Book Meme.

This one's been all over the web. Nobody tagged me with it (that I know of) but I like it, and I thought I'd respond to it:

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

Anything on Oprah's list(s).

If you could bring three [fictional] 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?

Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan in his position as Imperial Auditor; S.M. Stirling's Raj Ammenda Halgern Da Luis Whitehall; and R.A. Heinlein's Mycroft Holmes. Mike could come along by satellite relay, and we could plot and carry out the conquering of the planet!

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 realize it's past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?

That was Samuel R. Delany's Dahlgren. I read it until I saw the bright light, and then I put it down.

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?

None. If I haven't read it, I say so.

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

Nope.

You've been appointed Book Adviser 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 personalize the VIP).

Depends on the VIP. If it's a politician, Bill Whittle's Silent America. The "why" is self-explanatory.

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?

Oy. I don't have enough time to read the stuff I want to that's in English. I'd say Latin. There's a bunch of Roman-era stuff that would be interesting in the original, and French, Italian, and Spanish are all latin-based, which would make picking those languages up much simpler.

Alternately, Mandarin Chinese.

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?

Frank Herbert's Dune, if I'm going to read for pleasure. I reread it about every five years as it is.

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)?

I read a huge amount of non-fiction now that I never would have read before, and it is spurred exclusively from me wanting to know more about the subjects that interest me that I've found through blogging.

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 favorite authors have inscribed their works?

Realistically, I prefer paperbacks for their handiness and compactness. If I could have a "dream library, all my books would be paperback-sized printed on archival acid-free paper and archival bound.