Bookmeme:

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

(I presume this means the end of the book/movie, where the bands of people have taken it upon themselves to memorize - or rather, become - a particular book, as a way of saving it)
Hmmm...I'd probably pick "A Sand County Almanac." Partly because I identify with it pretty strongly, partly because it's a book I'd like to see survive.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Um, yeah. Claudius from "I, Claudius." Yes, I know, it's weird.

I'm trying to think of others...I have sort of a schoolgirl crush on Hercule Poirot, but I think that's more from the David Suchet movies than from the actual books.

The last book you bought is:

Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullouch. It's a biography of Teddy Roosevelt.

The last book you read:

Two here:

"Tears of the Giraffe" by Alexander McCall Smith. Wonderful book, wonderful series. I think the reason I like these is that Smith seems to basically be an optimist about human nature - he is more bemused than depressed by the idea that "nowt's so queer as folk" (to quote a Yorkshire proverb that really doesn't fit in with a discussion of a book about Botswana). I guess what I'm trying to say is that he's got two main characters - Precious Ramotswe and Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni - who are good, upstanding, kind people - people whose faults are small and who aren't hiding some kind of depravity behind a "nice" facade. It's sort of a relief, given what you tend to see in the news, and on television, and even in some books, now.

"The Seven Daughters of Eve" (I forget the author). This is a book discussing studies of mitochondrial DNA and tracing back human relations - the premise is that all people of European descent can pretty much trace back to one of seven "clan mothers" who had an unbroken line of daughters in their descendents. Interesting. I think there's also a company out there where you can send a blood sample and have them tell you who your "clan mother" was. Interesting, but it's a bit too much like that "Star Registry" thing to get me to do it.

What are you currently reading?

"Unprintable" by Julie Kaempfert (I think that's the right spelling)
Just started "Bleak House" by Dickens.
"A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman

Five books you would take to a deserted island.

Well, I think G. K. Chesterton was once asked this question, and he responded by telling his interlocutor (doubtless with a twinkle in his eye) that he'd want a book on boat-building for amateurs.

So, although I'd probably want to follow Mr. Chesterton's idea if I were really going to be stranded (and I'd also want a book of what plants were edible in that particular area, and a book on how to catch fish without tackle, and a book of first aid), here are the "reading" books I'd want:

Middlemarch by George Eliot
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
The Chronicles of Narnia, bound into a single volume set (yes, I know, cheating)
A good translation, or perhaps several translations side-by-side, of the Bible.

(First, third, and fifth - because rereading can keep showing you things that you didn't see before. Second, because it's an important part of who I am and it describes a landscape I love. Fourth, because it's what I generally turn to when I'm really distressed or burnt out.)

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

My standard disclaimer - pick it up if you want it. I don't want to burden anyone with the chain-letter-like quality of "do this meme; don't break the chain!"