Book meme

Cabezalana, a knitting blogger, had this. He said he wasn't tagging anyone, but if anyone wants to do it, be his guest. So, it's book related, and I thought I would:

1. Hardcover or papberback, and why? I get quite a lot of books from the Honesty gardens, the last chance saloon for books before the dump, so I'm quite happy with reading copies of any description. However, when I particularly like a book and want to keep it, its hardcover every time.

2. If I were to own a bookshop, I would call it.... Shuttlecraft SF. Which was the name of the unit in Broad Street Book Centre where my ex-husband and I started a business. For various reasons, it never worked out.

3. My favourite quote from a book (mention the title) Almost too hard to answer, but if I'm pushed, there is a quote from Cranford by Mrs Gaskell that I use quite a bit. "What does it matter what I wear when I'm in Cranford? Everyone knows me. And what does it matter what I wear when I'm in town? Nobody knows me!"

4. The author (alive or deceased) I would love to have lunch with would be.... Madeleine l'Engle, who died recently. I love her children's books, and I recently came across her Crosswicks Journals, which are memoirs, and which I intend to re-read until they fall apart. Everything I've read about her shows her to have been a lovely person, and a Christian in the best possible sense of the word.

5. If I were going to a deserted island and could only bring one book, except for the SAS survival guide, it would be.... Well, on Desert Island Discs, you get the Bible (or religious text of your choice) and Shakespeare, which covers most options (and 8 records, of course). I think I'd have to go for Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love, the first book written in English by a woman, a reminder of happy times I spent in Norwich, and full of lovingkindness in a very medieval way.

6. I would love someone to invent a bookish gadget that.... Actually someone already has, but I haven't got round to getting one yet - I need something to put in the kitchen to hold cookery books open at the right page.

7. The smell of an old book reminds me of.... Richard Booth's basement.

8. If I could be the lead character in a book it would be (mention the title).... I thought long and hard about this, and came to the conclusion that I'm a natural sidekick. So I'd like to be Helena Justina in the Falco novels by Lindsay Davis, or Evaine MacRory, daughter of Saint Camber, in the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz. Helena Justina is patrician, intelligent, and goes to bed with Falco, and Evaine is a member of the nobility, a powerful sorceress, and has a husband and children she adores.

9. The most overestimated book of all times is.... There are several books which were hugely popular in their day, but are almost unreadable today - who reads Forever Amber now? I have a suspicion that Dan Brown will go the same way.

10. I hate it when a book.... is badly put together, or has spelling mistakes in it.

So, like Cabezalana, I'm not tagging anyone, but if anyone would like to do this, consider yourself tagged.