Book meme! Passed on ...

Passed to me from Cookie...

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

Since we ARE all stuck inside Fahrenheit 451.... "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy." (Fire Captain Beatty)...I would "be" a seemingly innocuous childrens' book, like Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches or Horton Hears a Who.



"Many readers didn’t know that The Sneetches was inspired by Seuss’s opposition to anti-Semitism, that Horton Hears a Who! was a political statement about democracy and isolationism, or that The Lorax and The Butter Battle Book were parables about the environment and the arms race. Dr. Seuss’s true genius may lie in the fact that all of this was done with such humor and finesse, that few realized he was being political at all. " (The Political Dr. Seuss)

So yea, I'd hang with the kids. The grownups are useless.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Of course! The Prince in Cinderella. Isn't that the fucking problem here? Actually, I always like the hopelessly fucked-up characters. I would want to hang out with Grady Tripp and Terry Crabtree in Wonder Boys. But the authors are the ones who are really attractive. How did Mark Helprin's brain come up with Winter's Tale? Amazing. And even though Barbara Kingsolver is controversial in the Indian community, her character Loyd Peregrina in Animal Dreams is the perfect lover. So I have come full-circle, back to Cinderella. See? We are ruined.

The last book you bought is:

In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction (Judith Kitchen & Mary Paumier Jones, Eds), at Goodwill for 50 cents.

The last book you read:

The Stupidest Angel, by Christopher Moore, a Christmas present from Huck. This author has been dissed a lot, but he's got a funny groove and there's room for him at the table. Let's not get uppity, here.

A few years ago there was an art installation at a local university. The student artist had completely covered the floor of a room with books and invited the public to enter and walk around. People couldn't deal with it. They stood timidly outside and peeked in, but most couldn't bring themselves to walk on those sacred books.

What are you currently reading?

Chronicles of Tao, by Deng Ming-Dao. A little bit each night before I go to sleep.

Five books you would take to a deserted island
This one is really hard. I know I would get tired of whatever I brought. I would be glazed-eyed and eating sand at the end of day-one. Or aren't we shipwrecked? Is this a little vacation? (Then I would need travel books...) Or was I kidnapped and held for ransom?! Hmmm.... Ok. I'm shipwrecked.

1. Survival Book ("how to" -knots, boats, dwellings, hunting, you know, all the essentials)
2. Sketch book/journal
3. The Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu (although, knowing me, I will probably not read it. I have gone crazy and am killing wild pigs with a home-made spear I learned to make from #1)
4. The Bible (see #3 - gone totally "native")
5. Comprehensive encyclopedia (for reading at the latrine, which I learned to make from #1)

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

1. Ryan, a tormented book-lover.
2. Gene, a deep book-lover.
3. Melina, a feisty book-lover.

They all have interesting things to say.