The Infernal Book Meme
Damn you, watertiger!

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

Wuthering Heights, I'm a sucker for the doomed romance.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Hasn't everyone? Far and away the number one crush would be Travis McGee, that tall, dark and handsome Florida private eye (it might even be said that I've been to a John D. MacDonald conference, and I have been seen in a "Busted Flush" t-shirt).

The last book you bought is:

I generally buy more than one at a time, so the last batch included Neuromancer and Pattern Recognition, both by William Gibson, and Out of Gas by David Goodstein (about Peak Oil). I had read Neuromancer years ago, but loaned out my only copy and needed to replace it. Pattern Recognition is Gibson's latest, and I found its subcontext re: marketing to be fascinating, but, all in all, it's not his best. Out of Gas is a serious wake-up call about our dependence on fossil fuels, and the author makes a concerted effort to keep the prose at a level where non-scientific types like myself can understand what the hell he's talking about. I highly recommend it.

The last book you read:

The last two novels I read that I thought were truly excellent were Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre and A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle. I also just finished Augusten Burroughs' two memoirs Running With Scissors and Dry, and was relieved to learn that, yes, there are persons with childhoods even more fucked-up than my own. Burroughs is a really really funny writer in the black comedy vein, so if you like that kind of thing, check him out.

What are you currently reading?

The Known World by Edward Jones. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

This is the hardest one, and don't hold me to it. A desert island without books might kill me. Germinal by Emile Zola, John Cheever's Collected Stories, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler, and The American Boys' Handybook because it teaches you how to do everything you'd need to do on a desert island, like tie knots and make fishing poles. Also (this is cheating) everything Carl Hiaasen has ever written. Carl is my hero.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?

Agitprop, Otter and Nestor, because they are among the few who have actually read my blog and left comments. I would pass the baton to sallyh, but alas, she has no blog (although she should, by gum, she's good).
- posted by TJ @ 8:29 PM