I hope that late is better than never for this “book meme” from The Anger of Compassion:

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

The Iliad, preferably in its original form, but only if I first learn ancient Greek. (The original poetry would be much easier to memorize than any translated prose version.)

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Hank Rearden, maybe. (Perhaps that’s why I always imagine him dark-haired, rather than as the blonde that he is.) Oh, and Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice, of course.

The last book you bought is:

Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives

The last book you read:

Ayn Rand and Song of Russia: Communism and Anti-Communism in 1940s Hollywood

Oh wait, I just finished The Histories by Herodotus. I actually listened to the two volume audiobook under the title “The Persian Wars,” available from Audible.com here and here.

What are you currently reading?

Since I’m presently reading a bunch of books, I’ve ordered them by frequency of read:

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. Instead of re-reading, I’m listening to the W.D. Ross translation available from Audible.com.

The Landmark Thucydides, a well-annotated version of History of the Peloponnesian War.

The Russian Tradition by Tibor Szamuely. This work is a fantastic cultural study of Russia. It nicely fills in the cultural gaps in Richard Pipes more political/military trilogy on Russia. (Although I’m just in the first section of the book, so far it seems like the best possible source for understanding why Ayn Rand hated the culture of Russia so completely.)

The Ideas of Ayn Rand by Ron Merrill. See my comments here and here on this work.

Virtue Ethics edited by Roger Crisp and Michael Slote. A collection of better and worse essays in virtue ethics.

A Short History of Medieval Philosophy. A good survey, if you’re interested in the topic.

Oh, and I forgot Return of the Primitive and The Ayn Rand Reader. I’m reading them for the two Front Range Objectivism discussion groups, 1FROG and 2FROG respectively.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

The Objectivist Newsletter by Ayn Rand et al

The Objectivist by Ayn Rand et al

The Iliad by Homer

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?

Paul Hsieh of GeekPress. To pester him into writing for NoodleFood.

Don Watkins of Anger Management. To see what he’s been up to of late.

Mr. Self of Noumenal Self. To perhaps induce him to blog something, even if silly.

As for everyone else, feel free to post your own lists in the comments, if you’re so inclined!