Taking the stick from Stephanie:
1. You're stuck inside Farenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
In Fahrenheit 451, individuals memorize one book apiece in order to preserve them. (I was reminded of this by another blogger who did this survey.) Therefore, the question is, which book would I like to memorize. Given the current state of my memory, I better choose The Cat in the Hat.
2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Maybe the whore who beguiles Yossarian in Catch-22. You want ficky-fick? Oh, wait. Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web. Thirty-eight years later and still going strong.
3. The last book you bought was...?
My wife and I tend to buy collectively, but, I’d say it was The Skin of Our Teeth.
4. The last book you read was...?
Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt. A biography of Shakespeare. Interesting reading, but closer to speculative fiction than biography. And I’m a confirmed Stratfordian.
5. What are you currently reading?
Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham. As in Roosevelt and Churchill. Interesting and well-written histoical study of the realtionship between the two.
6. Five books you would take to a desert island...
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
Much Ado About Me by Fred Allen
Six Plays by Kaufman and Hart by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
The Wisdom of Laotse by Lin Yutang
What three people are you passing this stick on to and why?
Phil -- because it could fall anywhere in the cultural spectrum from SpongeBob to James Joyce.
Mark – who doesn’t have a blog, because I don’t know what to expect. (He can use my blog, if he’d like.)
Robert – who also doesn’t have a blog, because he cares about literature and what it can do. (He’s also welcome to use my blog, if he’d like.)
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13 comments:
Yes, you got stuck with a stick. I think, for the record, that the Groucho quote comes from "Duck Soup." I'll have towatch it again in the next few days to make sure.
Excellent responses. Thank you. I'm not usually one for particpating in these Internet games, but this one had an interesting subject and was forwarded on to me by my wife. She's given me so much, what's a couple of minutes of my time in return?
Allow me, if I may, to take up the cudgel, so to speak, and invite three more unfortunates to this party on your behalf. It'll behalf yours and half mine. I'll also provide half the wit.)
451/Memorize- If I’m going to be reciting this aloud to escapees around the campfire, I’m going with Vonnegut. I’ll take "Sirens of Titan."
Crush- I’ll go with Ayla from "The Clan of the Cave Bear." Nothing gets me hotter than a woman who can bring down her own mastodon.
Last bought- I got two on the same day, as I had a credit from returning gift copy #2 of "America" by the crew at "The Daily Show" (friends know I love John Stewart/best all-time textbook parody). What I got/bought: "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner and "Monster of God" by David Quammen.
Last read- "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving. Doesn’t mean I’d recommend it but I have to tell the truth, as this is the internet.
Current reading- "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac. A recent gift from a friend to remind me of the good old bums.
Desert Island- If I was really going to get stranded, I’d take five big fat books that I’ve never read but had heard were good. Stuff like "War and Peace" and "Ulysses." I think the question is really about five books you love and could re-read and read aloud from. Most of the books I love seem to be from when I was a teenager or a young man. Let’s have:
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"- Mark Twain
"Nine Tomorrows"- Isaac Asimov
"Black Elk Speaks"- John Neihardt
"Tortilla Flat"- John Steinbeck
"Desert Solitaire"- Edward Abbey
Good thing I’ve already got my Vonnegut memorized.
3 Sticks- To the next three people who come along! I hope one of them brings a really huge dictionary to the island.
Mark Down
Len-
Are you able to refix my duplicative?
I'm troubled circumnavigating the blog.
Doc L. Ganger
As we say in the northeast, "No Problem! I took care of it for you, but good. Now, someday, I may require a favor of you--" You know how the rest goes.
Excellent responses, as well. I may just spend the rest of my days passing around sticks and enjoying what other people have to say about it.
Maybe I should invite the President so that I can stick it to the Man. Maybe he's too stuck up to stick with me, though. Still, we're stuck with him, so maybe we should get stoned. Except its probably all just sticks and stems these days.
He and his friends can make it stick with either a stick or a book. Of course, you're right. he's very proud of his semi-literacy, and it's a commentary on the state of the nation that so many people would say that this makes him a "regular guy." (That and bran cereal.) Of course, he and his co-conspirators wrote the book on giving the people the shaft, which is, after all, a kind of stick.
