Sherry Chandler

The book meme

Terry over at I See Invisible People has passed the book meme to me — now I feel like I’ve really arrived as a blogger. Though it’ll be a decade or so before I hit the 20,000th reader. Congratulations to Have Coffee Will Write on that milestone.

The downside is that there’s no question I dread more than “what’s your favorite…?” I want it all, man! I’m notorious for not being able to make a decision – I stay out of warehouse stores, and restaurant menus are a real challenge.

So here’s the meme:

You are stuck in Fahrenheit 451. Which book would you be?

I’d be Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. I first heard the opening lines of this novel at a workshop on using lists at the Indiana University Writers Conference in 1989 and they continue to make my blood run cold. The whole novel is one long and devastating poem.

Though, when I read about Senate bill 51 – also known as the “Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act of 2005″ – that defines “woman” as “a female human being who is capable of becoming pregnant, whether or not she has reached the age of majority,” I thought I might have to be The Handmaid’s Tale. But then I thought we may be living in that particular little nightmare so no need to remember it.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Oh Jo March in Little Women. I did so want to be Jo March. I think every little bookworm my age wanted to be Jo. She was so free and she ate apples and read books. What more can you want out of life? I read the book over and over again.

Admittedly, I was dumb enough to be disappointed when she married that stodgy little professor and let Meg have handsome rich Laurie. But every girl is a little foolish about looks and money.

What is the last book you bought?

Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. It was a gift for the whole family. We love Terry Pratchett. We pass his books from one to another and very politely say, “No, no, you go first,” all the while wanting to snatch it and run to the nearest comfy chair for as long as it takes. He’s the best fantasy writer of the 21st century, though I don’t think Going Postal is his best book. I like the Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg.

Chris Moore is the best American fantasy writer of the 21st century.

Douglas Adams and Peter S. Beagle were the best fantasy writers of the 20th century. But no, I can’t say that because Peter Beagle is still writing and Peter Beagle is very, very good. And don’t talk to me about this new Hitchhiker’s movie that’s opening here in Kentucky this weekend. As far as I’m concerned, Simon Jones will always be Arthur Dent.

What are you currently reading?

On my bedside table:
Thomas D. Clark’s The Kentucky (University Press of Kentucky, 1992/1942)
Joe Survant’s Rafting Rise (University Press of Florida, 2002)

In my car’s CD player:
Karen Armstrong’s Buddha (Books on Tape/Penguin 2004)

[Update: I left one out! That's typical. ] What was the last book you read?

Well, if you don’t count silly mysteries like Bertie and the Tin Man, I think it comes down to Harvey Cox’s When Jesus Came to Harvard that I talked about on this web. I give it mixed marks – it was good that Cox asserted that the Bible is made up of stories, many of which were always intended to be stories, as in the Midrash tradition. And it was good that he pointed out ethical dilemmae and ways of thinking about them without supplying a sort of animal fable moral. But I found the book a little shallow and over-optimistic, sort of like a Wal-Mart Smiley Face.

The last book I listened to was Marge Piercy’s Louder We Can’t Hear You (Yet?)

What 5 books would you take on a desert island?

“Rafting for Dummies!” my son interjects. Then “Nothing by Hardy, that’s for sure.” And “Do I get to take reams and reams of notebook paper?”

Assuming that food for the body will be taken care of by manna or something, I will concentrate on food for the mind/soul. My response to the question is quite different from the Fahrenheit 451 response. That question was a matter of preservation, this is one of survival. Anyway, I will already have memorized The Things They Carried.

So — on a desert island I want these things:

Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
The Riverside Shakespeare
Emily Dickinson’s The Complete Poems
The Diaries of Virginia Woolf

Okay, you say, that’s just exactly the kind of list an A student, teacher’s pet, suck up like you would choose. And I stand guilty as charged, but I also stand by my list. It has comedy, tragedy, philosophy, morality, and gossip. And enough variety to keep a mind diverted for a long, long time.

And I will pass this meme to Mark Brown and Ernie O’Dell both of the GRW group blog.

Possibly related posts:

The Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme

The Unspectacular Meme

Four Things Meme

flickr meme

A Collection or a Book?

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