Books and my own library meme + the Friday Shuffle

I love this meme which I found on several book blogger sites.

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews?

Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. I have tried to read it but I just can't. I have the worst time with Chabon -- it took me forever to finish Summerland and I was never able to finish The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. So I guess it's not really irrational since I've had bad reading experiences with Chabon before, but still, I just can't read it.

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?

Dream from the Sandman series (he's my fictional crush), Roland from Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and Morgaine from The Mists of Avalon. None of these people would actually get along, I don't think, so the event would probably be hard to plan. I think I'd play it safe and have them all to dinner to discuss each of their worlds. Dream would probably claim he invented all their worlds, so even dinner would be difficult. Maybe I should have Dream over for a separate dinner.

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): 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?

Herman Melville's Moby Dick or else any Tom Clancy book -- I just don't care about all that shipbuilding and stuff.

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 -- I don't bother to pretend I've read any Tom Clancy. For a long time I pretended I'd read Pride and Prejudice until I actually read it last year.

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?

No, that's never happened.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some 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 and personalise the VIP)

Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill -- I guess my fictional VIP is a politician because I think it's important for her to know the dangers of mercenary private armies.

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?

Spanish -- there are so many Latin American writers, such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose works I'd like to read in the original language.

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 Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I love Arthurian legend and this book tells the story from the points of view of the women and it does it extremely well.

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)?

Val McDermid -- I'd seen Wire in the Blood on dvd but I'd never read any of her books. Also I discovered Mary Doria Russell -- first with A Thread of Grace and then with The Sparrow and Children of God. Both of these authors were courtesy of Babelbabe.

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leather bound? 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.

I don't want it to be too big but there's room for a sofa and a couple of chairs. It's a well-lighted space with windows, high ceilings and good lamps. Underneath the windows are window seats, so I can read by the windows. All the walls that don't have windows have built-in bookshelves and there are steps and walkways that go around each level of book so I won't have to use a ladder to get to books that are up high, since the bookshelves go up to the top of the high ceilings. I'm scared of heights. The books are well read. Some are leather bound, some are paperback -- I'd not include mass market paperbacks in my library though as they are hard for me to read. Many books have been signed by their authors. I'd also, like Superfast Reader, add a touch of magic -- I'd have Dream's library (he of Sandman fame) -- the library of books that haven't been written or were lost -- incorporated into my library.

Friday Shuffle

1. Cash Grab Complications on the Matter: The White Stripes from Conquest (EP) where they worked with Beck.
2. Broken Bricks: The White Stripes from The White Stripes -- two in a row!
3. My Lover's Gone: Dido from No Angel
4. She Came Along to Me: Billy Bragg and Wilco from Mermaid Avenue
5. The Lonely One: Wilco from Being There
6. All I Want is You: Barry Louis Polisar from the Juno soundtrack
7. Addicted: Kelly Clarkson from Breakaway
8. I'm Gone: Shawn Colvin from These Four Walls
9. Magic: Ben Folds Five from The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Messner
10. And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going: Jennifer Hudson from the Dreamgirls soundtrack