Robert, this is taking a turn ofr the serious that I hadn't intended, but that's the nature of conversation, isn't it, to go it's own way.
It's amazing to me that people can think of Georgie as a regular guy when he went to Phillips Acadamy and Yale as a legacy student. He was born with the silver spoon in his mouth and he bit off the end.
It's amazing to me that citizen's can be so ignorant of their system of government that they can toerate someone as President who thinks himself king. I wished that I could have been at the town hall debate so that I could've asked him, "Mr Bush, can you explain to us the difference between a citizen and a subject and how do the policies of your administration support the notion that we are a nation of citizens?"
Somehow, I doubt my question would have gotten chosen.
Robert, just because I hadn't intended for this to go serious, don't think that it bothers me. Serious away.
I agree with you on every point. When I speak of Mr Bush "thinking," I'm really only referring to the basic firing of synapses. Thinking in the sense of creating, examining, comparing, and evolving ideas is far beyond his capability. His talent is for belief, which he confuses with wisdom.
One of the things that amazes me about Mr Bush is that he believes (there's that word again!) that he has a sense of humor. Now, this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, and I have to say that it is nothing short of dispiriting for me to hear crowd chortling at his snide asides and self-important unwisecracks. He always has to let you know that the joke has arrived by snorting out a chuckle or two, just like a second-rate stand-up. Cheney is even more disgusting in this way.
The event I was referring to was one of the debates with Kerry, the one in Missouri. I would have been barred by not being undecided, of course. I don't know what other screening criteria there were, but I probably would've been stricken by both sides for having a small gleam of intelligence in my eyes.
I've spentt a good deal of time in recent months trying to get a handle on Mr Bush. Who is he really? How smart is he? How cynical is his belief system and the actions that arise from it? Is he just a puppet, like Reagan? (And anybody who's seen that movie with Erich von Stroheim knows that puppets can be evil, too.) Or is he an initiator of policy?
I'm still not sure on much of it. I've said for years that the perfect title for a book about the Reagan presidency would be "Asleep at the Wheel." This guy's not as easy to sum up. I think he's of about average intelligence and his instinct is the instinct of the bully. He covers for his myriad deficiencies with bluster and mean-spiritedness. Since he can't convince, he scares.
I certainly don't think that Mr Bush is a great President, but I do think he'll turn out to be a significant President. At least they're not trying to amend the Constitution to let him return for further destruction of the American ideal.
What does Proctor say as Pastor Flash in "Don't Crush That Dwarf"? "I only read good books."
I just looked through my briefcase and found "Franklin and Winston," John Steinbeck's "The Long Valley," S.J. Perelman's "Rising Gorge," and "The Complete I Ching" by Alfred Huang. I can recommend each in its own way.
I'll check out the web articles you mentioned.
Re: Ahnold. It ain't gonna happen. Even if he sets fire to the Reichtag in Sacramento. Someday, like Rainer Wolfcastle on "The Simpsons," he will have the opportunity to say, "Maria, my mighty heart is breaking."
Even if Orrin "Booby" Hatch gets the Constitution amended, Ahhhnold will get disqualified for steroid use.
If I'm stuck inside F451 I think I'd like to be The Joy of Cooking.
Last book read: The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
Current book: A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Desert island books: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, On the Road, Bird, Welcome to the Monkey House, Holes
Waiting for the new Beck album-Guero
-Sernie Blim
Mr. Splim, you have beaten me to the punch! After I finished kicking myself for limiting myself to three just because the list said so, I was going to invite you to join our merry band!
And great list!
I'm sort of following my stick around. This might be the most interesting discussion it has prompted.
If I'm getting stuck on a deserted island I think I'm taking you guys with me :)
I don't know about me, but the other guys are certainly interesting. Being in their company makes me look good, too.
Anyway, thanks for checking in. Stop by again; you never know what direction the conversation is going to go in. (Except when I weigh in. Then it always seems to go backward.)
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