Tag, yer it.

Mmmkay Phlem, here goes.

1. A book I've read more than once? There's a few; Child of God, The Hunt for Red October, The Curse of Lono, and something about Daniel Boone I read when I was a kid. That was the first real book I read cover to cover, and it was so good, and I was so pissed off and sad when it ended that I read it over again.
2. What book would I want on a desert Island? Obviously, something about survival on a desert Island. Thing is, are there really any desert islands anywhere? Aren't they usually jungles with all sorts of rats and bugs and shit? Actually, I'd crate up all the books I have here that I'll never get a chance to read because I can't make myself turn this friggin' thing off, or the TV. Desert Island would be a great chance to get all that reading done, but I think I'd be too busy surviving. It takes a LOT of effort to do that If you don't have switch-on power and water or a supermarket. Never will get these things read.
3. A book that made me laugh? Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Curse of Lono, basically anything by the gonzo man.
4. A book that made me cry? Can't remember one. Lots of movies, but can't remember a book. Probably just don't head in that direction. Don't read for weeping and a release.
5. A book I wish I'd written? Obviously, something like How to Make a HUGE Amount of Money and be Slathered in Cooze Without Really Trying. I can see my infomercial now.
6. A book I wish had never been written? Phlems' got it covered with the Qur an, but I'd add the Bible... because religion IS the opiate of the masses, and people are stupid enough. They don't need encouragement. No offence guys. I'm probably wrong but can't remember a time in the last 2000 years when some desert born religion wasn't the cause of human torment and pain. If people could keep it to themselves, that would be different. I prefer the animist stuff we had before the damn Romans came, but even that probably would have gotten out of hand if left alone and given a chance. Maybe then it's not religion, but the stuff humans do with it. Anyway...
7. A book I'm currently reading? The Whiskey Rebellion, by William Hogeland. Just finished a little thing called The Coming of the Civil War 1837-1861, by John Niven. Before that it was If the South Won The Civil War, by MacKinlay Kantor and Plains Indian History and Culture, a series of essays by John C. Ewers. What can I say? This history shit gets me goin'. Ok, there's also a few magazines, catalogs and comics that float through from time to time. Oh, and I've got a coffee table type thing called The Peacemakers, Arms and Adventure in the American West, by R.L. Wilson, out next to the shitter, but I only get to look at it for a few moments at a time now and then. You know.
8. A book I've meant to read? The list is too long. Lots of history. Lots of amazing carnage.
9. A book that changed my life? Probably that Daniel Boone thing. It got me started, way back then. Ether that or C.S. Lewis', The Chronicles of Narnia. Had to read that in a book club someone set up back in school in Missouri. Loved it.

Well, who will I pass this on to? I guess I'll tag James, Mushy, The Rat (ok, it's a long shot), Becky ('cause she loves these lists), Dirtcrasher, and maybe Heather B. There. Tag, yer it.

And here's a few more fun quotes...

"I've only slept with men I've been married to. How many women can make that claim?"
- Elizabeth Taylor.

"Elizabeth's never been in a supermarket, in any kind of market. She's never in her life stood on line to use a public phone- a public anything. It's like deprivation. Elizabeth's a true innocent. Every time she gets laid, she gets married. Nobody ever told her you can do it and stay single."
- Lillian Hellman.

"I say I don't sleep with married men, but what I mean is that I don't sleep with happily married men."
- Britt Ekland.

"Adultery: second only to front-line combat, produces feats of almost lunatic daring. And it thrives on the extraordinary capacity of the deceived partner to ignore the signs of infidelity, so obvious to the rest of the world."
- Mary Beard.

Postscript, and maybe a retraction. You know, after thinking about it while driving to the big feed at mom and dads this afternoon, I've decided I was a bit harsh to the organized religions back there in #6. I guess any belief system can be turned into a viscous murderous travesty if the right people get hold of it. We probably shouldn't paint any religion, including Islam and Christianity with a broad brush because of what their devotees do in their name. It's just too convenient now to say "oh to hell with all of em" when there are car bombs going off. We forget all the hundreds of years of horror visited on the planet by Christians, and even all the wars and atrocities perpetrated by the followers of the Olympians, or the Animist Mongol hoards, or the supposedly atheistic Nazis. It's people who are the problem. I'm back to that. It's becoming a theme somehow. So I'm officially switching my choice to Rousseau's The Social Contract, because of what a lot of stupid frogs learned from it, and all the carnage that ensued for generations after. There, I feel better.