The book meme

[gordonzola]

I realize that I covered some of this ground back in November but I was specifically asked to do this, so here we go:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
First off, I wish that I had written what Slit wrote in this thread.
Since I didn’t, I’d say Living My Life by Emma Goldman

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who?
Heh. Like all the time. I would totally date VI Warshawski except that her boyfriends always get beat up and her fashion sense is a total lust-killer. Phillip Marlowe appeals to the side of me that just wants to take someone in, cuddle them, and tell them everything is going to be alright. Plus I have a weak spot for people who have a way with words.

Also, I would totally go out with Emma Goldman’s autobiography. Autobiographies are always part fiction.

The last book you bought is:
In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot Graham Roumieu
No Bosses Here (book about worker co-ops written in the mid ‘70s)
Home Girls ed. Barbara Smith
Fears of Your Life Michael Bernard Loggins
all bought together at the Anarchist Bookfair

The last book you read:
Venus of Chalk by susanstinson Wow. Now I’m even more proud to have had her in my home. Go buy it because Susan should be a famous author living off of royalties by now.

What are you currently reading?
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Carson McCullers
In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot Graham Roumieu
Justice Dominick Dunne



Five books you would take to a deserted island:
I hate this question because of course the literal answer would be guidebooks to edible plants, camping survival texts, diagrammed irrigation system maps, Canoe Building for Dummies etc.

Also, there’s something off-putting about the question in that it is a dismissal of urban concerns as somehow unnatural. Certainly, essays on race, gender, sexuality, class, gentrification etc. will have less meaning on a desolate island, especially as the years go by and especially if I’m alone on the island which is always how I picture it. Of course, if I’m "alone" like Robinson Crusoe some of those might be useful.

I mean, I love Raymond Chandler, but how old will it get to read about Murphy beds, knock-out drops and dames with secrets while I’m sitting , sunburnt and lonely in the middle of the Pacific. It’s a question that tries to stack the deck towards so-called Great Books.

But, accepting the whole premise, my list today would be:

Living My Life I mean geez, if I’d Fahrenheit 451 it, I’d certainly bring it to the island.
Black Athena Martin Bernal. I’ve never been able to finish this book. Here’s my chance.
Just Above My Head James Baldwin
Cloudsplitter Russell Banks
Despite Everything Aaron Cometbus. Ya know, gotta keep it real. (I might have Fahrenheit 451ed this one, but Aaron already has!)

Comments

[ammonoid.livejournal.com]

After I read Fahrenheit 451 I knew immediatly what book I'd be, but now I can't remember. I don't know what books I'd read at 13 that would be that important.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

I must be forgetting some vital plot point of fahrenheit 451 - oh no - I just remembered! everyone memorized a book right? I'd choose some Dr. Suess - I have all that shit memorized anyway and the Butter Battle Book or the Lorax are as good a political analysis as I've read anywhere else.

I had the same issues with the desert island question. I don't think I'd actually bring my most favorite or life changing books to that kind of environment. Like maybe I'd bring a really big bible for firewood or something.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

I forgot what I was going to comment which I now remember:

I almost wrote VI Warshowski but I came to the same conclusion as you. Plus I realized I'm actually not attracted to her at all. Can you imagine hanging out with her in real life? With her snobby highbrow tastes in music and food, complete unavailability and her habit of hanging out with cops - ech.

?

[unemployia.livejournal.com]

You have a side "that just wants to take someone in, cuddle them, and tell them everything is going to be alright" ?

how nice

[jwz.livejournal.com]

I'd be Fahrenheit 451, so that I could get stuck in a feedback loop at the end.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

that's the perfect answer.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

I've got to read Fahrenheit 451. But if you memorized Emma Goldman's autobiography (I remember loving it, and something about birds outside of a jail cell -- think I read it twenty years ago)-- doesn't that free you up to bring another book, since you'd have that one in your head?

You finished Venus of Chalk, and it sounds like you liked it. That makes me grin -- it's a very good thing to hear on a cold, rainy day.

I love Carson McCullers up one side and down the other, although Ballad of the Sad Cafe is probably my favorite of her books.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

I loved your book. I stayed up late on Sunday night finishing it. Hope you win that New England award.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

That is a truly sweet thing. I'm trying to let go of that book, a little, finally, after so long, so I can go more deeply into the new one, but knowing that it's been read and loved is just so satisfying.

That particular award is quite a longshot, since the nomination is due tomorrow, and I don't know that one's been sent in.

[dairryiere.livejournal.com]

Ok, Ok, I'll read Fahrenheit 451 next.

EASY RAWLINSxoxoxox, I know you've read the series. If I didn't have a crush on him in a particular story there was certainly a lady friend of his that was appealing.

The last book I bought was 924 Gilman. Specifically so I won't show up at your house, take the book off your shelf, and chuckle to myself until you kick me out. I was even bold enough to sneak off and look someone up in it during a potluck you were hosting, talk about rude!

[sabotabby]

Utterly off-topic, but I thought you needed to see this.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

hahahaahhha