OK two games of back to back tag! Larramie has tagged me with my second official blogtag - but this is a serious one. A book meme of all things. I couldn't actually respond right away because I wanted to think about it, seriously. Cause we writers are a serious lot. Seriously.
So first question. Total number of books?
What do you mean by this? Total owned, total read, total loved, total hated, total picked up started and thrown down in disgust? This is such an open ended question. It is nearly impossible to answer. So assuming that the party of the first part meant for the party of the second part to discuss the total number of books owned over the course of the second party's natural life, whereas the parties would like to come to a mutual agreement as to the proper response to said question, notwithstanding subsequent interpretations of said question, the answer shall be imparted as follows:
I don't know.
For further clarification, I shall respond thusly. The Library of Congress states that its collection fills over 530 miles of shelf space for its 130 million items of books, manuscripts, journals, etc. I have a little less.
Last Book read?
Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Beautiful, simply beautiful. I was like Niagara Falls.
Last Book Bought?
My most recent book purchased was an e-book (which was also my first e-book ever). It is Weirdly, a Collection of Strange Stories published by Wild Child Publishing. Cool creepy stories that you want to read when you are all alone on a dark, cold stormy night. The lovely and extremely talented Bernita Harris has one of the best stories I've read in it and I plan to do a review and Q&A with her when I finish the entire book!
Five meaningful Books?
For me, meaningful books are the ones that left me a little different after reading it.
If I must limit it to five then these would be the five I would list as most memorable to me at this particular moment in my life:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I can’t really even explain how much I loved this book. It made me fall in love with the power of the written word. It also made me want to be a lawyer - yeah, I know, but I still love this book.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, swept me away in an epic tale of betrayal, revenge and redemption. Also gave me my love for adventure tales.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I cried and cried. And then cried some more. I’m such a sucker for a good tearjerker – but only if it doesn’t make me feel manipulated. This book made me doubt whether or not I had written a book anywhere near as good and then made me determined to find out.
Persuasion by Jane Austen. One of my favorite books of all time. This taught me to fall in love with romance. It has the most romantic love letter I have ever read. And I am not one for love letters. Honestly, I am about as romantic as a head of cabbage, but I loved this book.
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. I know I cheated and added a whole series as my last entry, but really these seven books must be considered altogether. I could dedicate an entire post to how this series has affected me, but I will limit it to this. Not only did I love the series and the world that Rowling created, I admired the strength of her storytelling that enthralled the world and united all her fans in an experience that will probably never be replicated in my lifetime.
Five People to Tag for a Book Meme
Here's the thing. I'm a lazy tag player. When I actually was It, I wouldn't chase anyone. I'd just go sit under a tree and read or take a nap until everyone got tired of waiting for me and got someone else to be It. But in this case, I really would love to see what everyone's book choices are. So, this is what I'd like to do. If you read this, and you haven't already been tagged with this meme, then consider yourself tagged! Consider this an all encompassing blanket tag, but only play if you want to, and leave a comment here to let me know if you will post on this Book meme so I can come and see the books that mean the most to you. I know I'm not playing by the rules. But rules were meant to be broken, right?
I also love (a word I don't use lightly) To Kill a Mocking Bird.
ReplyDeleteWeirdly: Your feet. Gimme.
you did it! or it did itself! i get your feed now!!
ReplyDeleteIs thankfully he put on his "reject all tags" cloak just this morning. "If I get started on books I will likely bore even the bibliophiles among us."
ReplyDeleteKill a Mockingbird would have made my list, too. I love Dumas and think the Count is probably the best I've read of his, but I might have picked the Three Musketeers first, simply because I read it first and adored it so much I re-read it twice.
ReplyDeleteFive best though is a hard thing to pick over an entire life of reading... okay, I'll try this one but it'll take a while to really give it some thought. I'll try to drop you a line when it's up.
Best book I ever read - Miss Piggy's Guide to Life. She taught me so much!
ReplyDeleteGreat lis, Ello. The books you like show a part of your soul...
ReplyDeleteMeant "list", obviously - my fingers are a bit clumsy today over the keyboard... :-)
ReplyDeleteLove the lawyerese in Answer #1!
ReplyDeleteProving your seriousness, obviously.
This was seriously good, Ello, and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas almost made my list as well.
ReplyDeleteHee hee! Glad you all liked my list!
ReplyDeleteA few of my faves too, especially, The Count of Monte Cristo. I spent every study hall in the library and this was one of the books I found stalking around in the stacks.
ReplyDeleteI also chose "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the Tag Meme. I loved "The Kite Runner" but had just finished it and there were others that had more significance. I enjoyed reading your answers to the questions.
ReplyDelete"Thousand Suns" is on my TBR list, although I haven't purchased it yet. And To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely on my top 100 list.
ReplyDeleteYikes more great titles to add to my TBR list. Thanks, Ello!
ReplyDelete