Tag. You're It!??!?

Someone tagged me in an earlier post.
I wasn't sure what that meant.
At first I thought,
'Oh no not another computer cookie thingy'.
Since then I have discovered that being tagged
is a cyberspace game of old fashioned tag
with an intellectual twist.
Being tagged means someone wants me
to participate in the Book Meme game.
This game consists of answering 10 questions
about books that we have read
and then tagging someone else to do the same.

It looks like fun so here I go.



1. One book that changed your life (other than the Bible).

Changed my life? Now hey, that's a pretty big claim for any book (other than sacred scripture) to make.

But perhaps I will say that one book provided a line that I have kept deep in my third belly and brought forth from time to time to chew over in my mental cud.

It came from J.D. Salinger's lesser novel, Franny and Zooey. The line is delivered at the end of the book and it proves to be the miracle cure for Franny's tormented mind. It goes something like this.

"Jesus is the fat lady sitting on her back stoop, shooing flies from her face as she swelters in the heat, dying of cancer."

That has been powerful food for thought over the years. It tasted real funny the first time I tried to swallow it but it becomes sweeter and more satisfying with each new chew.

2. One book you've read more than once.

The Eaton's Christmas Catalogue. It was this young boy's vision of toy heaven.



3. One book you would want on a desert island.

The Eaton's Christmas Catalogue. After Christmas it served as almost adequate toilet paper and was a good fire starting material.

4. One book that made you laugh.

I don't think I read or laugh enough. Perhaps I should start doing both tomorrow.

5. One book that made you cry.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.
When God sent his angel to bring back the 2 most precious things in the city, the angel gathers up from the dust heap the broken lead heart of the Happy Prince and the body of the dead swallow who had loved him and served the suffering people of the city.

"You have rightly chosen," said God, "for in my garden of Paradise this little bird shall sing for evermore, and in my city of gold the Happy Prince shall praise me."

How I long for God to proclaim that over my broken lead heart.

6. One book that you wish had been written.


The best seller that made me rich.




7. One book you wish had never been written.


The Naked Ape. Desmond Morton. It makes this impossibleape blush under his fur just thinking about it.

8. One book you are currently reading.

Confessions. St. Augustine.

9. One book you have been meaning to read.

J.D. Salinger's greatest work. Catcher in the Rye. If Franny and Zooey can tell me so much about Jesus in one line I am expecting a real doozy in this one.

10. Five people I tag to do this meme:

Any volunteers?
How about
Steve of Grow Mercy
Professor Jeff McNair of Disabled Christianity
Professor Earl (aka James) Breech of Jesus and Interpretation
Antoinnette of L'Arche London
Walter and Brenda of Duncartin' Farms?


PS


I've got to add one more category



Two Books (other than sacred scriptures) that would change the world if everyone on earth would read them.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

and

Man's Search For Meaning by Victor Frankel