Shake that Stick

Lady Litblitzin passed along a book meme, so I guess it's my turn.

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

A little confused by this one, as is everyone else. I would want to be Haruki Murakami's A Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I haven't read anything else in recent years that filled my head with such magic and wonder.

To burn? I could never, ever, ever burn a book. I can't even throw away cheap-ass review copies I sometimes get from the magazine. But if I had to, it would probably be anything by Al Franken. He's not half so clever as he thinks he is, and he gives good liberals a bad name by engaging in all the name calling he complains about so much. He can be funny, but I used him in teaching Freshman how not to write an essay. Not very well thought out at all.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Yep. As a kid, I remember having a crush on Eilonwy, the spunky yet still lady-like like heroine in Lloyd Alexander's Prydain chronicles. Kathy Acker is probably the closest as an adult (she inserts herself into her own books, so I'm counting it).

The last book you bought is:

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami and The Collected Stories of Roald Dahl. Bought shortly after the first of the year, and haven't read either one yet.

The last book you read:

Tumbling After by Paul Witcover

What are you currently reading?

Look at the sidebar, you slacker! Oh, ok. The Rise and Fall of the Indian Rope Trick by Peter Lamont. Silly but well researched book on the history of the greatest magic trick ever dreamed of.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

Empire of the Senseless by Kathy Acker
The Complete Works of Harlan Ellison
Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon
Bullfinch's Greek Mythology
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I'd probably give completely different answers in a week, but oh well.

Excelsior.