The one book meme
I’ve sometimes wondered how these blogging memes originate—so I thought I’d try to start one myself. If you’d like to participate, just post your own responses to these questions and tag five people. Welcome to the One Book Meme!
1. One book that changed your life:
Augustine, Confessions (398 CE)
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda (1988)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667)
4. One book that made you laugh:
Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (1952)
5. One book that made you cry:
Markus Zusak, The Book Thief (2005)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics V/1
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Cornelius Van Til, The New Modernism: An Appraisal of the Theology of Barth and Brunner (1946)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
John Updike, In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace (2006)
10. Now tag five people: In the hope of getting this meme started, I’ll tag anyone who happens to read this!
1. One book that changed your life:
The New Testament and the People of God, N.T. Wright
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime, Phyllis Tickle
4. One book that made you laugh:
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
5. One book that made you cry:
No Future Without Forgiveness, Desmond Tutu
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Insight, Bernard J.F. Lonergan
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell
8. One book you’re currently reading:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Perplexity and Ultimacy: Metaphysical Thoughts from the Middle, William Desmond
1. One book that changed your life:
Karl Barth, Romans.
2. One book that you've read more than once:
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:
George Herbert, The Temple
4. One book that made you laugh:
Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote
5. One book that made you cry:
Toni Morrison, Beloved
[One book that made you laugh and cry:
Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes]
6. One book that you wished had been written:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers after Prison
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
8. One book that you're curently reading:
Bob Dylan, Chronicles - Volume One
9. One book that you've been meaning to read:
Eberhard Jüngel, God as the Mystery of the World
My list is posted here.
1. One book that changed your life:
Bible
On Being a Christian, Hans Kung
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, Brennan Manning
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Bible
4. One book that made you laugh:
I'm not sure when I last read a book that made me laugh - that's sad!
5. One book that made you cry:
The City of Joy, Dominique LaPierre
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Anything by Eugene Peterson
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
8. One book you’re currently reading: [I seldom read one book at a time]
Freedom at Midnight, Dominique LaPierre
The Shape of Things to Come, Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch
The Power of Blessing, Terry & Melissa Bone
EnvyJoseph Epstein
Christ Plays in 10,000 Places Eugene Peterson
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Character of Theology, John Franke
does that mean I got tagged? I find it informative especially getting to know what books people wished had never been written
Great idea Ben. Here's my contribution:
1. One book that changed your life:
Bingham, 'Christ's Cross Over Man's Abyss'
2. One book that you've read more than once:
Mandela, 'No Easy Walk to Freedom'
3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:
Forsyth, 'The Cruciality of the Cross'
4. One book that made you laugh:
Kung, 'The Church'
5. One book that made you cry:
Roberts, 'Join Up'
6. One book that you wish you had written:
Calvin, 'Institutes of the Christian Religion'
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
'The Oxford Manual of Style'
8. One book you are currently reading:
Petuchowski, 'The Lord's Prayer and Jewish Liturgy'
9. One book that you've been meaning to read:
Thielicke, 'Being Human ... Becoming Human'
1. One book that changed your life:
To Love as God Loves (Roberta Bondi)
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Christ Recrucified (Kazantzakis)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Politics of Jesus (J.H. Yoder)
4. One book that made you laugh:
A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
5. One book that made you cry:
I don't think I've ever cried because of a book (maybe papercuts...who knows?)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
"Why I became a Pacifist" (G.W. Bush)
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The DaVinci Code (Brown) - not because of the religious furor, but because it SUCKED!
8. One book you’re currently reading:
The Drama of Doctrine (Kevin VanHoozer)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Resurrection (Rowan Williams)
also posted here
ps. props to chris t for adding in a last question...one i've posted on my blog. thanks chris.
1. One book that changed your life:
Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections (1746)
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (1972)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (1667)
4. One book that made you laugh:
Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers (1857)
5. One book that made you cry [or feel really sad]:
Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Martin Luther, Why John Calvin was right about the Lord’s Supper (1529)
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Steve Chalke, The Lost Message of Jesus (2003)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Kevin Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine (2005)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity (2004)
10. Now tag five people: Er…dunno how to do that, cos I’m a bit of a techno-thicky. If you know how leave some techy support in the comments.
G'day Exiled Preacher -- to "tag" five people, you just link to them at the end of your post (for examples, see here and here).
