someday why it's funny that Warren Bluhm would tag me with this books meme that's going around - or maybe no, I don't. But it gave me a giggle anyway.

But books are mighty cool, and books are mighty, and it's fun to try to make sense of how they've shaped our lives. I like this meme because it doesn't ask for "the book that changed your life," it asks for "one book that changed your life" - and that's a lot easier. Maybe the first book that you think of is the most important, maybe it isn't. And how do you measure whether one book influenced you more than another?

Anyway:

One book that changed your life

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell
[I've been scared of Big Brother ever since. Oh, and it was pretty much the first novel I read that had sex in it. THAT was better than being scared!]

One book that you have read more than once

Hell, I’ll name four (Ha! Three can play that game, Conger and Bluhm):

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

One book that you would want on a desert island

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

One book that made you laugh

High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby

One book that made you cry

The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks

One book you wish had been written

Foolproof Methods to Keep the Bastards from Stealing Your Republic, by Thomas Jefferson

One book you wish had never been written

You know, there's an answer lurking out there for me, but I just can't think of it right now ...

One book you are currently reading

Learning the World, by Ken MacLeod (still trying!!!)

One book you have been meaning to read

Serenity, by Keith R.A. DeCandido

Now tag five people
I really like Sunni's approach: "Bollocks! If you want to do it, consider yourself tagged by me."