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03/11/2005: BSTommy passes the baton to me....
he says [scroll to the end] because the title of this blog reminds him of a good excuse to call in sick from work, but I think he also knows I'm pretty much a sucker for any good blog meme. So I can't very well disappoint him.
You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Hmmmmm. I'm confused by this. Are we talking about a book that's mentioned in the novel? If so, I can't answer the question, because I've never read Fahrenheit 451 and I don't know what books are mentioned there. But if this is just a way of asking "What book do you feel comfortable burning?".... Hmmm. Let's say, "Anything by John Grisham". (If I've just had a bad experience with a Christian prosletyzer, I'd probably answer "The Bible", but that's just a snark moment that will pass; I don't believe in the Bible but I have too much respect for its cultural significance to think that it should be burned.)
On the other hand, the only worthwhile thing that the Grisham oeuvre has done is get another goddamn lawyer out of the profession. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty worthwhile thing to accomplish. But I'd still burn them anyway. Even if John Grisham is a Cardinals fan.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Not really. I don't read enough fiction to get that detached from reality. If I read 100 books in a year, maybe 2 or 3 in any given year will be fiction.
The last book you bought is:
Two books, bought together: Eyewitnesses To The Indian Wars, 1865-1890: The Long War for the Northern Plains, and Eyewitnesses To The Indian Wars, 1865-1890: The Army and the Indian, both edited by Peter Cozzens. With these two purchases I complete my collection of the complete set of Eyewitnesses To The Indian Wars, 1865-1890 (5 volumes total); the preceding three volumes cover the struggle for the Apacheria (i.e., the Apache wars in West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona), the battles for the Southern Plains, and the Indian Wars in the Pacific Northwest.
The last book you read:
The Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick and Art Huffman.
What are you currently reading?
Baseball Prospectus 2005, by "the Baseball Prospectus team of experts". That and my annual spring viewing of Bull Durham will serve to get me psyched for the baseball season.
Five books you would take to a deserted island.
Damn, that's a tough one. Unlike BSTommy, I'm going to assume that the necessities of life are all taken care of. Then again, if that were the case the deserted island has a public library with an excellent collection (as well as high speed internet and guaranteed 30 minute pizza delivery), so I don't need to bring five books with me. Oh hell, to get into the spirit of the thing:
The Unabridged Mark Twain (both volumes)
The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, by Martin Gardner
This Time, Let's Not Eat The Bones: Bill James Without The Numbers, by Bill James
Critique of Philosophy and Religion, by Walter Kaufmann
The Faith of a Heretic, by Walter Kaufmann
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why
My blog-partner Karen, because I'm genuinely curious as to what her answers will be....
Mike Hollihan, to see to what extent our political differences and pop-cultural simularities merge...
Pete Vonder Haar, because I know he occasionally stops by here, and because the extent of his pop-cultural expertise will make for some interesting answers, and his skill as a writer will make those answers a lot more entertaining than mine.
Len on 03.11.05 @ 09:46 AM CST
