Caught A Lite Sneeze

Went to bed last night with the realisation that I'd caught a throat bug. Woke up with a smarting port-side tonsil, powered up the laptop, and found that I've also been hit with a friendly blogging chain letter, The Book Meme. Boys 'n' girls, in dealing with smooth lova Carl at Hot Cup of Joe, keep your mind protected!

1) One book that changed your life?

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Sent me questing through Fantasyland for years, including a decade in the Stockholm Tolkien Society. Probably made me an archaeologist as well.

2) One book you have read more than once?

Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad. Quirky and hilarious robot stories.

3) One book you would want on a desert island?

It'd have to be long-lasting and it'd have to be practically useful. Does Encyclopaedia Britannica count as one book?

4-5) One book that made you laugh/cry?

Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole. The Cappuccino Years. Those books make you laugh and cry.

6) One book you wish had been written?

Hygelac Hrethelson, Chlochilaicus. An autobiography. Vols 1-7. We could really use some good historical sources for early and mid-1st millennium Scandinavia.

7) One book you wish had never had been written?

Michael Shanks & Christopher Tilley, Re-constructing archaeology. Theory and practice. Anti-science in our midst.

8) One book you are currently reading?

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers. It's like a Beatles record, incredible brilliance from someone who's 24.

9) One book you have been meaning to read?

Joseph Addison, Selected essays from "The Tatler", "The Spectator" and "The Guardian". I really like essays and I'm working through the bigguns of the form.

10) Now tag five people -

• Space Babe at Mathimlen
  
• Martha at Mad Mutter
  
• David Nessle
  
• Alun Salt at Archaeoastronomy
  
• Amber at Grått och Rött

OK, people, you know what you gotta do.

[More blog entries about books, reading; böcker, läsning.]