Book Meme
I've been tagged by JohnL for this book meme. [And this afternoon I followed it back as far as it would go, where it's bouncing around a bunch of Jesuits. Some interesting lists there]. 1. Total Number of Books I've Owned: My best estimate is that I currently own 700-750 books, without counting each one. 2. Last Book I Bought: The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy book. Hey, it was cheap. 3. Last Book I Read: Way of the Wolf, by E. E. Knight. Fun stuff to read while eating dinner. 4. Five Books That Mean A lot to Me: 1) The Bible. Yes, everyone is mentioning it. Yes, I don't believe it's the verbatim word of God. But, it has had a profound effect on my life and my civilization. 2) In The Moment, Harvey L. Rich, MD. A book written by a psychoanalyst, discussing his cases and a way to approach life. Big impact: when I first read it, I could barely get through a page without crying. Wouldn't affect everyone the same way, but it was helpful for me. 3) A book of poetry by Keats. Not so much because I love the poetry, but because the book itself has meaning for me. A gift from a long time ago. 4) The Kid, Dan Savage. If you have to ask why, I'm not going to tell you. 5) The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. For a while I was reading one or another of these almost constantly. When I understood they were a metaphorical retelling of various bits of Christianity, it pissed me off, sort of like when your mother tries to get you to eat a vegetable you hate by hiding it in a casserole. But still, they were probably the first fantasy that I read [maybe LoTR or The Hobbit came before]. No books that I've read have had a huge philosophical impact on me. Classes in college, yes; specific books, no. I have a zillion SciFi books with varying levels of impact, but no one stands out. 5. Tag five people and have them do this on their blog. It's late, let me sleep on this. If anyone reads this and wants to be tagged, comment.
- posted by owlish @ 5/23/2005 09:56:00 PM