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Book tag

Jill

I was book tagged by Marian two weeks ago, and, because of my crappy internet situation, didn’t see it until today. And while she tagged Third Wave Agenda (my old blog), I’m going to take the liberty of moving it over here. So here goes:

Number of Books That You Own:
I have no idea. A lot. Maybe… 200?

Last Book Bought:
“The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman was the last book bought for me, but I didn’t buy it myself. Last week I bought a book of Italian grammar exercises, which is technically a book (but not really, in any sense, “literature”).

Last Book I Read:
“If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino. Currently reading “Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy” by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Five Books that mean a lot to me:
1) The Giving Tree (my favorite childhood book)
2) Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins (my all-time favorite book)
3) Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
4) Backlash by Susan Faludi
5) My tattered collection of Dorothy Parker short stories

Now, I tag:
Ben at Lefterer
Shankar
Ryan
Sydney
Becky

And anyone else who wants to answer

18 thoughts on Book tag

  2. I really like “The Giving Tree” but after a few thousand readings of it with our kid, my wife observed “that tree is really co-dependent.”

  3. Ok Jill, I gotta say that this was a tough one. But after much pensive thought (I swear I have the frown marks to prove it) I present you with my answers:

    Number of Books That You Own:
    More than 100, but not up to 150. So like 120? I’m competley shooting in the dark here.

    Last Book Bought:
    Actually I during my last trip to the bookstore I bought 5. They were: “Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs”- Chuck Klosterman, “America”- John Stewart, “The World is Flat”- Thomas Friedman, “The Interperter of Maladies”- Jhumpa Lahiri and “The Namesake” also by Jhumpa Lahiri. What can I say- they had a book sale at Borders and I couldn’t resist.

    Last Book I Read:
    ”We Wish to Inform you That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With our Families: Stories from Rwanda” by Philip Gourevitch. This is a fantastic book which I wrote about sometime in February or March as I was starting to read it. I’m currently reading Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs.

    Five Books that mean a lot to me:
    Okay this is by far the hardest question to answer. I had no idea how to answer this so I went with the 5 books that altered my way of thinking about the world. So here they are in no particular order:

    1) A Wrinkle in Time- Madeline L’Engel
    2) Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achbe
    3) Wheel of Time Series- Robert Jordan
    4) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou
    5) Listen Up: Voices from the Next Feminist Generation

    Yeah, this was hard.

  4. The World is Flat should make for good kindling (just don’t inhale the toxic fumes).

  5. I can’t read the Giving Tree ever since somebody casually said to me “don’t you think it’s awfully significant that the tree is female?”

  7. Here goes:

    Number of books I own:

    No idea, but it’s in the hundreds.

    Last book bought:

    30 Minute Meals 2 by Rachael Ray. Yes, I really like Rachael Ray, and the meals really are easy to do when you’re continually pressed for time and don’t have a lot of fancy equipment.

    Last book read:

    “We Stand By to Assist You”: The History of Ballard Community Hospital, by Nena Peltin. No one’s heard of this one because it’s a local history book published by one of the hospital companies out here (Swedish Medical Center). The only reason I’m reading it is because I’m reviewing it for a journal.

    Five books that mean a lot to me:

    1. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien. The first “real” novel I read.
    2. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger. Read it when I was a somewhat bitter teenager, and Holden Caulfield helped me feel a lot better about myself.
    3. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes. This is probably the most powerful piece of fiction I’ve ever read. In fact, I couldn’t even open up the book again for years after i’d first read it. I literally cried.
    4. War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, Chris Hedges. The title says it all.
    5. Vietnam: A History, Stanley Karnow. Not the best book on Vietnam, but reading this planted the seed of history in my head.

  9. Whoa. How many off-balanced tables and couches do you have?

    Can you count the books that you’ve surrendered to others, or the books you’ve given away or traded for credit in order to make space for yet more books?

  10. Here I go.

    Number of books I own:

    Somewhere between 100 and 200, I think.

    Last book bought:

    Ideas of the Great Philosophers was the last book bought for me. The last books I actually bought were my textbooks for last semester, which included an African American history book, an international politics book, a Spanish book, and an American politics book.