One book that changed my life:
Manning Clark - A History of Australia (especially vols. one and two)
One book I’ve read more than once:
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
One book I’d want on a desert island:
Richard Flanagan - Gould’s Book of Fish
One book that made me laugh:
Sean Condon - Sean and David’s Long Drive
One book that made me cry:
C. S. Lewis - The Last Battle (the end bit)
One book I wish had been written:
My Life by Boorong of the Cadigal nation. Boorong grew up in the area that stretches between the South Head of Sydney Harbour to the Cooks River. She was about fifteen when the British established a colony at Sydney Cove. When, in April 1789, a smallpox epidemic swept through the Indigenous population of the Sydney region she fell sick and was brought in for treatment in the camp hospital. Several of her relatives died of the disease and so she went to live with Reverend Richard and Mary Johnson for more than a year. She later ran away and rejoined the remnants of her tribe. No one knows what happened to her, or much at all about her experience of life, the land, of colonisation.
For very different reasons, another book I wish had been written is The Spirit and the Soil: Land, Protestantism and the Colonisation of Australia by Meredith Lake.
One book I wish had never been written:
Can't answer that one. Almost everything - even things that are grossly misleading or hateful or destructive - can be interesting as an historical source. To some degree I'm glad things get written down.
One book I’m currently reading:
Neale Donald Walsh - Conversations with God - my first real foray into new age literature
One book I’ve been meaning to read:
John Gascoigne - The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia
1. One book that changed your life:
Henri de Lubac, Splendor of the Church
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Sophocles, Three Theban Plays
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
M. Faustina Kowalska, Diary
4. One book that made you laugh:
Plato, Symposium
5. One book that made you cry:
Michael Nicholson, Natasha's Story
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Thomas Aquinas, Tertia Pars of the Summa Theologiae
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now
8. Two books you’re currently reading:
Maurice Blondel, Action (1893)
Hans Kung, Structures of the Church
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Soren Kierkegaard, Philosophical Fragments
Mine are here. But in case you're too lazy to come all the way over to my place...
1. One book that changed your life:
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Jorge Luis Borges, Labrynths.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
How to get off a desert island in three easy steps, or failing that,
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (finally, I'd have time to read it!).
4. One book that made you laugh:
Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.
5. One book that made you cry:
Antoine de Saint Exupéry, The Little Prince.
6. One book that you wish had been written:
An ebook containing all the lost manuscripts from the library of Alexandria.
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind.
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Augustine, Confessions.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Eberhardt Jüngel, God's Being Is in Becoming.
Oh, that's what "tag" means. I was getting confused with the kids game where you give someone a gentle slap and say, "Tag, you're on it!" Good job I didn't just try tagging five random people in that sense.
Thanks for that valuable bit of techy-support, Ben.
1. One book that changed your life:
Thomas Groome, Christian Religious Education
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
CBS Producers, A Survivors Guide To Desert Islands
4. One book that made you laugh:
Bill Bryson, Notes from a Big Country
5. One book that made you cry:
David Bernard, The New Birth
(it’s a long story…)
6. One book that you wish had been written
Martin Luther King Jr, Personal Memories from 1969-2009
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Milliard Erickson, Christian Theology
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Stephen Rockefeller, John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
John Cobb, Process Theology
10. Now tag five people:
Meredith Lake
Simon Holt
Jason Dulle
Richard G.
Michael Barber
(links are on my blog)
1. One book that changed your life.
Clark Pinnock, A Wideness in God's Mercy, (1992)
2. One book You've read more than once
George Lindbeck, The Nature of Doctrine, (1984)
3. One book you'd want on a desert island
Claire Llewellyn, Survive on a Desert Island, (2006). (Sorry!)
4. One Book that Made you Laugh
Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, (1970)
5. One Book that made you Cry
Mark Noll, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, (1994) (I know that is really sad but it really is true)
6. One book you wish had been written
Karl Barth, How Richard Gillingham Changed my Mind
7. One Book you wish had never been written
E C W Boulton, George Jeffreys: A Ministry of the Miraculous, (1998).
8. One Book you're Currently Reading
Bertrand Russell, Why I am Not a Christian
9. One book you've been meaning to read
Douglas Jacobsen, Thinking in the Spirit, (2003).
10. Now tag Five people
Chris Rice
Dave Rattigan
Solly Gratia
Andy
Kwakersaur
1. One book that changed your life.
Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children
2. One book you've read more than once
Joan Aiken, Wolves of Willoughby Chase (at least fifteen times before I was 12!)
3. One book you'd want on a desert island
Psalms
4. One Book that Made you Laugh
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim
5. One Book that made you Cry
Primo Levi, If This is a Man
6. One book you wish had been written
Jurgen Habermas, The Simple Version
7. One Book you wish had never been written
The Scofield Reference Bible
(just the reference bits, obviously!)
