The book meme

Lucky me! I was tagged by Dr. Free-Ride for this meme.

1. One book that changed your life?
This is hard. Let's say The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd edition. I still have the beat-up copy I used in my intro poetry class my freshman year of college. I liked poetry prior to being introduced to the anthology, but my love for poetry really took off that semester. The resulting string of events:

- I studied poetry throughout college
- I went to my current university for my MA in poetry writing
- When it came time to look for grad school program #3, I chose to return here.
- One day, Fantastic Adviser suggested I apply for a Smithsonian graduate research fellowship. I got it, and it was fantastic.
- Since we would be apart, Mr. Trillwing and I decided that I would spend the three months in DC as the recommended time-off-birth-control-pills-prior to conceiving. It was (very!) shortly upon returning from the Smithsonian that we discovered I was pregnant.
- Had we not conceived that month, we wouldn't have had our--the words of the daycare providers at BlogHer--"perfect baby." So, in a tortuous way, that poetry anthology helped provide the impetus and timing that brought Luke into this world.

2. One book you have read more than once?
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

3. One book you would want on a desert island?
The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats (alternately, a book about surviving on a desert island)

4. One book that made you laugh?
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

5. One book that made you cry?
Only two books have ever made me cry: A Separate Peace, which I read in seventh grade, and The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade, which I began reading earlier this year. It was so sad I couldn't get through more than a couple of chapters. I hope someday to find the strength to read it.

6. One book you wish had been written?
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

7. One book you wish had never had been written?
I don't know. I won't go so far as to say I wish they had never been written, but with all the conflict in the Middle East, I'm kind of wishing all those holy texts hadn't been adopted so fervently and accepted as worthy of going to war over.

8. One book you are currently reading?
Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham

9. One book you have been meaning to read?
Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter

10. Now tag five people -

It's hard to choose just five! I shall choose six! I tag:

Julie

"Shellie from the Internet" (sorry, inside joke)

ArticulateDad

Jeff

Breena Ronan

Phantom