Memory stick

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

I shamefully confess to never having read Farhenheit 451, although it has been on my reading list for years and I keep meaning to. However, I am familiar with Ray Bradbury's storyline, Montag the book-burning fireman turned rebel who begins to save books. So I'm not quite sure what this question refers to. I'll take it to mean "What book would I save from the fire" (although it could mean "What book would I like to be if I were memorized in a character's head?" which I guess in the end is more or less the same thing)? Heck, how can anyone answer that... I'd save them all if I could. And I wouldn't be answering this question appropriately. I don't know if there are specific books discussed in the novel and if should choose from one of those either.

Maybe I should just name a book that subjectively shattered my world and save that one, regardless of its literary impact to the world. And there again, I can think of more than one. Ok, here it is: Les Saisons by Maurice Pons. Never has a book inspired me such violent reactions. Never has a book carried me so so far away from anything I knew. I believe that is an experience to be treasured and well-worth saving from the fire for the benefit of mankind.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

It strikes me as odd, having spent so much time reading books, and at least as much time fantasizing about them, that I have never developed a crush for a fictional character. Must be the pragmatic in me. I've felt empathy to many different degrees for literary characters, but I sincerely can't think of one that romantically or lustfully appealed to me!! Then again, ask me to name a film character that I developed a crush for, and... we could be here all night.

If I really had to answer the question, I would say the closest I've ever come to that is in retrospect, after viewing the film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. Indeed, brought to life and enlightened by the performances and charisma of respectively Colin Firth and William Hurt (not to mention Franco Zeffirelli's work), Mr Darcy and Mr Rochester did seem a lot more crushworthy. Which only goes to prove what I was saying before: to feel a crush, I need a visual, and above all, flesh and blood - even if they're only celluloid.

The last book you bought is:

- Hollywood face à la censure : Discipline industrielle et innovation cinématographique 1915-2004, by Olivier Caïra. A fascinating subject.

The last book you read is:

- Trading up, by Candace Bushnell. A very good sequel to Four Blondes, which itself was a good follow-up to the bestseller Sex in the City. Worth mentionning it hasn't got much in common with the televised adaptation. Sharp style, witty, a ruthless eye for detail and for pinpointing human weaknesses, a taste for the decadence of New York... I can't think of something I didn't like in these three novels. Hurry up Candace with that next one.

What are you currently reading?

Nothing, believe it or not. I'm taking a break. In the past weeks, I've begun at least a dozen books and inexplicably lost interest after a few pages. So that probably means I've entered one of my temporary literary nausea phases and should quit trying for a few days. I'll say something in my defense though, gripping books are not always easy to come by. And when you've just come out of a series of gripping books, you don't feel like settling for more mediocre. My current philosophy is "a good book or no book".

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

- L'Amour dure trois ans, by Frederic Beigbeder, because I think I wrote this book in another lifetime. Never has a writer better expressed my deeper feelings of cynicism towards human love.

- Les Liaisons Dangereuses, by Choderlos de Laclos, because that book has been in my veins and heart for so long... it's almost a part of me.

- Le Parfum, by Patrick Süskind. Because I admire the originality of the story and completely identify with the olfactory aspects.

- Flash ou le grand voyage, by Charles Duchaussois. The most unbelievable true human adventure I have ever read. Totally priceless and unputdownable. A genuine inspiration for my travels.

- Le Diable au Corps, by Raymond Radiguet. Because I never tire of re-reading it. The passion of youth, the anger, the poetry...

I'd take two more if I could:

- The complete A la recherche du temps perdu (I'll just pretend that counts as one book). Because then, I'd be forced to read it, at last. And that would keep me busy for a while, always handy on a desert island.

- Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique + Vendredi ou la Vie Sauvage, by Michel Tournier, 'cause I think if I was stranded on a desert island, I'd badly need the advice of an expert. And while we're at it, I'd pack Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe too.

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

- Yann, because he's a bookworm like me, which makes him the perfect guinea pig.

- Sylvie, because her opinion is always way out there from anything you'd expect, and that's so refreshing.

- Roberto, I'm sure he knows why!