Today I'm using this meme I read in Mimi's blog, because it's a topic near and dear to my heart.
1. Total Number of Books I've Owned:
This is not something I could even ballpark--it's gotta be in excess of 5,000, but numbers become hard for me to grasp once they get that large. Let's just say this: bookshelves have always been my most crucial piece of furniture, bookstores are my very favorite places on earth, and I have been cursed by moving men in four states because of my excessive number of very heavy boxes of books.
2. Last Book I Bought:
I bought several books for a flight three weeks ago: Errant Knight by R. Garcia y Robertson, and two humor collections by Laurie Notaro. I think those were the last, but I buy books like I buy bread and milk, so I may be forgetting something.
3. Last Book I Read:
The last book I read was White Rose, which is the third in the series begun with Errant Knight. They're time travel fantasy books with a terrific premise--third-millennium Hollywood producer ends up in the middle of the War of the Roses--but the plot development, characterization and narrative left a lot to be desired.
4. Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:
A. the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The detail and the history of these books is just amazing, but it's the way the characters live their lives that has always inspired me.
B. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This is a book with its roots deep in my psyche, because I spent the first five years of my life living near Hannibal, and the Mississippi River loomed very large in my life and imagination. Plus, it's America in book form.
C. Lake Wobegon Days. Another American classic. This was a book I always turned to when my real world seemed too harsh and I needed to go to a place that was friendlier. Between the ages of 16 and 24, I must have read LWD 100 times. For a long time I wrote just like Garrison Keillor!
D. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. This is the book that taught me that detail is what brings writing to life. It's a little gem.
E. The King James Bible. I grew up to the cadences of the KJV in church and in school, and it shaped my love of words and language.
5. People I Will Infect With This Meme:
Bev, will you give this one a shot? I am so curious to hear your answers!
3 comments:
I hope I'm the "Bev" you mentioned.
Total Number of Books I've Owned:
Unfathomable. Right now, I read an average of 150 books a year. Probably more. I'm almost 37 years old. I started reading when I was 4. It amazes me to think that millions of words have passed before my eyes.
Last Book I Bought:
JAMIE by Lori Foster
Reinventing Mona (can't remember author)
Beach Blanket Bad Boys (several authors)
They are all romances. :)
Last Book I Read:
WHAT REILLY WANTS (a Silhouette Desire romance)
Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:
1. GOD ON A HARLEY by Joan Brady It's about a woman in her 30s going through a "mid-life" crisis and "GOD" comes to her in a form she can approach-- a man on a Harley-- and helps her simplify her life. The book came out long before the JOAN OF ARCADIA tv-show. And it's not a romance. :)
2. The Dictionary. I got my first real dictionary when I was in junior high and I would read some of it every day, with the goal of having read the entire book by graduation. I did it twice over.
3. JOURNEY TO QUIET WATERS by Dixie Browning. It was my "first" grown-up romance novel which I "snuck" when I was 13ish. I located a used copy on the internet last year to add to my keeper shelf for nostalgic reasons.
4. FOREVER by Judy Blume. Sex ed classes have nothing on this book. I read it when I was 14. It was written in the mid-70s when "free-love" was practiced. It was about a 17 yr old's journey from "innocence" to adulthood. I can still remember the line "Once you have sex, you can't go back to holding hands" that the girl used to describe how it felt to rush into sex too soon.
5. THE ELVES and THE SHOEMAKER. It was the first book I read on my own.
WOW! Both of you (Janelle and Bev) added great books! I love the Little House books, and your words about "Forever" are so true, Bev.
And, scratching pencil on paper, must read "God on a Harley".
Hope you like GOD ON A HARLEY. My tastes can be peculiar. I'll watch a movie that everyone hates and love it. :) The same goes with books. I'll love something then recommend it and the other person will say, "Eh, it was ok."
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