Pool and a book thing...

Played pool against the new Sidelines team last night. Ollie played it straight for the first time ever, and I eked out a win against their captain, Corey. He had taken the first four games in a five-three race, but his teammate was talking on the phone and said during the fifth game "and Corey's about to win his match..." Corey groaned, and I hooted. Weauxf Gawds, you rock. I managed to win the next three games with a combination of hooks, forced banks and kicks, and blocked pockets. Ollie really helped out with the timeouts. I couldn't make a shot all night, but I ended up playing some really awful defense shots against him, as well as getting quite lucky on some leaves after a few missed shots. He finally tried a jump shot after I hooked him on the eight ball, and the eight knocked the cue into a pocket. Whew!

Lifted from ...

1. What's your favorite book of all time? Why? Top ten favorites?
   Of all time?? I can't really pick one. I haven't really read a lot of books (at least nothing I would call great), but from my current library, I couldn't really point to one single book and say it's my favorite. The wide variety of subjects and genres in my top ten list doesn't really help...
   
   Top ten (in no particular order):
   The Biggest Game in Town A. Alvarez
   Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer
   Endurance Alfred Lansing
   Stardust Neil Gaiman
   The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy
   A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
   Hackers Steven Levy
   Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
   Amped: Notes from a Go-Nowhere Punk Band Jon Resh
   Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky
   
   And this is setting aside any comic books/graphic novels that I care for...
   
   
2. Is there any author who's been so consistently wonderful that you've devoured all of his or her work and actually enjoyed *all or most* of it?
   
   Neil Gaiman is the obvious choice, but John Irving as well. A. Alvarez and Jon Krakauer both have smaller bodies of work which I relish reading.
   
   
3. What book do you most often recommend to other people?
   
   Both The Biggest Game in Town, because I mostly associate with lowlifes and gamblers and Amped: Notes from a Go-Nowhere Punk Band, because it's an absolutely hilarious look at some of the antics of some of my Florida colleagues.
   
   
4. What book should be turned into a movie? Should they even *do* that? Does it kill the book?
   
   The Biggest Game in Town or Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. Both books have great Mamet-esque characters (based on real-life people), and enough of the seedy Las Vegas gambling world to make things interesting.
   
   In general, I tend not to like movie adaptations (Sorcerer's Stone did nothing for me), but there are occasional gems which come out. I quite liked the movie adaptation of The Cider House Rules; but Simon Birch was just a bastardization, and Streisand completely ruined The Prince of Tides (way to excise the entire Luke Wingo subplot, Babs).
   
   
5. What's your favorite biography? Am I the only one who likes those?
   
   I haven't really read any biographies, but I'm hoping Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People (by Amarillo Slim Preston) will be a good read about the former World Series of Poker Champ.