Bookalicious

A meme, this one book-related, passed on to me by Rob:

1. Total number of books I own: Maybe a thousand or more, half of them unread despite my valiant attempts to the contrary. And a handful of graphic novels.

2. The last book(s) I bought: A book splurge brought on a few goodies like Vernor Vinge's A Fire in the Deep (recommended by Rob)*, Stephen Baxter's The Time Ships (HG Wells' kinda-sequel)*, Tim Powers' Drawing of the Dark (a Powers masterpiece), Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian vol. 1 (by Crom!), Mary Gentle's White Crow omnibus* (omnibuses are always a good buy), Chris Wooding's The Weavers of Saramyr* (reportedly a good YA author), Marcus Herniman's The Siege of Arrandin* (an impulse buy, have no idea on this one), and Michael Cobley's Shadowgod* (the 2nd of three despite the fact I don't have the 1st book yet).

*bought 2nd-hand

3. The last book I read: Jude Fisher's Sorcery Rising (book 1 of Fool's Gold) which-- as big fat fantasies (BFF) go-- kinda sucked. Fisher is reportedly a pseudonym for Jane Johnson, publisher of HarperCollins'science fiction and fantasy list, Voyager, which was ironic since this book needed some serious editing work.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me:

Kelly Link's autographed Stranger Things Happen (I'm in love with the prose and the stories in this one. Totally exhilirating writing.)

Fyodor Doestovskey's The Brothers' Karamazov (I'm ashamed to say that I lack readings in the classics. But this is one book that I can honestly say I read and enjoyed.)

Angela Gorodischer's Kalpa Imperial (A beautiful book about an Empire That Never Was, this was proof for me that you don't have to be from the US or from England to write good speculative fiction.)

The World Treasury of Science Fiction edited by David Hartwell and Clifton Fadiman (My very first science-fiction collection with all the requisite stories for a budding SF reader. Yum!)

Jean Giono's The Horseman on the Roof (Which was an interesting movie but was a lovely book. My first introduction to book-collecting.)

5. Tag three people and have them do this on their blogs: Whoever is currently reading this right NOW! (But no pressure of course.)