Book tag

George of EU Rota calls me a "completely irrational US leftist" in his book tag. Seeing as Mr. George feels that clean air, peace, and government are bad things, one would assume there would be some anarchist literature in his list. Alas, we are presented with a rational set of books, thus squandering our hope for amusement.

Number of books I own: 300+

Last book I bought: 99 francs (6 euro) by Frederic Beigbeder at Charles de Gaulle returning from Amman, Jordan to DC. An excellent portrayal of life in the new Europe.

Book I am currently reading: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (again). Where do you think Daedalus comes from?

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Ulysses by Joyce (my favorite writer) A day in the life of an average Joe. Read for the first time in various pubs in Dublin over a three month span. That's a lot of Guinness. Rats, vats. Well, if we knew all the things.

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. The Grand Inquisitor points out the hypocrisy of religion, only to have Dostoevsky leave us with the impression that he is wrong. So the question remains, why am I here?

The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. Made me fall in love with Europe before I had ever set foot there. The characters are kindred spirits. I think I may have been a wannabe writer living on absinthe on the Left Bank in a past life. Inspires me to pick up a pen every time I read it.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Exposed me to the phoniness of the world, ruined the last couple years of my childhood.

The End of History and the Last Man by Fukuyama. My freshman year paper ripping this bullshit to shreds gained the attention of the political science department and got me nearly three free years of college.

Tag goes to Robbie, Zach, Third Ave, Andros, and Howie.