Hugh did one of those LiveJournal chain-letter things recently, the kind with questions to answer, designed to encourage people to write stuff. In this case, stuff about books. Perhaps he felt that I haven’t written enough lately, because at the end he indicated that he’d like me to answer the questions too. So here we go.
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
This makes little sense. Hugh was just as mystified as I am, and I can only agree with his sentiment that it would be preferable to be one of the ones that doesn’t get burnt, that being rather the point of Fahrenheit 451.
I’m told there is a movie of Fahrenehit 451, but I’ve never seen it. I read the book. Then I went out for a walk.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
C.J. from The West Wing.
The last book you bought is?
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel.
The last book you finished is?
Nasreddin Hodja, a collection of folk stories about the Turkish wise fool character, believed to have originally been a contemporary of Tamerlane in 15th century Anatolia. I bought it in Turkey because I’d heard Iranian Bahá’ís tell very funny “Mullah Nasrudin” stories. It turns out you have to tell them the right way, and clearly the way you tell them in Turkish didn’t survive translation into English. For example:
His neighbour wanted to borrow Hodja’s rope. Hodja went into his house and when he came out after a while, he told his neighbour,
“We are using the rope. My wife has laid flour on it.”
His neighbour was surprised.
“That’s impossible! You can’t lay flour on a rope!”
“If you don’t want to lend it, then it is possible,” Hodja replied.
What are you currently reading?
The System of the World, by Neal Stephenson. I’ve been reading this on and off in little bits ever since I moved to Auckland. I’m nearly at the end, and have yet to be shaken from my conviction that the three moderately interesting 800-page books of the Baroque Cycle ought to have been cut down to one very interesting 800-page book. Neal Stephenson needs a good editor.
Five books you would take to a deserted island?
You know, people have been asking this question for long enough now that there would surely be a good market for a five-volume encyclopædia of tropical island survival.
But to get more into the spirit of the thing, I would take
The Hidden Words of Bahá’u'lláh, a poetic work of short verses encapsulating the mystical teachings of the Bahá’í Faith.
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, in case I needed to know what a word means, and because its magnifying glass could be used to start fires so that I could also read it at night.
The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus and the Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges, for short stories that bear thinking about.
The Illustrator’s Figure Reference Manual, because I’d finally have time to practice my drawing skills, but I wouldn’t have any people to draw unless I had a big book of photos of people from many angles.