Confessions of a Serial Browser

So, a meme eh? Unlike some haters, I wasn’t even too clear what one of these was with reference to the interweb. I have a feeling I might not live up to my billing (“for some intelligent choices, no doubt”), either. The fact that I had to google Fahrenheit 451 (which I’m now interested in reading), doesn’t put me at a good start.

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

DSM IV. Oh wait, I don't care if that one gets burnt.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Er yes. So many that I've lost count. Haha. Mostly from way back in kids and YA fiction. It's taken me a bit of thinking, but I realise that Margaret Mahy's mysterious intelligent young women from The Changeover and The Catalogue of the Universe were both very alluring.

The last book you bought is?

If I don’t count the second-hand marketing textbook I picked up for L* (it took weeks to get the commerce stench off my hands), I’m pretty sure it’d be Christmas books for family (Penguin History of New Zealand: Parents; Short History of Nearly Everything: Brother). The last book that I bought for myself was probably a Mediterranean cookbook (c. April 2004).

The last book you finished is?

Michael King’s Penguin History of New Zealand. At Christmas. That’s right, I don’t think I’ve read a book since Christmas (and I don’t mean not just finished reading a book, but done any reading of any part of a book that wasn’t either work-related or an encyclopaedia/dictionary). NB: I haven’t read any books for work either, in case you were wondering. I think I read three books last year, and that classifies as a good year.

What are you currently reading?

I just got given Jane Ussher Portraits, but I guess you don’t, er, ‘read’ photographs. So that means I'm not currently reading a book. I've also had a good look around, and I can't find any "to read" books around the house that I'm interested in...

Update: I found a copy of Erica Jong's Fear of Flying in a secondhand store in Lyttelton a year or two back, and there is a bookmark in it. I though reading some old-skool feminist fiction would be interesting. But ah, No. What would have been outrageous and controversial back then seems, well, dated. I think the idea of the Zipless Fuck is still alive, but like communism, better in theory than practice...

Five Books you would take to a deserted Island?

*Mr Nice: Howard Marks. I don't care if it's true, it's so fecking funny
*The Matriarch: Witi Ihimaera. I loved it at the time. A big book would be good. And I really should re-read it.
*Catch 22: Joseph Heller. Stealing this from Noizy's selection, but I love it to bits.
*Midnight's Children: Salman Rushdie. Actually, I think I am reading this. Or was reading it? Or had to give it back to whoever I borrowed it off? A friend did her MA on magic realism in Rushdie's novels, with an emphasis on this one. And raves about it. I trust her judgement.
*Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams (NB: I want the version with the entire 5 volume trilogy).

And No. There is no such thing as too much perverse humour.

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

*My man of letters: He comprehends more languages than anyone else I know, even if he has a slight fetish for dead languages, and a strong predilection for the letters A, T, G, and C.
*Jo Hubris: 'Cause a writer of her ilk must be reading something good.
*Myshkin