Booky Meme
Mood: Smiling
Listening to: Tapping of the keys
Tagged by Pacian.
Total number of books owned
My database quotes over 1500 books, but I know a large number haven't been added yet. It will be a figure well over 2000.
Last book bought
Surprisingly hard to remember - oh yes! Stars of the New Curfew by Ben Okri. Half-planning a blog post mentioning it.
Last book read
Caretaker by L.A. Graf (Star Trek Voyager Vol I). It's a good story - enjoyed every minute of it, even though I knew it all already! THAT's what I should have been reading when I had the flu - it would have been suitably entertaining and heart-warming.
Five books that mean a lot to you
"Um... Mean a lot to me, you say, rather than me just liking them? Let's have a think," said Pacian.
Tricky one, isn't it? This is probably where I reveal how shallow I am.
The Silver Darlings by Neil M. Gunn
I read this in my teens though the school didn't have it on their list. It impressed me enormously and I still view it as a kind of 'gold standard' in writing. Not because I said "this is the best book I've ever read" (I didn't, because it wasn't a competition), but because I think of it frequently, remembering how it made me felt. The style is very graceful, and there is lots of humanity, warmth, humour and attention to detail. Also if you like a bit of drama and Scottish atmosphere, this book shouldn't disappoint.
Ringworld by Larry Niven / Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Both of these books share the same box in my mind, so it seems fair enough to have them share the same spotlight of significance. They were both lent by a friend. I wasn't sure I would like them, thinking they might be too dry, but I could hardly put them down. Ender's Game was mysterious and dramatic, and Ringworld was interesting, warm and humorous. For me, they opened the doors onto the world of Science Fiction.
The Moominvalley books by Tove Jansson
It would be unfair of me not to include these just because they were aimed at children. I take refuge in Moominvalley. My family's nickname for me was Groke.
That might explain something. Mum gave me a potted chrysanthemum as a house warming present when I got here, and it didn't grow at all - just shrivelled up and died.
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Another children's book, Book Two of the Dark is Rising series. Very dramatic. Very inspiring. Made me want to write.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Compelling - I read it at least four times. I got so involved in the story that it contributed to spells of midnight depression at university! I still remember sitting on the floor staring up at curtains, desk and walls, wondering if I would be trapped there till I faded into the darkness...
I don't mind tagging folk as I figure they'll just ignore me if they don't want to, and I completely understand, but... how about...?
Pete, Kateblogs, Goldfish, Editor/Lady Bracknell, and anyone else who would like to.
apparently on telly from next November
You're on. Although maybe not immediately.
~ Heads off to start counting books ~
Looking forward to everybody's meme!
That's the Groke all over, btw - anguished howling in the dark while mammals huddle in safe warm places with their hands over their ears. Heh heh.
The last books I bought, in my local secondhandbookshop, were a Ladybird version of A Christmas Carol and Hamlet: Enter Critic, a collection of material on H through the ages.
The book I finished most recently was The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers (my first DLS); I'll probably say something in my blog, a slightly longer version of saying I found it disappointing but that it was unexpectedly interesting on the postwar impact of shellshock.
Of the books you mention, I had Moominvalley books but don't remember if I read them or not (then as now, I bought more - secondhand - books than I read); I found Ringworld quite dull (too much about the science and technology) and I quite enjoyed Cranford (from which I remember the tipsily-told story of the cat and the handkerchief).
This is the nearest to a meme-answer I'll manage...
And Jane Austen - she gets reread from time to time (with the exception of Mansfield Park).
Like you, though, I'm making more effort to rehome books - my database was over 3000 till I ditched some.
Trying to think how useful I find the database... it's interesting to have because of the figures it can furnish, but that's not 'useful'.
It's useful because it lets me know what happened to a book that disappeared (I don't delete books from the database; I mark them 'removed from collection', or say that I lent it to so-and-so, or it's at my sister's house - a good way to keep tabs on family books).
It's useful because it refers to the books I might need to complete a series. It's also useful because it reminds me where the books came from in the first place and how much they were.
I make brief comments on what I thought of a book, and sometimes I find I've commented on a book I don't even remember reading.
All that's pedantic in a way, but it's reassuring to have. :-)
The cat and the lace is a memorable part of Cranford - though I can imagine a dog doing that more easily than I can imagine a cat doing it (except purely by accident). Odd story.