Tagged...

Seraphic has tagged me... So, instead of doing something productive, I'm answering these questions (originally posed to Yves Saint-Laurent:

What is your chief characteristic?

High-functioning Mediocrity

What is your principal fault?

Inertia

What is your favourite quality in a man?

Personal integrity

And in a woman?

Compassion

Who is your favourite historical figure?

Horatio Hornblower... Oh, you mean outside of fiction? Probably Cardinal Newman

Who are your living heroes?

Persecuted Christians

Who would you like to be, if you could?

A scholarly and saintly Benedictine (Even thought I know I'm not called to be a monk)

What is your idea of earthly happiness?

A steak dinner and a good book

What is your idea of misery?

Losing the ability to think and communicate

Where would you like to live?

An Italian monastery... with a pied à terre in the middle of Rome

What talent would you like to have?

Fluency in several languages

For what fault do you have the most toleration?

Arrogance

Who are your favourite painters?

El Greco, Fra Angelico, Caravaggio

Who are your favourite composers?

Is Tom Lehrer a composer?

What is your favourite colour?

Black

Of all things, what do you most detest?

Betrayal of trust

Have you got a motto?

No... anyone want to suggest one for me?

What would you like to do right now?

Say a few prayers from my breviary

Memetime...

Fr Z has tagged me for a meme. Like him, I'm going to add the disclaimer that what I'm putting down is what immediately occurs to me and I'm deliberately steering away from some of the more obvious answers. (I think this is justified, as the meme asks for 'Three books/authors everyone should read' NOT 'The top Three books/authors everyone should read.') Given time and reflection, I'd probably answer very differently:

Three fiction books everyone should read:

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince
Anthony Burgess: A Clockwork Orange
Flann O'Brien: The Third Policeman

Three non-fiction books everyone should read:
Darrell Huff: How to Lie with Statistics
St Augustine: Confessions
Frederick Coppleston: History of Philosophy, Volume 1

Three authors everyone should read:
E M Forster
Jane Austen
J L Borges

I don't normally like passing memes on, but I think I'd like to hear how the Whapsters and the Laodiceans would answer this.