telperion1 | (no subject)

Over at FB, journalist Nicholas Kristoff wrote,

I'm taking my eldest son to begin college tomorrow, and then I'm headed for Libya. What should I bring, other than my flak jacket & helmet? Any suggestions for most appropriate book or DVD to while away any firefights? Any other useful accoutrements you suggest for a Libyan trip?

I suggested the best five-book trilogy ever written for its mix of humor and adventure. But the comment got me thinking: what book would you recommend for a fictional character in dire straits? I mean, we do have a few examples of book-worms. Picard and Data have a thing for hard-boiled detectives and Shakespeare; SVU's Detective Munch shows a proclivity for public intellectuals like Noam Chomsky; and I'm sure there are others. And then you have Hermione, first-rate nerd and Muggle - I wonder what books she was carrying around in her enchanted handbag during Deathly Hallows? Not reference works but stuff to keep up her spirits.

So... just what books would you recommend to some fictional character facing a situation like Mr. Kristoff? And why? I'd be interested to know.

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I recall a wonderful Silm/HP crossover I read a year or so ago for the MEFAs, and so I thought "Of COURSE Hermione would love The Silmarillion!" And LotR as well, I'm sure!

You mentioned Picard and Data liking noir. I recall that Janeway had a thing for Gothic romances. But I would bet dollars to donuts that Crusher would have liked "cozy mysteries" like Miss Marple.

Kirk? Swashbucklers! And apparently, according to the fourth movie, the works of Jacqueline Susanne.

I wonder, though, what RL authors the denizens of M-e would enjoy if they ever had the chance. I bet Gandalf and Bilbo would like Mark Twain...

And I think Merry and maybe Boromir might rather like Dumas, pere.

Aragorn? I'm not sure...

LOL!

Hmm, Tolkienverse characters having access to modern books. Now that is intriguing.

Finduilas and Arwen would have both been Alcott fans, I think. Eowyn, on the other hand? Not so much, though I can easily see her tearing through the Anne of Avonlea books. I can see both Faramir and "my" Bilbo getting really into comedies/romances about highly mannered societies - Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer or anything along those lines. Boromir would not be a reader - not because he is illiterate or unintelligent (my Boromir is sharp as a steel trap), but because Faramir was always yammering on about his favorite books and it sucked all the fun out of it for him.

As for Aragorn? That is a tough one. Perhaps Huck Finn or Kidnapped - I can see him pining away summers in Rivendell really getting into adventure stories.

Aragorn'd probably really like Dumas, pere, as well.

I dunno. I can kind of see Boromir reading when there's nothing else to do-- just so long as Faramir NEVER caught him at it. And if Faramir started yammering on about one he'd already read, he'd just keep his mouth shut and pretend he didn't know what his brother was talking about, LOL! I can also see him pretending to disdain them in order to annoy his father as well.

Denethor surely reads Machiavelli. (Or possibly Sun Tzu's Art of War)...

Lol, yes I can see him really getting into Sun-Tzu as a way of life. (Actually, strike that -ing. I can see how he really got into Sun-Tzu as a way of life.) Knowing him, I think he also would have enjoyed a good read that struck his mind, too. Sherlock Holmes mysteries, perhaps.

The SAS Survival Guide together with the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the complete works of Ogden Nash would seem to cover all possible eventualities for anyone.

Anna Wing