Thanks to Robert for saddling this chain around my neck. I don’t want to risk the bad karma of not completing it, so here goes:
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
If this book is going to get burnt then I don’t actually want to be a book at all.
If I’m going to get memorised though, I’d have to be The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island. I grew up reading Enid Blyton’s books and this is the first in possibly the greatest series in world literature. It’s got treasure, it’s got islands, it’s got boats, it’s got criminals, it’s got heroic kids, and it’s got a mad professor. What more could you possibly want from a book?
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
No. My crushes were limited to 80s pop starlets, most of whom have since posed in Playboy and destroyed all my illusions.
The last book you bought is:
Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Years Best Science Fiction. Because the book is exactly what it says on the cover.
The last book you read:
The White Russian. A crime thriller set in 1917 St Petersburg, just before the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Brilliantly atmospheric, it was a cracking read until the last 20 or so pages, which were contrived beyond belief.
What are you currently reading?
The Da Vinci Code. Even my Dad has read this, so I thought it was about time I found out what all the fuss is about.
Five books you would take to a desert island.
Thankfully, it’ll be sunny and warm, so big and heavy firewood type books aren’t necessary.
Any Human Heart. So good that, instead of sightseeing on my one and only trip to Washington DC, I sat in the park behind the White House and read it.
The Sparrow / Children of God: OK, that’s two books. But this is my list, and I’m going to pretend they’re just one. Da Vinci Code lovers might like this - it’s about how Jesuits are the first to land on an alien planet, and inadvertantly completely destroy it’s society. All in a day’s work.
The Wind up Bird Chronicle: I was going to pick the more bittersweet Norwegian Wood, but this won out because I’ve spent a fortune replacing the many copies of the Chronicle that I’ve passed on to friends. I can’t describe it better than the reviewer who said: ‘It takes a baseball bat to the insides of your brain.’
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: A Novel: Because it’s really rather good and I still haven’t finished reading it yet. Plus, when I’m reading my other books, it can double as a chair.
Siberian Light: The book that this blog is not named after. I’ve never read it though, so it’s about time.
Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?
Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante’s Weblog - because he knows far more than I do about pretty much everything.
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow - because I don’t have a clue what his answers would be.
Nick Barlow of What you can get away with - because he thought the new Dr Who episode was cool.
Final question: Did Amazon think up this idea?
- What next?
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Nathan 03.30.05 at 9:08 pm
My crushes were limited to 80s pop starlets, most of whom have since posed in Playboy and destroyed all my illusions.
I suppose I should mention that I saw Debbie Gibson about a month ago at the Tower Records in my office building.
Andy 03.30.05 at 10:22 pm
Did you ask her to sign her edition of Playboy?
Alan Kennedy 03.30.05 at 10:29 pm
Nice interview, also read Famous Five when younger, those were some good books, always liked timothy the dog best
As for Da vinci code, good thriller, some interesting info and not fact
Lyndon 04.01.05 at 8:06 am
Andy, you will pay for this! Seriously, I’m going to try to put up some kind of response tonight, but I’ve been a bit pressed for time this week.
I read lots of Enid Blyton books when I was a wee lad - not typical for an American kid, probably, but then we were living in 1980’s Leningrad and so my English-language reading material was generally purchased on our trips to civilization (i.e., Helsinki), where books from the UK were all that was available in English.
Anyway, I think I’ve almost come around to be able to see this as a fun exercise rather than a chore, so hopefully tonight I will post a detailed survey response.
Alexei 04.01.05 at 8:52 am
You make me blush, Andy. And it was a revelation that you named your blog after a book. I thought it was the brand of crude.
ReluctantMuscovite 04.09.07 at 2:19 pm
re. fahrenheit 451: the question referred to the fact that at the end the reader meets people who each memorize/have memorized a book. Hence — which book would you want to be, which one would you be willing to learn by heart - and take the pains of teaching a potential apprentice — in order to preserve it. Bradbury may have been inspired by Muslim traditions for this idea..
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