Stacks O' Books

Saheli lobbed this little teaser my way and I enjoyed weighing the answers. Mainly, it was a great reminder that I have a lot of reading to catch up on and my attention span's been all shot to pieces--partly due to the influence of the Internet and partly (largely?) due to my own super-abundant lack of discipline!

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

The Chosen by Chaim Potok, as a reminder that you always have to believe what you’ve come to see as the truth, even when everyone around you pressures you to do otherwise and the world seems upside down.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

I don’t know. My brother and eye both used to star in wide-eyed wonderment at Wonder Woman when we were kids. And, erm, Jean Grey from the X-Men? Does that count? Hmm, what does it say about me that the only two women who are coming to mind are from comic books? There was Nicola Six from Martin Amis’s London Fields, but she’s more of the attraction for-all-the-wrong-reasons sort of thing. Guess I also have to say both Tereza and Sabina from Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is kind of ironic if you think about it.

The last book you bought is:

I think: 334 by Thomas M. Disch, a 70s sci-fi writer who apparently writes in similar vein to Philip K. Dick. But I buy so many books, it’s hard to keep track. It may also have been Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore, which I can’t wait to sink my teeth into.

The last book you read:

River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins.

What are you currently reading?

Blindness by Jose Saramego. I’m embarrassed at how long it’s been taking me to read it, which is no fault of Saramego’s, but more an indication that I have the attention span of a gnat.

Five books you would take to a deserted island

Crime & Punishment - Dostoevsky – rich and thoughtful enough to demand multiple readings.

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory - Stephen Jay Gould – his magnum opus, at 1433 pages, I’d probably hafta be stuck on a desert island to ever plow through it.

Collected Works of Shakespeare – you can buy 'em in a single volume, so that’s not cheating!

Staring at the Sun – Julian Barnes – a lovely, elegant, and moving little book by one of my favorite authors.

The Stories of John Cheever – that famous red paperback; I should’ve read all of his stories by now, but haven’t.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Chris: 'cos he’s bored and I know he's always reading some terrific stuff
Shonna: 'cos she’s brainy and I bet she’ll say “Lolita” somewhere in her response
Diane: 'cos one of those edgy MFA types who really knows where it's at