If you were a book

Saturday night, while having gelato with Tom, Dylan, and George, somehow we got into a fairly prolonged and analytical conversation about what book we would be if we were to be a book. We alternated between specific books and authors, but we came to few conclusions. Some of the conclusions we did come to, however, were:

- We couldn't pick what we would be for ourselves; the others had to pick it;

- George would probably be a Henry Miller novel, which he was okay with at first, but then got mad when we chided him about being a mysogynist. Because George is not a mysogynist. Nor is he a homophobe (*wink*). But really George wanted to be a Superman comic;

- I think I was the only person who was truly satisfied with what book I would be. After a lot of careful consideration, Dylan said he thought I could be a Phillip Roth novel. Which made me quite happy;

- Absolutely no one wants to be a Phillip K. Dick novel, nor does anyone want to meet anyone that is a Phillip K. Dick novel;

- I came to the conclusion that what I really wanted to be (second to Phillip Roth) was a Flannery 'O Connor novel;

- At first we thought maybe Tom could be On the Road, but then we decided that was totally boring and generic;

- which did lead us to decide that maybe he could be a Truman Capote book;

- We decided Kurt was a J.R.R. Tolkien novel (even though he wasn't there to contribute/defend himself);

- Dylan is probably a Sartre book (of course!), but possibly Camus as well, even though Dylan doesn't kill people;

- Tom is not poor or Southern enough to be a William Faulkner book (and that if you like Toni Morrison, as I do, then you have to like William Faulkner, though I've never read a single word of a William Faulkner novel);

- I'm not black, or poor, or Southern enough to be a Toni Morrison novel. Nor do I particularly want to be Toni Morrison novel.

Not to sound like a pompous intellectual, but I love that I have friends with whom I can have a lively, in-depth, 30-minute conversation about what books we would be.