Thursday, April 14, 2005

Oh Yeah? Book This, Sis!

I've seen this "Book Meme" deal going around for days. I never dreamed I'd get "tagged". Who would bother? A troublemaker, that's who! I'm honored. Or getting picked on. Picking only five books is next to fucking impossible, so in the spirit of "rules are made to be broken" I may step outside the lines a teensy bit. Here goes.

You are stuck inside “Fahrenheit 451.” Which book would you be?

If I'm gonna burn it, anything praising Bush or Republicans. Plenty to choose from.

If I'm gonna memorize it, Rudyard Kipling's Verse Inclusive Edition 1885-1918. Timeless and dated at the same time and just wonderful. Since I'll have it memorized, I won't have to take it to the desert island.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Too many to count. You would blush, so I'll leave Animal Farm out of this! The latest is Honor Harrington from the sci-fi series by David Weber.

What is the last book you bought?

The Threadbare Buzzard: A Marine Fighter Pilot in WWII by Thomas M. Tomlinson. Poignant and humorous account of one man's adventures, written in flowery, almost archaic, language. Good read.

What are you currently reading?

The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way In The New Century by Paul Krugman. A collection of his op-eds from 2000-2003. He had these administration assholes nailed from the get-go. I read him in the NYTimes religiously.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey
The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Nothing Like It In The World by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Bear And The Dragon by Tom Clancy

And the motorcycle book requested by Shakespeare's Sis:

Monkey Butt by Rick Sieman

I'm counting on The Critic to have a copy of Kon Tiki.

If I could sneak in a few more motorcycle books, they would be:

Whatever Happened To The British Motorcycle Industry? by Bert Hopwood
The Triumph Tiger Cub Bible by Mike Estall
Triumph Motorcycles In America by Lindsay Brooke and David Gaylin
Tales Of Triumph Motorcycles & The Meriden Factory by Hughie Hancox
Jupiter's Travels by Ted Simon
Soul On Bikes by Tobie Gene Levingston with Keith and Kent Zimmermann
Motorcycles and How To Manage Them by the editors of The Motor Cycle, an English weekly. A pocket-size book that I bought from Floyd Clymer in 1958 for a buck and a half and it wasn't new then. Indispensable book in those days for a kid just getting two-wheel fever. I still have it and refer to it as a guide to simpler times.

If you detect a slight motorcycle brand preference, you are very astute.

Well, that's it. Please don't get me started on authors!

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