Tagged: I'm it.

I don’t know what I did to piss Peej off. Whatever it is, I'll never do it again. Promise!

1. One book that changed your life?

ON WRITING WELL by William Zinsser. One of several on a reading list a local writing guru gave me, this one probably had the most impact. After years of government "stuff" writing correctly wasn't the problem. Clarity and being concise were. I remember reading it the first time and thinking, I can do this!

2. One book you're read more than once?

Stephen King's THE STAND.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island?

Any book would help me get the hell off.

4. One book that made you laugh?

LAMB: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

5. One book that made you cry?

RIDE THE WIND by Lucia St Clair Robson. It's based on the actual story of Cynthia Ann Parker who as a child was kidnaped by the Comanche. She is raised as one and becomes one of The People. Marries a chief. Has children. Through the story telling they all stop being names on pages and become people you almost know. If a Comanche Chief named Quannah Parker rings any bells, she was his mother.

6. One book you wish had been written.

<Glances at the filing cabinet.> I plead the Fifth.

7. One book you wish had never been written.

The Da Vinci Code. If it hadn't been written then Herself wouldn't have been able to read it and rave about it so much that at her insistence I did. And the movie that she forced Da Kid and me to go see with her would wouldn't have been made, either.

The buck sucked. The movie was better but considering I'm comparing it to the book, that ain't saying much.

8. One book you are currently reading?

THE CIA AT WAR (Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror). I've been "currently reading" it for two weeks without making much progress.

9. One book you've been meaning to read?

Avoiding, actually, although it's been sitting there since January. I don't know if I'm ready yet for MARLEY AND ME, which is one of the reasons I'm still slogging through the book mentioned in Question 8.

10. What book makes made you dream the most?

Since Peej cheated and added her own question, I'm changing it.

THE BLACK STALLION by Walter Farley. Like most little girls I always had a thing about horses, but unlike most other little girls I was sickly. I don't remember how old I was when I overheard the doctor telling Mom something like, "If she makes it to seven . . . "

Obviously I did, but lying in bed for long stretches I played with the different plastic horses pretending the covers over me were hills and valleys. And then came that danged book about a survivor child and his magnificent horse that despite all the odds against them, everything turned out perfectly in the end.

In my dreams Alec Ramsey wasn't riding The Black. I always was.

Now tag 5 people.

Hmmm . . . anyone want to volunteer?

LATER: A couple dozen hits and at least two volunteers so far, thanks to Tom Maguire at Just One Minute.