Book Meme
1. Total Number of Books I Own
My best estimate is around a thousand, although some of those are joint property with my husband. A lot (possibly even most) of my favorite books, I don't actually own; I've had my own library card for as long as I can remember, and I'm a regular borrower from both friends and established institutions. Given how fast I read - something on the order of a book a day, especially if I'm working - there's no way I could actually afford to buy everything I wanted, even if I wasn't in the kind of financial straits typical to artists and grad students. Almost every book I've gotten in the past six years has been a gift, a textbook, or a couple dollars. (Hence, perhaps, my ludicrously high standards when I actually shell out.)
2. Last Book I Bought
I bought my mom a copy of A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down, because I am so very fond of the website. For myself, I got a copy of Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, and I enjoyed it very much.
3. Last Book(s) I Read
Well, Blink and A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down, but aside from that I'm visiting my parents, and am therefore near my old books from when I was a kid. I tend to whiz through a couple of them before going to bed. Last night, it was The Worst Witch, by Jill Murphy. I don't know whether anybody else remembers that series, but it was Harry Potter several years before Harry Potter existed. (I think Fairuza Balk played the main character in the TV movie, which also had Tim Curry and Diana Rigg.) The night before, I think I read Sideways Stories from Wayside School and some random picture books. As for the last book I reviewed, it was Foop!, by Chris Genoa - which I gave probably my most favorable review so far. It's worth picking up.
4. Five Books that Mean a Lot to Me
Honestly, I don't get emotionally attached to books the same way I do to movies and images and songs. There are various poems and short stories I'm passionate about, but they're not really books. I enjoy books and am a compulsive reader, but I wouldn't say that books particularly define me. (Let the stoning begin.) It really doesn't help that I usually think "well, that could have been done better in this section over here..." I mean, I love books, but I like the ideas in them much more than their actual book-ness. I also tend to pick up and abandon things as they become relevant or irrelevant to my life. Anyway, the following five books have remained extremely useful to me for many years, and I respect them for that.
Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching calms me down a lot; the way the words are put together is vaguely hypnotic.
The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert L. Heilbroner, is a really good overview of Economics, not just as it exists today, but as it existed in the past. It makes a lot of history make more sense. It's also damn entertaining.
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, is one of the best books ever written, and makes me cry cry cry every time I read it. (Say something to the effect of "Pickett, form up your division," and you'll get approximately the same result.) Even if you don't care about the American Civil War, read this book. (And if you're American and don't care, shame on you. The Civil War is extremely germaine to current debates on Mexican immigration.)
I've read The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense many times. It's a collection of nonsense poems and creepy illustrations. Unfortunately, the modern edition friendlied up the illustrations, rendering the book less cool.
Please Understand Me II, by David Kiersey, is still one of the most useful books on personality I can think of. It makes a lot of corrections to the original Please Understand Me, and expands on it. Hugely useful both for interpersonal relationships and when trying to write characters that aren't based on someone you know. (Incidentally, most people don't realize that Myers and Briggs were women - a mother and her daughter. They developed the test during World War II, although I can't at the moment remember why. Something to do with the war effort. Anyone?)
(Runners up: I really like post-apolalyptic stories, and I think the best ones are The Day of the Triffids and A Canticle for Leibowitz. [Thank god I have the old edition; the current one has ridiculously silly cover art.])
My best estimate is around a thousand, although some of those are joint property with my husband. A lot (possibly even most) of my favorite books, I don't actually own; I've had my own library card for as long as I can remember, and I'm a regular borrower from both friends and established institutions. Given how fast I read - something on the order of a book a day, especially if I'm working - there's no way I could actually afford to buy everything I wanted, even if I wasn't in the kind of financial straits typical to artists and grad students. Almost every book I've gotten in the past six years has been a gift, a textbook, or a couple dollars. (Hence, perhaps, my ludicrously high standards when I actually shell out.)
2. Last Book I Bought
I bought my mom a copy of A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down, because I am so very fond of the website. For myself, I got a copy of Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell, and I enjoyed it very much.
3. Last Book(s) I Read
Well, Blink and A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down, but aside from that I'm visiting my parents, and am therefore near my old books from when I was a kid. I tend to whiz through a couple of them before going to bed. Last night, it was The Worst Witch, by Jill Murphy. I don't know whether anybody else remembers that series, but it was Harry Potter several years before Harry Potter existed. (I think Fairuza Balk played the main character in the TV movie, which also had Tim Curry and Diana Rigg.) The night before, I think I read Sideways Stories from Wayside School and some random picture books. As for the last book I reviewed, it was Foop!, by Chris Genoa - which I gave probably my most favorable review so far. It's worth picking up.
4. Five Books that Mean a Lot to Me
Honestly, I don't get emotionally attached to books the same way I do to movies and images and songs. There are various poems and short stories I'm passionate about, but they're not really books. I enjoy books and am a compulsive reader, but I wouldn't say that books particularly define me. (Let the stoning begin.) It really doesn't help that I usually think "well, that could have been done better in this section over here..." I mean, I love books, but I like the ideas in them much more than their actual book-ness. I also tend to pick up and abandon things as they become relevant or irrelevant to my life. Anyway, the following five books have remained extremely useful to me for many years, and I respect them for that.
Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching calms me down a lot; the way the words are put together is vaguely hypnotic.
The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert L. Heilbroner, is a really good overview of Economics, not just as it exists today, but as it existed in the past. It makes a lot of history make more sense. It's also damn entertaining.
The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara, is one of the best books ever written, and makes me cry cry cry every time I read it. (Say something to the effect of "Pickett, form up your division," and you'll get approximately the same result.) Even if you don't care about the American Civil War, read this book. (And if you're American and don't care, shame on you. The Civil War is extremely germaine to current debates on Mexican immigration.)
I've read The Golden Book of Fun and Nonsense many times. It's a collection of nonsense poems and creepy illustrations. Unfortunately, the modern edition friendlied up the illustrations, rendering the book less cool.
Please Understand Me II, by David Kiersey, is still one of the most useful books on personality I can think of. It makes a lot of corrections to the original Please Understand Me, and expands on it. Hugely useful both for interpersonal relationships and when trying to write characters that aren't based on someone you know. (Incidentally, most people don't realize that Myers and Briggs were women - a mother and her daughter. They developed the test during World War II, although I can't at the moment remember why. Something to do with the war effort. Anyone?)
(Runners up: I really like post-apolalyptic stories, and I think the best ones are The Day of the Triffids and A Canticle for Leibowitz. [Thank god I have the old edition; the current one has ridiculously silly cover art.])