Hello, I’m back from vacationing in Cancun, Mexico. Pictures of the trip can be seen here in my photo gallery. I’ll write up a little about what I saw and what I did in the next day or so.
While I was gone Dan got to talking about books with a set of questions. While I’m not one of the five people he asked to answer the same questions I figured it wouldn’t be a bad exercise.
Total Number of books I’ve owned
I really have no idea. I probably have a couple of hundred in my posession right now and I tend to give away my paperbacks or just leave them where I finish them.
Last book I bought
I bought two books to take to Cancun with me, Occidentalism; The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit and Whispering Nickel Idols by Glen Cook.
Last book I read
I’ve got a few pages left to read in Whispering Nichol Idols. I’ve always liked Glen Cook’s Garrett series for killing time in airports and waiting rooms.
Last book I finished
I finished Occidentalism sitting on the patio of my hotel room in Cancun while recovering from my climb up to the top of the temple at Chichen-itza. The ride out to Chichen-itza and back through the villages in that area gave me a little somethin to consider as I read the book. I want to get those thoughts down in here in the next day or so before they completely leave me.
Five books that mean a lot to me
These may seem not be of any help to anyone else looking for meaning or answers to life’s questions but they do to me.
- Where The Red Fern Grows probably instilled my love of books when I was a youngster.
- Lord of the Flies kept me interested in books through the teenage years.
- The Hobbit opened up the world of fantasy books to me.
- Stranger in a Strange Land introduced me to Heinlein and some of my most enjoyable reading for years after.
- The Holy Bible; New International Translation taught me faith, taught me atheism, brought me back to a point of agnosticism and finally back to faith. It was my journey of running from God that brought me back to Him and reading the Bible was instrumental to it all.
Five people I’d like to see to do this as well
Felix, Cat, Jeff, Josh and Barry.
Hmmm…the wish at the end of your post refers, I expect, to reading the Bible? I read sporadically from the Bible, sort of like I read books read before, going directly to some part that meant much to me at some time in the past. I have never read front to back, with frequent recourse to notes. I do have an annotated edition of the Bible, but no other study guide. I have made several attempts, but after Genesis and Exodus, I run aground on Leviticus. I then take to skipping ahead, stopping for awhile at Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, then jump to the New Testament, where the Gospel of John is a favorite, along with some of the Apocrypha.
Perhaps I should tackle the reading again. I have been thinking that the internet has hijacked my reading time, and the Bible would be a fine way to reclaim that. I understand your meaning, I think, that you hope I could retrace your journey. I appreciate your good hopes for me.
Thank You.
Actually I was hoping you would answer the questions I answered but reading the Bible is always good, even if one isn’t a believer.
Oops, I should never assume I know what is meant until I have read the post more carefully. Ahem. To answer the questions you wanted answered, here goes:
Total Number of books I’ve owned
Hard to say. I counted (roughly) 190-205 around the place right now. When I pulled up stakes at the family home seven years ago, I left many behind. Probably as many as I now have. In addition, I have for years used my new book stash as a source of birthday, Christmas and other occasion gifts. Family and friends may think this a budgetary measure on my miserly part, but actually I like to share the books I have enjoyed rather than warehouse them unread on my shelves.
Last book I bought
Franklin and Winston, by Jon Meacham. A history of the friendship between the two central figures in the Allied nations facing Germany and Japan in WWII.
Last book I read
The above book is on my bedside table and is my current reading.
Last book I finished
The first book in the Black Tower series by Stephen King, The Gunslinger. Some time back. As I said, the internet swallows up a lot of my reading time.
Five books that mean a lot to me
(In no particular order)
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. The definitive Faulkner book for me, an examination of a flawed family and of the virtues of selfless love, devotion and compassion in the midst of decay and cruelty.
Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris. A book outwardly about baseball players, but really about mortality, friendship and tolerance. I used to re-read this book every couple of years. Have not done so lately.
The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy. I read this book for the first time when I was in my twenties and felt aimless and intimidated by the challenge of making a life in a complicated world. There were so many choices and uncertainties that I had to work on understanding myself, as well as the world, before I could get off dead center. The protagonist in this book faced the same confusion.
The Works of William Shakespeare. This is too monumental a work really to be considered a single book, but I have read many of the plays and poems several times, and they are the furntiure of my consciousness.
The Bible. As I said in my first post, I cannot claim to have read the Bible in a systematic or studied way, but both as a foundation of my faith and as a part of all of so much of our common culture, it is indeed very important to me, however unconvential and no doubt flawed my belief may be.
This has been a challenging exercise. I will have to think more on this whole enterprise, but for now this is my best effort at answering the questions put.
Your answers are as interesting as I expected them. You missed one, though.
“Five people I’d like to see to do this as well.”
Five people I’d like to see do this as well.
Hmm. If he would answer without reference to self-created image, Stray.
Kordax, Slipknotbondage13, Shot (same caveat as Stray) and Gary Poole.