    Last book read:

    The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman, a book about pre-World War I Europe and U.S. She wrote it after she wrote The Guns of August, which I am currently working on.

    5 books that mean a lot to me:

    1. 1984, by George Orwell. I read it in the winter of 2004 during a time that I had very little direction in my life. This book, combined with following the Democratic primaries, turned me more toward political activism, and it is because of that activism that I am now a political science major.

    2. The Fiery Cross, by Wyn Craig Wade. It is a history of the Ku Klux Klan. It successfully destroys the too often-held myth that the South was oppressed by the North during Reconstruction, and generally tries to help the reader unlearn the distortions about the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction years. It was my introduction to both post-bellum and African American history.

    3. The Universe in a Nutshell, by Stephen Hawking. Theoretical physics and cosmology for the layperson. Very fascinating stuff.

    4. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. Great stuff. I played Slim in a high school one act play competition, so it means that much more to me.

    5. Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller and some artists. Yes, I know. But it was my introduction to some great graphic literature. And I love the Batman.

  12. Oo, oo, can I play too?

    *Number of Books I Own*
    I really don’t know. I should count them! That would be… satisfying.

    *Last Book Bought*
    I think it was a full set of Kant’s three critiques in German. Not the best editions, but hey, my German’s not that good anyway. They were in paperback and a steal at something like 20 Euros… It’s *research*, people.

    *Last Book Read*
    Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body. Winterson is a prose poet as much as a novelist. Her books are musical and visceral and sometimes darkly funny. She’s smart, but she’s not being clever; she plays for keeps. I had trouble not crying on the U-Bahn.

    *5 Books that Mean a Lot to Me*
    1) A Light in the Forest. I’m not even sure who wrote it. Maybe Conrad? It was the first book I read that didn’t have a happy ending. I read it very young, and threw it across the room and cried. It made reading 1984 a lot easier.
    2) The Second Sex. Simone made me think about what I do and who I am. She made being a feminist and being a girl who likes to think come together for me for the first time.
    3) All of the Salinger Seymour Glass series. Holden never moved me much, but Franny and Zooey are real breathing people in those pages, all lipstick-ed cigarette butts and razor scum and furrowed brows and awkward silences. I take them with me when I travel far away, whether or not I read them.
    4) Dragonsinger, by Anne McCaffrey. For a few years there, me and Anne McCaffrey’s books were never long separated. Girls overcoming isolation and strict and unspoken gender roles to become heroes and leaders and live their dreams? Yes! And sometimes they get to ride dragons. Sweet.
    5) I hate to say it, but Kant’s critiques. They taught me that philosophy is more than just an intellectual exercise. They got under my skin. They made me crazy. They, more than most other books, put me where I am today. Damn you, you old dead white man.

    ooh, I can’t wait to see what Lauren’s list looks like.

  13. BlondebutBright — I’m obsessed with Tom Robbins. The only problem is that I’ve now read ever book he’s published — most of them at least twice. So I’m desperately awaiting his next!

    Sydney — Good choices! I love Jhumpa Lahiri. Interpretor of the Maladies is one of my favorite books ever (The Namesake is good, but I didn’t like it as much). And Sex, Drugs and Coco Puffs is hilarious. Tomorrow We Wish to Inform You… is great, too. We seem to have very similar tastes!

    Flat Earther — Have you read it? It’s actually pretty good, even if you don’t agree with Friedman’s ideas.

  14. Glad to hear you are as firmly obsessed with TR as I am! I also own and have read all the books at least twice, some more. His words are an incredible combination of delight and intrigue.

  15. I’m TR obsessed, too! The first book of his I read was “Jitterbug Perfume.” I never turned back. The sex! The stories! The sentences! The guy is so good I recommend him to all people who say they don’t read. Pretty soon, they find themselves readers.

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  17. Jill- you’re right. we really do have very similar book tastes! Although I’m ashamed to admit it here (since he has so many fans) I’ve never read a Tim Robbins book. But seeing as everyone here as demonstrated excellent taste in general, I think I’m going to have to give him a shot. Recommendations for a first-timer?

    Lauren- did you already post your favorite books? I wasn’t sure if I missed it somewhere.

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