I'm It?

Ack, I've been tagged by Meljean.

Actually, this is good since I didn't have anything particularly brilliant to say today. And I'm always game to talk about myself. *g*

Okay, here we go.

Total number of books I own:

Well, I'd say it's over 1,000. I can't tell for sure without counting. Put it this way, every book shelf I have is full to overflowing, and I have eleven bookshelves. I'd say I have about 300 romance novels. The rest range from research materials (The Handy Geography Answer Book) to classics I read in college and figure I should reread when I'm not cramming for an exam.

Last book I bought:

Went to Barnes and Noble last night, as a matter of fact. Fiction: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evie by Marianne Stillings. This is a combination of enjoying Marianne's first book and wanting to support a fledgling writer. Nonfiction: Twenty Master Plots and How To Build Them by Ronald Tobias. Hey, anything that helps.

Last book(s) I read:

Just finished Emma Thompson's The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen's Novel to Film.

Fiction-wise, the last book I read was Suzanne Brockmann's Hawkin's Heart. Spoke at length in a blog entry about the good and the bad - generally enjoyed this book until I realized how mean Brockmann was to the hero. Poor guy.

Before that was Black Ice by Anne Stuart. She's put me in the mood to go on a dark-heroes glom, so I may be pulling some heavy titles off the TBR shelf.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

This is a tough question because of how to define "mean a lot to me". I'm going to go with books that really made an impression or have stayed in my memory so distinctly that obviously, for me, the book was special.

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

This book blew me away. I read it when I was twelve, and the realism in it was like nothing I'd ever read before. I fell in love with Ponyboy, felt the fear and pain of the horrors he experienced, and generally wanted to be the girl who made things better for him. Amazing book.

2. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Man, what a powerful book. A classic biblical tale told from the female perspective. I know it is fiction, but it opened my eyes to how skewed toward the male viewpoint the stories of history have been. Not to mention how the story told pretty much rocked me to the core with the love story and subsequent tragedies that follow. This book reminded me of how truly good literary fiction can be.

3. Quinn by Sally Mandel

This isn't a romance in the true definition of the word, but the relationship between Quinn (the heroine) and Will is heartbreaking and incredibly moving. The quintessential opposites-attract story, this book makes me laugh out loud and bawl my eyes out every time I reread it, which is so often that my copy is very well-worn.

4. Chase the Moon by Catherine Nicolson

Oh, how romantic this book is! Now that I look back with my fully adult eyes, I know that the plot is fairly unlikely and based on a lot of happy coincidences. But Corrie was the first truly fiesty heroine that I'd ever read, the hero Guy de Chardonnet perfectly molded in the best of the tortured hero traditions. Set in Paris, this book had me sighing repeatedly.

5. Little Town on the Prairie/These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I'm cheating with a tie on these last two because I couldn't pick between them. These two books were my first real love-story books. I thrilled as the romance between Laura and Almanzo deepened. Best of all, this book is based on a real-life love story. *sigh*

Tag 5 people to do this:

This is the toughest part. Let's see, who hasn't been tagged with this one (or at least who didn't have an entry like this in their May archives)...

1. Wendy Duren
2. Stephanie Tyler
3. Alyssa
4. Smart Bitch Candy
5. Smart Bitch Sarah

This was fun. Except it made me think far too hard for a Friday.