>>Who is your favorite mythical character, and why?
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>>Mine is probably Procrustes. He ruled a forest and trespassers were punished by being tied to a bed of a certain length. If they were shorter than the length of the bed, they were stretched out until they fit. If they were taller, some of them was chopped off. We still see references to Procrustean bed arguments.
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>>Honorable mention: Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun.
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>I'm with Tracy. Mythical has a number of meanings, but the one I pick is (out of Webster's)
>"without foundation in fact; imaginary; fictitious: The explanation was entirely mythical."
>
>Anyway, my favourite "mythical" character is Henry Burlingame III, and probably only Charles understands. He's a character from my favourite book, and Charles is the only person here that I think has read it (or is in the process). Henry was a student of history, and if there wasn't any good history happening around him, he created it himself.

I know what book you mean but haven't read it. My reading backlog is completely out of control. Turning around to look at the bookcases in my office, there have to be a hundred brand new books that I fully intend to read. I keep vowing to not buy any more books until reading these and keep failing miserably.

The book of the moment is the latest John Le Carre. It's fairly typical for him -- the first 100 pages or so are a slog, then you realize he has you. I am about halfway through it now and am still not sure who the primary characters are.