Shakespeare poll

Checking the Stratford Festival's [Poll #488984]I want to see Hello Dolly myself, but wouldn't dare inflict that on Marian.

("Why are they singing? Make them stop singing!")

A book meme

From Bruce Peninsula National Park, August 2000: Marian swimming in Georgian Bay, where the Niagara Escarpment plunges precipitously to depths of 90 metres; the water is cold and breathtakingly clear





At Singing Sands on Lake Huron side of the park: butterfly is Speyeria atlantis, Atlantis fritillary, on Eupatorium perfoliatum, boneset

From Will Brady:

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

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Despite Annie Dillard's theology, I still find her sense of mysticism compelling and applicable as an atheist. Her power of imagery is startling. This is my favourite work of non-fiction, and a masterpiece of nature writing.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

As a child, Prince Caspian of Narnia. Later, Strider, even before he was played by Viggo Mortensen.

The last book you bought is:

Skipping the one already mentioned yesterday, Birds of Ontario, by Andy Bezener.

The last book you read:

The Picture of Dorian Grey, by Oscar Wilde.

What are you currently reading?

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss. And Light Action in the Caribbean, a book of short fiction by nature writer Barry Lopez.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:

The Intimacy and Solitude Workbook: Self-Therapy for Lasting Change, by Stephanie Dowrick, to keep me sane. The Dictionary of Useful Plants, by Nelson Coon. Encompassing Nature, a huge anthology of nature writing by Robert M. Torrance, and The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature, edited by Byrne R. S. Fone, would keep me busy. I once had a book full of tips for wilderness survival but I have lost it and forgotten the title; I would need that more than anything.

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

Steven token_otter, one of the most literate men I regularly rub physical shoulders with; Bob lowfatmuffin, because he is the (highly caffeinated) reincarnation of Thoreau; and Ziggy ghostsandrobots, because I need to know what's going on in the female half of my brain.