No one tagged me, I just took it upon myself. Because the only thing better than reading books is talking and writing about them.
(via Making Light)

Total number of books owned:
1558. Not including new books that have not yet been added into the database.
This is the total for the house, so some of these books are Michael’s and I won’t ever read them.

Last book bought:
In the mail as I type…
Sabriel by Garth Nix – A birthday gift for someone.
Poland James A. Mitchner – A birthday gift for a different someone.
Latin American Folktales : Stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions by JOHN BIERHORST – I love folktales, and I like the Pantheon collections the best. I’m really looking forward to reading this collection, and hope they continue to expand the collection (I’m hoping for more areas of Eastern Europe, but beggars can’t be choosers).
Brilliance of the Moon (Tales of the Otori) by Lian Hearn – I found the first two books of this series last month, and wanted to start reading them, but held off because I didn’t have book three.

Last book read:
The Shadow Roads (The Swan’s War) by Sean Russell – I just finished this book
The Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower – I’m currently reading this book (as of Monday, 6 June 2005)

Five books that mean a lot to you:
Green Eggs and Ham Dr Seuss
The first book I ever read by myself.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
My Dad gave me the “illustrated” version (illustrated with pictures from the made-for-tv-movie [which I’ve never seen]) when I was in elementary school, and I loved it. For ages I thought it was the best book in the entire world. Despite the fact that within a few years pagers were falling out in chunks, I continued to read the book again and again. Several years ago my Dad got me a hardback version of the same book, so now I can go back and read without fear of losing pages.
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol I and II by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The first “grown-up” book I ever received as my own. At 12 1/2 I didn’t have too many hardback books with covers, so it felt like a big thing to receive these adult books for my own. I immediately loved Sherlock Holmes, and would try to improve my “powers of observation” in case I witnessed a crime, so I could be a good witness. Although the powers of observation never took, I still love reading those two volumes. I managed to keep the covers until I loaned the books to someone a couple of years ago, and the books came back naked. I’m still bitter.
Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole
I’m not certain when I received this collection, but I have so many fond memories of reading this book that even looking at the cover gives a small feeling of happiness. I didn’t get too much Disney as a child (although I remember being terrified during ‘Snow White’) but I at least knew the general stories. This collection contains stories from all over the world, and I was entranced by the Ananasi stories, and the other tales that were completely unfamiliar, as well as by the stories I thought were familiar, yet were different than I expected. I’ve found that I can read the same tales again and again, because different regions place a little different emphasis on the same tale.
Mythology Edith Hamilton
I’ve loved Mythology since third grade, when my reading book worked mythology into the stories. Because I so fondly remembered those stories, I signed up for Greek and Roman Mythology class in college, and this was one of the assigned books. It was fantastic. From there I moved on to Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Hesiod’s Theogony, and found that despite being “classics” they were actually quite readable. Reading mythology also re-awakened my love of folktales, and I’ve been buying folktale collections as I’ve come across them.

Tag five people to continue this meme:
erin
Tom
S Done!
Memer Done!
I’d really like to see what Solomon says, but he doesn’t read here, so this’ll just be a wish in vain.