8. One Book you're Currently Reading
Asa Briggs, The Age of Improvement, 1783 - 1867
9. One book you've been meaning to read
William Cavanaugh, Theopolitical Imagination
10. Tag five people:
Greg
Simone
Stephen
Simon
(links on my blog)
1. One book that changed your life:
Contemplative Youth Ministry, Mark Yaconelli
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, Karl Barth
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Anti-Nicene Fathers, 37 volumes, various
(this most certainly cheating…but I can’t help it)
4. One book that made you laugh (and cry):
Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott
5. One book that made you cry:
Mudhouse Sabbath, Lauren Winner
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Ecclesial Structure and Practice, by the Apostles
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkerson
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Missional Church, ed. By Darrell L. Guder
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Biblical Theology, Geerhardus Vos
Answers also posted at Laura's Writings
1. One book that changed your life:
The Long Emergency, by Kunstler.
2. One book that you've read more than once:
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Over and over and over.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Bible, of course.
4. One book that made you laugh:
To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. Read it!
Also, Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett -- a funny book about the Apocalypse, can you imagine that?
5. One book that made you cry:
The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, by Tolkien.
Watership Down, by Richard Adams.
6. One book that you wish had been written
?
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Knowledge of Angels, by Jill Paton Walsh (just for its effect on me personally)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis (for the millionth time)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Brothers Karamazov, by Dostoyevsky.
1. One book that changed your life:
Baxter Kruger, The Great Dance (2005)
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
George Orwell, 1984 (1950)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths (1962)
4. One book that made you laugh:
Doug Naylor, Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (1989)
5. One book that made you cry:
Louis DeBerniers, Captain Corelli's Mandolin (1993)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
M. R. James, 101 More Ghost Stories (1912)
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
David Noebel, Undertstanding the Times (1994)
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Ovid, Metamorphosis (8)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Louis Ginzberg, On Jewish Law and Lore (1970)
10. Now tag five people:
Annie, Andrew, Dr Vox, Guider & Bojack
copied from my blog
I see many of my favourite authors on people's lists!
My list (such as it is -- how can you pick just one book?) is here.
wow, your challenge spread like wildfire.
I'm glad to find the source.
1. Book that changed your life: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
2.Persuasion by Jane Austen
3.Book you'd want on a desert island:My entire library. Who knows how long I'll be stranded? The Bible
4. Book that made you laugh: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
5. Book that made you cry: Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
6. Book that you wish had been written: John Grisham’s The Client
7. Book you don't enjoy: Stupid love stories
8. Book you are currently reading: Ireland by Frank Delaney
9.Book you've been meaning to read: Cryptonomicon
10. Book you remember as a real page-turner: A Rift in Time by Michael Philips
11. Non-fiction books that you have enjoyed: Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization
12. Children's books your family has loved: Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
Hi! This is a great meme :-) I've posted my responses here. cheers!
Great meme!
1. One book that changed your life: Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard
2. One book that you've read more than once: The Great Divorce by C. S. Lewis
3. One book you'd want on a desert island: The Divine Comedy by Dante
4. One book that made you laugh: I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
5. One book that made you cry: Fifty Acres and a Poodle by Jeanne Marie Laskas
6. One book that you wish had been written: The Truth about Truth by Can't Think of a Suitable Author
7. One book that you wish had never been written: Phenomenologie des Geistes by G. W. F. Hegel
8. One book that you're currently reading: Philosophical Ethics by Stephen Darwall
9. One book you've been meaning to read: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Great meme indeed. My responses are here
It's so hard to limit myself to one book answers!
1. One book that changed your life:
Restoring the Christian Soul by Leanne Payne
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
The Pace of a Hen by Josephine Moffatt
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
A parallel Bible with study notes, the Apocrypha, a concordance, the works!
4. One book that made you laugh:
Raising Demons by Shirley Jackson
5. One book that made you cry:
Yonder by Tony Johnston (a picture book that gets me every time)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
How to Raise Six Children, Homeschool, Care for a House and a Husband, and Have Time Left Over for Blogging and All the Other Stuff You’d Really Like to Do
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
8. One book you’re currently reading:
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
For the Life of the World by Alexander Schmemann
Ben, thanks for starting a great meme! I received my tag earlier tonight, and have posted my response, if anyone's interested.
The One Book Meme. My Response.
http://tatumweb.com/blog/2006/08/27/one-book/
Some great book recommendations this meme has uncovered.
