Tagged.

Phlegmmy got me:
"Okay, I almost never meme, and tag folks even less frequently, but I think this is a good one, so if the following folks feel like giving it a whirl, I'd love to read their responses:
"Breda
"Christina
"DBA Dude
"Holly
"Roberta X
"Tam
"It would be very interesting to see if there's any overlap on the memes of the wonder-twins Tam & Roberta..."

Ghu'll get you for that, y'know. We're identical cousins. Who don't happen to look that much alike, really. Okay, kinda. But not.

Here goes nuthin':

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?
Anything by Steven King. He's mainstream, I don't read mainstream. Come to think of it, I hardly even read any horror outside the Cthulhu Mythos and the local newspaper, unless Steampunk counts.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
Doc Savage (fine. Snicker. But he's a big tall hunk with a brain and I wanna sit on his lap).
Friday Jones ('cos she's kewl)
Lucille Gallegeos Kropotkin ('cos she's even kewler)

An' the event would be a week-long dinner party -- drinks, dancing, movies an' plenty of nice chats. Also I'd be puttin' the moves on Doc if I could pry Friday off him. (Lucille's married to her own Bear, Ed I believe).

You are told you can't die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it's past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Any of the modern or "K-Mart" school of meaningful slice-of-life novelists. Gads, what bilge.

Come on, we've all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you've read, when in fact you've been nowhere near it?
Moby Dick, but in fact I've read bits of it, so what she said: "Um, most of the "must-read" list of literary classics... "

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to 'reread' it that you haven't? Which book?
Nope. I read 'em. I know if I haven't.

You've been appointed Book Advisor to a VIP (who's not a big reader). What's the first book you'd recommend and why? (if you feel like you'd have to know the person, go ahead of personalise the VIP.
Heinlein's Starship Troopers. It's well-written, encourages thought on a number of fundamental topics, and the movie sucked.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
I'm with Phlegmmy here: French. There's a lot of well-regarded work in the language and not every translation holds up. Proust, maybe; me, I wanna read Verne in his own words! Russian or Hindi second.

A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. 'Cos I already do.

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What's one bookish thing you 'discovered' from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art-anything)?
What she says! "Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. This is some of my favorite reading of all time, and destined to be a favorite, always." Yep. Bingo.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she's granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead-let your imagination run free.
Three-story, at least, and at least 40' square. Balconies on each level and each level has a balcony of its own.

Skylights above, with roof garden, observatory and radio hut. Parquet floors, walls are all covered in nothing but bookshelves, with ladders on rails. The shelves form a series alcoves along each wall at every level. Fiction is sorted into categories and alphabetized. It includes everything in my present library or replacements that are in good shape, plus a whole lot more. Factual works are sorted by the Dewey Decimal System[1] and include "ringers" like Snouters[2] and Philip Jose Farmer's biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage.

Full kitchen facilities just outside the stacks, ditto sleeping area. Fittings everywhere are all wood, brass, tapestry cloth and leather, very Victorian. A huge central desk/reading table with modern computer, coffee and tea area, etc., but done unobtrusively. I'd copy Phlegmmy's chaise lounge and add overstuffed chairs, etc. in the various alcoves.

[Edit: also necessary rooms, a pair for causual visitors with well-marked entrances, one each side of the main door, plus hidden doors to private khazis on each level, for me and my good friends. Yeah, guess I'm an elitist snob. Tough, it's my library].

There would be a few cats and a system of catladders and walks for them -- (but litterboxes would be Beyond The Stacks). There might be a fire-proof woodstove about a third of the way in, between the desk and the door, with a lounge area around it. It would be the old fancy cylindrical kind, with mica windows, standing on a section of brick or flagstone floor. Probably a nice steam elevator (which I have just realized also goes to a shooting range in the basement), exposed, centered on the wall opposite the main entrance and inboard of the balconies. Fine old-time, glass-fronted gun cabinets flank the elevator.

And a big ol' hand-painted sign above them:

Electric Bobbiland. Readers WELCOME. Be polite or get out.
I'd live there.


(If any of my blogging readers care to give this a whirl, go for it! --Wouldn't mind a link, either. But I shan't tag anyone; you're on your own).
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1. He was a commie but his filing system works and I'm used to it.

2. Also here.