BOOKTAG! I'm IT . . .

I’ve only had my blog a few days, and I’ve already been booktagged by Justrose! Here’s my thoughts – feel free to critique.

you're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?

I’d want to be The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. The language! The imagery! The cadences! Being able to tell scary stories, recite poetry, and share Poe’s warped sense of humor.

The Cask of Amontillado: “The thousand injuries of Fortunado I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge . . .”
Annabel Lee: “It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea . . .”
The Raven: “Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume for forgotten lore . . .”

– See, I’m part of the way there already!

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Gilbert Blythe, Anne of Green Gables & Anne of Avonlea. Especially after watching the PBS miniseries . . .

The last book you bought is?

The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America, by Eric Idle. I bought it for K for his birthday . . . and as soon as he’s done, it’s my turn!

What are you currently reading?

Michael Kelly’s Things Worth Fighting For. A first rate writer, editor and all around good person. I did not agree with all of his views, but I really respected his writing. Gone much too soon – K and I tried to go to the celebrity reading of his essays at Politics and Prose (local specialty bookstore) and we couldn’t get in – the place was packed. We did get to see Bob Woodward and Ted Koppel in person though (both are much shorter than you’d think.) Right after his death in Iraq, the WP reprinted a column he wrote about Christmas at his house with his two little boys that had me in a puddle of tears.

Five books on a desert island?

1. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
2. The Portable Dorothy Parker
3. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
4. The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe
5. The Collected Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

. . . and if I could smuggle two more in, I’d have to bring The Paris Review Book for Planes, Trains, and Waiting Rooms and The Paris Review Book of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travel. It is all about having variety!

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

Goodness, I don’t know many other folks around me who blog . . . but if pressed, I might put it on the Fool message boards and see if my friends JT, RB and PD take the bait.