Book Him!

I figured somebody might whip this one at my head, but I was hoping I wouldn't have my literary fraudulence exposed by Chan. (CHAAAAAAAAAN!!!!)

Here goes anyway:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?

I confess I still don't know what this means. Didn't Madonna put out a book with steel-plate covers a while back? That might withstand the flames......

UPDATE: Sheila provides a logical explanation and exposes the fact that I haven't read Fahrenheit since high school. Going on her take, I'd say the KJV Bible if it was for Humanity as a whole and probably Milton's Paradise Lost if it was just for my own selfish ends.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Oh, sure, lots of 'em. I'm a crush-oriented kinda guy. As an example, P.G. Wodehouse wrote any number of romantic comedies featuring very attractive young heroines, just about all of whom I instantly fell for.

The last book you bought was...?

Lessee......The last ones I bought must have been Francis Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe: The French and Indian War (which I read and loved), coupled with Fred Anderson's Crucible of War : The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 (which I haven't tackled yet). The last one I was given was Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, which I thought okay but not his best.

The last book you read was...?

Well, I just finished Wolfe's A Man In Full, which, despite my quibbling over editorial arcana, I quite enjoyed.

What are you currently reading?

Figuring I couldn't possibly concentrate on it in Disney World, I'm still working on Christoph Wolff's Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Bach is just about to take up his new post in Leipzig.

I need to start on something else as well. I've got Chernow's bio of Hamilton and McCullough's bio of Adams in the on-deck circle, as well as that debate between Marcus Borg and N.T. Wright about the nature of Christ that was supposed to be my Lenten reading (ha ha). But I also feel the need for something lighter. The Missus picked up a copy of Tom Clancy's Executive Orders for a dollar somewhere and, as ashamed as I am to say it, I sometimes like to wallow in his stuff.

Five books you would take to a desert island...

Hmmm....I've never been good at Desert Island Discs and its relatives. But this time it doesn't say these have to be the only five......

1. The Sword of Honor Trilogy, Evelyn Waugh. (Yes, it's three books, but I don't care.)
2. Goodbye To All That, Robert Graves.
3. Emma, Jane Austen (Sppllttth!! to you, Kathy!)
4. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon (Massive cheating here, I know.)
5. All The Trouble In The World, P.J. O'Rourke. (Just to keep a healthy perspective on things.)

Who are you passing this stick on to and why?

The Colossus. Just to give him an easy cut n' paste post, since we seem to have so much in common.......