BigWords

Then I suggest putting off reading it as long as possible. Immortality awaits.

D.H. Lawrence deserves to be on this page for the sole reason that he ruined the word "crisis" for me. That's just... wrong. It's hard narrowing down just three, but Moby Dick should get mentioned - the pacing and language never appealed to me, and having re-read it a couple of times I dislike it even further. I'll need to think more on this.

Welcome to the BCF.

Welcome to the BCF. I'm sure you'll get the hang of things in no time.

Welcome tot he BCF. I love the Gormenghast books. The television adaptation didn't do justice to how strange some of the characters were.

Welcome to the BCF. Sheffield is a great place.

It is online, thus there is no reason to not read it... Who Goes There by John W Campbell.

1) One book that made you read it more than once: It's probably cheating, but I would have to say that anything in this category would be non-fiction. If I had to pick a novel specifically for this category, then it would either be Flashman - which was my first real exposure to the alt-history scene - or one of the Wold Newton books, Tarzan Alive especially. If non-fiction was permitted, then the stock-reply would be one of the histories of early twentieth century literature concentrating on pulps, comic and radio authors. More than for the pop-cultural emphasis, as they truly managed - through early memetic mutation - to make a large change in the wider world. Without those works, we would not have many of our everyday phrases 2) One book you would want on a desert island: Remembrance Of Things Past by Marcel Proust... All seven volumes. By the time I finished reading it, the search party would undoubtedly have found me. I doubt there is any other way that I would be able to find the time to read it, so as a desert title it is practically an essential. Remind me to pack this should I ever go on a cruise.. 3) One book that made you laugh: These questions really aren't fair - one book? Out of all the hilarious tomes ever written, I am expected to pick one book? Ugh. Okay, so either The Liar by Stephen Fry or anything by Douglas Adams. The way that the comedy in those books arises from the characters and situations rather than external sources makes them more hilarious than any book specifically designed as a joke-fest. I was tempted to add one of the Langdon books by Dan Brown here, though those are hilarious for entirely unintentional reasons, and are probably exempted from inclusion. 4) One book that made you cry: Watership Down seems to have the ability to lull me into a false sense of security every time I read it. Or any history of the concentration camps would be apt placed here. The mental imagery tends to stick around a lot longer than I would necessarily like it to, and there are some titles I'm never picking up again. Waaay too much information in some of those. 5) One book that made you wish you had written: Stephen King's The Stand, easily. I know I use this book as a perfect example of how to kick off a story more often than is perhaps healthy, but the first couple of chapters are pitch perfect, especially in the uncut version. The later chapters get derailed somewhat, but the start of the novel - as an exercise in tension and world-building are beyond reproach. It also makes (some) sense that I should mention film guides here. The ones which concentrate on listings are fine, but tend to skim over the lesser features in favor of populism and big names - proper historical analysis of events outside of the film industry don't seem to get taken into account when saying why certain releases worked. I've always wanted to rectify that. 6) One book that made you wish had never been written: Too easy: Twilight. Just Twilight. I know there are a lot of people who consider it to be the pinnacle of post-millennial literature, but I can't take a vampire story seriously when the main character is so klutzy, ineffective and dull, and her lover is a psychotic, stalking, sparkly moron. There are so many things wrong with the book that to this day I am amazed that it was picked up by a publisher... 7) One book you are currently reading: Several titles are sitting half-read, though the one giving me most enjoyment thus far is The Inmates Are Running The Asylum, which is picking apart the current technological problems of UI and consumer-confusion perfectly. The insights are fabulous, and the issues are clearly stated. My mood may change, but halfway through there is no sign that the book will derail. 8) One book you have been meaning to read: There are a lot of books I've always meant to read, but never quite managed to bring myself to devoting time for. Proust is but one of the authors I've shied away from, though there are some books I have started but not managed to finish. If there is one "important" title which I should read but as yet haven't, then it is probably Michael Strogoff: The Courier Of The Czar by Jules Verne. Despite having read the popular opinion of it, there is something about the book that seems to repel me at every attempt. It's probably a case of poor translation, or the awful cover art, but the moment I start reading (and I have barely made it in a few pages each time) I suddenly find the urge to do anything but read. 9) One book that changed your life: I thought the questions would get easier the more I answered, but no... Damn, this is hard. A history book? A novel of outstanding beauty? A title which compiles information? There are so many options here that any choice would be a random stab towards a concrete answer. If I was forced to pick one, and only one, book which affected me like no other, then it would have to be The Complete Directory to Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Television Series: A Comprehensive Guide to the First 50 Years, 1946 to 1996, which may seem like an arbitrary choice, and one which hasn't had a great deal of exposure outside of my mercilessly pimping it at every opportunity, but it is a landmark title for me. It was the first time I read something which was aimed specifically at the generation of readers (and, by necessity, television viewers) which was raised with the writing of Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling and Roald Dahl as standard texts - it is a love letter to great writing, disguised as a pop-cultural artifact, and - importantly - is set in a format which encourages reader cooperation. It is also one of the primary motivating factors in my love of lists, which goes a long way to explaining some of the things I have read and written since then.

Nigella isn't so weird a crush, huh? Cool. Hell yes. There's a reason I bought Black Snake Moan on DVD... Oh, and while I'm thinking of really hot women, I should probably remind people of Meg Foster. Those pale blue eyes always managed to grab my attention, but she doesn't seem to have gotten the same level of attention as other eighties stars. I'm not sure why she didn't follow Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan into the big name status, but she is ten times better looking than either of them. That's probably a more obvious crush from my youth, though - in fairness - she is relatively unknown these days.