Rich
BlogRodent
I was unable to manage the ONE book aspect of this so I've published here http://hecta.blogspot.com/2006/08/bens-one-book-meme.html so as not to sully the post
Translated in Italian and posted here: http://www.casperize.com/2006/09/02/one-book-meme/
1. One book that changed your life:
Wayne W. Dyer, The Sky’s The Limit (1980)
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1951)
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
J.M. Roberts, The Shorter History of the World (1993)
4. One book that made you laugh:
J.K.Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) (1889)
5. One book that made you cry:
Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf (1927)
6. One book that you wish had been written:
Bertrand Russell, On God and Religion (1986)
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Sigmund Freud, Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Philip Le Roy, The Last Testament (Italian edition, not yet translated in English) (2005)
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Thomast L. Friedman, The World is Flat (2005)
1. One book that changed your life:
Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
2. One book that you've read more than once:
Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
3. One book that you'd want on a desert island:
The Holy Bible (Or, following Chesterton, A Practical Guide to Ship-making)
4. One book that made you laugh:
Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events (all 13 books)
5. One book that made you cry:
JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
6. One book that you wish you had written:
Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life
8. One book you are currently reading:
David Wells, Losing Our Virtue
9. One book that you've been meaning to read:
Catechism of the Catholic Church
1. One book that changed your life:
Peter Berger's The Social Construction of Reality
2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, an Introduction
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
St. John's gospel
4. One book that made you laugh:
John Irving's Prayer for Owen Meany
5. One book that made you cry:
Tony Morrison's The Bluest Eye
6. One book that you wish had been written:
St. John's A Key to Revelation
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
R.L. Dabney's A Defense of Virginia and the South
8. One book you’re currently reading:
Rodney Clapp's A Peculiar People: the church as culture in a post-christian society
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Craig Gay's With Liberty and Justice for Whom?
1. One book that changed your life:
Idea of the Holy - Rudolf Otto
2. One book that you’ve read more than once: The Rule of Saint Benedict
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Dhammapada
4. One book that made you laugh:
The Opposite of Fate - Amy Tan
5. One book that made you cry:
The Hungering Dark - Frederick Buechner
6. One book that you wish had been written:
The Theo-Logical Consequence - Leibniz & Spinoza
7. One book that you wish had never been written:
God is Red - Vine DeLoria
8. One book you’re currently reading: The Guide - R. K. Narayan
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Power of Myth - Joseph Campbell
1. One book that changed your life: Myths to Live By, Joseph Campbell
2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Holy the Firm, Annie Dillard
3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Egyptian Book of the Dead, Wallis Budge translation
4. One book that made you laugh: Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
5. One book that made you cry: The Diary of Anne Frank
6. One book that you wish had been written: We're Only Human, anonymous quotes by fallible people
7. One book that you wish had never been written: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
8. One book you’re currently reading: The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: Beloved, Toni Morrison
1. One book that changed your life:
Jesus and the Victory of God, N.T. Wright
2. One book you’ve read more than once:
The Iliad, Homer
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust (its really long!)
4. One book that made you laugh:
The River Why, David James Duncan
5. One book that made you cry:
Silence, Shusaku Endo
6. One book you wish had been written:
The Matrix of Christian Theology, Volume 3(-6), Stanley Grenz
7. One book you wish had never been written:
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology
8. One book your currently reading:
Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Theopolitical Imagination, William T. Cavanaugh
also here
1. One book that changed your life:
Theopolitical Imagination by William Cavanaugh. Its always the small things that change our worlds.
2. One book you’ve read more than once:
The Chosen by Chaim Potok.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
4. One book that made you laugh:
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. This is hands down the funniest book I've ever read.
5. One book that made you cry:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
6. One book you wish had been written:
Those other stories that the author of the Gospel of John alludes to.
7. One book you wish had never been written:
So many choices! There was a debate between Grudem and Eldredge, but then John Piper's Desiring God won out.
8. Book(s) your currently reading:
Dynamics of Theology by Roger Haight and Anamnesis as Dangerous Memory by Bruce Morrill.
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf. I've been putting if off for years, well that and Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday by Alan Lewis.
also here
May I borrow this beautiful meme? I'll link to you, thanks. :)
1. One book that changed your life:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley
2. One book you’ve read more than once:
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.
3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury.
4. One book that made you laugh:
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
5. One book that made you cry:
Dangerous Wonder by Michael Yaconelli.
6. One book you wish had been written:
Q.
7. One book you wish had never been written:
Twilight.
8. Book(s) your currently reading:
Whose Community? Which Interpretation? by Merold Westphol
9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
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