BOOK MEME….Carla wants me to answer the book meme thing going around, and since I’m about to take off for the weekend and don’t have any serious blogging on tap, why not? Sadly, I’m afraid my answers may disappoint:
You?re stuck in Fahrenheit 451. Which book would you be?
I gather that the question here is, What book would you save from the bonfire? Hmmm. Even though this is probably not responsive to the spirit of the question, I think the answer is the Encyclopedia Britannica. I know I’m cheating by counting this as one book, but there you go. Besides, it’s available on a single DVD these days, and that’s actually smaller than a book.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Not really. Maybe Michelle Pfeiffer in Ladyhawk.
What is the last book you bought?
David Shipler’s The Working Poor and David Cay Johnston’s Perfectly Legal, both reviewed briefly here.
What are you currently reading?
I just finished Jared Diamond’s Collapse yesterday. Before that I read Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat (for a review) and Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons. Coming up next is probably Gilles Kepel’s The War for Muslim Minds, and I’m also hoping to get a review copy of Matt Simmons’s Twilight in the Desert soon.
What five books would you take to a deserted island?
Since I already went mega-literal on Question 1, I’ll take this one in the spirit that it’s offered and refrain from naming survival manuals or How To Build a Raft in 30 Days. My five favorite books of all time are:
Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Power Broker, by Robert Caro
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (first trilogy), by Stephen Donaldson
The Quincunx, by Charles Palliser
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
Other Kevin Drum favorites are here.
And who shall I pass this meme on to? I think I’ll choose my guest bloggers for the weekend, Julie Saltman and Praktike. Take it away!
