My life, my books OK Stephanie, here you go. It took a while, but I finally asked myself these questions about my friends the books. Name one book that has changed your life "Mr. Pine's Purple House" This was apparently my first book. From my grandfather. He always took credit for how much I liked to read. Ok, I have to mention two books. I'm sorry, but one? ONE!? The first one is from when I was a kid. This was the first interior design(ish) book I bought -- and the most useful one to someone who really just wants to make better use of what they have. "Use What You Have Decorating." We'll just ignore the little fact that it should really by use-what-you-have decorating. Sigh. One book that you have read more than once? "My Antonia" by Willa Cather One book that you would want on a desert(ed) island? Can I have a set? I'd say the Little House on the Prairie books just because they're very comforting. My fourth grade teacher read those aloud to us. God I loved that. After about two days on a deserted island, I would probably start to go a little nuts and need some good memories. One book that made you laugh? "Of Mice and Men." I don't know why or what I laughed at exactly. Not the mouse squeezing, that's for sure. But I did. I laughed. One book that made you cry? I read this book when I was a teenager and still think about it once in a while. It was called "P.S. I Love You" and I even found it on Amazon. I really should buy it. I cried and cried after i finished this book. It's about a girl whose parents are getting divorced and she has to spend her summer in Palm Springs. She falls in love with this boy (of course) and spends the summer with him, but at the end he dies because he had cancer. I sobbed, I tell you. And she got a bumper sticker that said "P.S. I love you," which of course meant Palm Springs. But the boy's name was Paul Straub. (I even remember that name after all these years. Scarred for life!) One book you wish had been written? Well, the one I'd like to write. I wish I'd already written it, I mean. And nope, I'm not telling you my ideas because you might steal them. I can't have that. One book you wish had never been written? Hmm. There are so many substandard books these days, huh? I guess I'd have to say Wintering by Kate Moses. I spent a lot of time trying to read that book and when I got to the end, I wanted to throw it across the room. It was supposed to be (loosely) based on Sylvia Plath's life right before she killed herself, but it just didn't work that well. That's my opinion anyway. One book you are currently reading? "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke. It's (fiction or almost true, the book claims) about a Brit who is spending a year in Paris to open a chain of tearooms. Basically, the French through the eyes of the British, which is kinda cool so far. One book you've been meaning to read? There are so so many. "Hard News" -- it's about the New York Times and the scandals at the NYT and what they mean for American media. All the books on this part of my list tend to be nonfiction. But I really have to be in the mood for nonfiction, which doesn't happen all that often.