Book Questions

So, over two years ago Jamie sent this meme in my direction. (He’d picked it up from Stephen.)
Time to finally respond…
1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be?
Hmm. I’m tempted by something by Jose Saramago, either The Cave or Blindness, but they’d probably be better memorized in the original Portuguese. Ulysses tempts as well, as it would stand endless revisitation, and it’s really long so that’d be a good way to impress all them renegade dystopian ladies. However you’d be followed around everywhere by drunk Irish nationalists, which could become irritating. I think I’m going to go for G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, which is far from my favourite book, but just seems like the right one to pick.
2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
I can’t think of one in anything I’ve read, but I’ve fallen in love with almost every female character I’ve ever written. I think it’s part of the job description somehow.
3. The last book you bought is:
Jeepers. I have no idea. It’s been ages since I bought a book, on account of the no money thing combined with the massive backlog of books to read thing. I think it was Robert Fisk’s The Great War for Civilization.
4. The last book you finished is:
(Excluding endless academic-type texts) Jose Saramago’s The History of the Siege of Lisbon. Billy’s copy, I think. It was engaging enough.
5. What are you currently reading?
Pride & Prejudice, as per Stephen’s recommendation a wee while back. And rather fun it is, too.
6. Five books you would take to a desert island.
I’m going to copy Jamie and also say the one-volume Collected Works of A. A. Milne which, as a point of autobiographical trivia, was my default 21st birthday gift for about six months. The other four would be… Well, Ulysses for the endless re-reading… maybe William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy if I could get it in one volume… a King James edition of the Bible, with photocopied apocrypha stapled in the back… and The Great Gatsby.
7.Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
The Alligator, because he has read all kinds of fascinating stuff.
Off-Black, because the same reason actually.
Stephanie, because also the same reason.
You have permission to not answer until February 2010.
—
Rumpus 07 approaches… it is Thursday 2am-ish as I write, so only 65 hours to go… It’s gonna be something rather special, I think. Hint: there will be chocolate AND beer.

6 thoughts on “Book Questions”

  1. An interesting choice of books, and I am completely impressed you can actually handle James Joyce, as I couldn’t get past page one.
    I was also interested to see you chose the King James Bible. Any reason why this religious text wins out over the Koran or anything by L Ron Hubbard? *lol*

  2. The King James Bible has the twin advantages of being (a) the most influential document in Western civilization, and (b) written in Shakespearean English, some say by Shakespeare. I think it’d give much to read and ponder. I guess even better would be a holy book concordance with the relevant Koranic and Talmudic books added to the Christian texts, so you can see all the Yahweh stuff under one cover. That would keep me engaged on many a desert island afternoon.

  3. Er, William Tynsdale, actually, plus some other guys who thought and prayed deeply about Tynsdale’s text and in a number of places just copied it word for word.

  4. In its own day, King James Bible meant “Tyndale after the politicians are through with him”. The idea that Shakespeare could’ve written the KJB only looks plausible if you’re (a) ignorant of the wider Jacobean literary milieu and the level of achievement in it, and (b) ignorant of the history of Bible translation in English.
    The idea of all the Yahweh stuff under one cover is cool but either the spine would give out really early or your wrists would, or both. Not least if you want all the Apocrypha in there (and personally I reckon it should also include the Gnostic or non-Canonical Gospels… possibly leave out the Dead Sea Scrolls for the sake of economy though…)

  5. You literary academics are just tame sheep baaing a tissue of lies made of baas! Why can’t you admit that Shakespeare wrote the King James Bible? How long will the mainstream media suppress the truth? etc etc.
    (Yeah, I know. But I do like that people maintain it was secretly Shakespeare’s work. I need make no sense, it is my blog!)

Comments are closed.