of bad books we can never read too little; of the good, never too much

• Has reading a book ever changed your life? Which one and why, if yes?
  The Brothers K, by David James Duncan. I read it the first time the summer I was married. I'd bought the book through Book of the Month club, primarily because it had cover art that drew my attention.
  
  The book made me laugh harder than anything I'd ever read, and it made me think, and it made me cry, in earnest, in a way that I never had because of something that I was experiencing with my brain and not my body or my heart. It was revolutionary, and wonderful, and indeed life-changing. As soon as I'd finished it, I thrust it into the hands of my best friend and no less than forced him to read it. I've done the same thing with innumerable friends since then. It has been a while since I've read it - I think I'll start it again over Christmas.
• Name one book you had to read but hated, and explain why you hated it.
  J.L. Ackrill's A New Aristotle Reader. I read it for a course called Aristotle and Late Classical Philosophy, one of the last I took to satisfy the requirements for my Philosophy minor. My boyfriend at the time, who later became my spouse, also took the class, but for general education credits. We thought it would be "fun." It turns out that I'm not a big fan of Aristotle's philosophy (who knew?), and there was a boatload of reading for the class (during a term in which I was taking an overload of classes, working three jobs, and maintaining what could generously be called an 'active' social life), and my BF took surprisingly well to the whole philosophy 'thing', which was somewhat unanticipated since it was his first class. Yeah, he was the teacher's pet. He got the highest grade in the class. And I scrambled for a MFing B-. And that book didn't help at all: dry and irritating.
• If you could pick a book you’ve read to make into a movie, which one would you choose?
  The Man Who Wrote the Book, by Erik Tarloff. It would be absolutely delicious.

[from The Cat, who got it here; the title quotation is by Arthur Schopenhauer]