Book meme

[prepare4trouble]

sivib tagged me for this book meme, so here it is...

1) Total number of books I've owned:

I wouldn't even want to guess. Well, okay. I will guess. I've got... about 7 metres of bookshelf in my room, each one full and then with books filed on top. So if the average book is... lets say 2cm wide, that's about 350 books, then the ones piled on top, I'll guestimate another 50. Then I've got large drawer full of books under my bed, probably another 100 in there, so a very rough guess, I'd say about 500. That sounds a bit excessive!

2) Last Book I Bought:

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer. Not started reading it yet, but I am kind of addicted to the Artemis Fowl books, and to Eoin Colfer's books in general. I try to make everyone I know read The Supernaturalist!

3) Last book I read:

Erm... I've been re-reading a lot of books recently, but the last book I read that I hadn't read before was Incompetence by Rob Grant. I wouldn't recommend it, it's meant to be funny, but it isn't. Has a few great lines though.

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me:

Okay, this is a tough one!

K-PAX by Gene Brewer. If it's okay, I'm just going to include the whole trilogy as one, you can get it in one book now anyway! The film was pretty rubbish, but I loved the books. And I so want to go to K-PAX! :)

The Merro Tree by Katie Waitman. My aunt bought me this for Christmas one year. She figured the only way to be sure I hadn't read a book was to send one that wasn't out in England. Not one I'd have picked if I was browsing in a book shop, so I'm glad it wasn't out here! I've lost count of how many times I have read it, it's just a fantastic story.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Yeah, I know everyone loves Lord of the Rings now, since the films came out! But I couldn't not include it. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit were major parts of my childhood! I used to make my mum read me The Hobbit over and over again. She wouldn't let me near Lord of the Rings though, because the only copy she had was old and posh, with really thin pages. She was scared I'd mess it up. So I used to steal it off the shelf and read it when she wasn't around, then replace it whenever I heard her coming. This not only added a little more excitement to the whole thing (Not that it needed any more), but also made it take a very long time to read, and to this day I can't think of the book or the film without imagining me sitting on the floor in the corner ready to put the book back on the shelf the instant I heard a sound. Weird? Me? And for the record, I didn't damage it, and as far as I know, she still doesn't know I did that!

The Long Arm Of Gil Hamilton by Larry Niven. Actually, most of Larry Niven's books including, of course, the Ringworld books. My dad got me hooked on these, but Gil Hamilton is the first one I read. I think I would have been about 9. Basically, it's three detective stories. I don't much like detective stories, but sci-fi detective stories, it turns out, are okay! The book also includes an essay about how you have to create rules if you want to write that sort of story, otherwise the sci-fi means that anything is possible. Normally a good thing, but in a detective story, not so good. Anyway, very weird stories. I'm not sure whether I still like them now because they are good, or because I remember liking them when I was nine!

The Day of the Trffids by John Wyndham. Creepy. Yeah, I was a kid when I first read it so I got creeped out more easily, but still. And the idea of man-eating plants taking over the world might seem comical in theory, but this book makes it seem real. Sort of. Anyone that hasn't read this really should. And while you're at it, read everything else by John Wyndham too. Especially The Midwich Cuckoos and The Chrysalids.

There are so many other books I would mention. But it said five, and technically I have said nine.

And talking of books, I have to mention a conversation I overheard the other day. I was outside Waterstones, and two girls walked past and looked in the window, where there was a display of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books.
Girl 1: Hey, isn't that that film what your brother wants to see?
Gril 2: Yeah, but it's a book of it. They always make books out of films, don't they? I reckon it's to make them more money in case the film's rubbish.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


Anyway, I won't tag anyone because I don't know enough people. So really, I'm going to tag everyone. If you're reading this, you're tagged! :)


By the way, I'd say there's about an 80% chance that my next post will be Grant fic!