Sunday book Meme

Boring weekends lead to memes. This one courtesy of Suebob who knows I can't resist talking about books.


Total number of books owned: Too many too count.
There are these:

And these (this is the Alice/Asimov/C.S. Lewis / Sherlock Holmes / Dante / National Geographic / genetics / Spanish / Harry Potter shelf):



And these.

Those don't have a shelf yet.
And I also have comic books and old text books that are still boxed up because they don't have a shelf either.

Last book bought: In Fresno I bought "The Complete Asimov, Volume 1 and The Book of Good Spells. I bought them at the same time. I probably have some combination of the Asimov stories already, but I not in one big volume like that! And the spell book is a bunch of Gypsy lore. Some include candles and concentration, and others are just things like to get rid of bad breath, eat an apple! That's not a spell, that's just a fact.

Last book read: I just finished Shadows Over Baker Street which is Sherlock Holmes meets H.P. Lovecraft. I was like "I like both of those things!" and so I bought the book. Like all short story anthologies, some are good and some are bad, but it was fun to read.

Five Books that Mean a Lot to You:
1. Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. duh. Best book ever, and when someone doesn't know what to buy me, it usually ends up being a different edition of the book or something that came out of it. (I have it in French and Spanish, along with several cool English versions.)

2. Oneaday Reason to be Happy by Laura Huxley. Someone bought me this when I was like 10, saying "you'll appreciate it when you're older." That statement made me hate that person, though I do like the book. It's basically a shallow premise to be thankful for what you have. It has people listing their happy reasons, and they range from "I have no pain today" to "Mommy let me help her cook." It's cute. And sappy. But cute first.

3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I have an autographed copy. Though I wasn't there it when it was autographed, I saw it in a Berkeley bookstore and freaked out, especially when they told me it didn't cost more because of the signature. It opened up a whole world of signed books to me.

4. Every Dr. Seuss book ever. I love Dr. Seuss. Sure, he teaches kids to read by making up words (why does that work?) but he also teaches lessons like "save the environment" (The Lorax), "don't be a Nazi" (Yertle the Turtle), and "don't be racist" (the Star-Bellied Sneetches). I recently unpacked my Dr. S figurines that had been packed for the last 2+ years, and I may write a blog about them on their own. Dr. Seuss = good.

5. Dr. Strangelove, or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, A novel by Peter George, based on the screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Peter George, and Terry Southern. Just because I think that's the world's longest title and it cracks me up. That book cost me one dollar.

Best Five Books You Read in the Last Year:
I read so many damn books that I can't keep track of what year it is. So I'll just list some recent ones.
1. Harry Potter 7. I know that was this year, and I did want the series to end even though I enjoyed thoroughly. Shut up all you naysayers, it's a fun read.

2. The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown. Oh wait no, I hated that.

3. Sula by Toni Morrison. I like all her books, even if they are downers.

4. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Yes, it's ultra-violent, but it's well written and it ha a message and whatever.

5. Madeline is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. Ah surrealism in free verse...


I guess I don't ever read nonfiction. But I do sometimes, I swear. It's all those science books. Anyhoo, as always, I tag everyone and no one. Do this if you need a way to kill some time.