Book Meme

Christopher tagged me to do a book meme. This was rather fun. I've tagged five more people below, but even if you are not tagged, consider giving your answers below or on your own blog.

1) How many books have I owned?

I'd have to answer the same as Christopher. I have no idea. What can I tell you? I can say that my book collection is growing, not shrinking, because I do not believe in disposing of books and I also cannot resist a good deal on books (I bought six or seven books in the clearance area of Borders a few weeks back).

“Princeton. Good Friday, 1999. On the eve of graduation, two students are a hairsbreadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Famous for its hypnotic power over those who study it, the five-hundred-year-old Hypnerotomachia may finally reveal its secrets — to Tom Sullivan, whose father was obsessed with the book, and Paul Harris, whose future depends on it. As the deadline looms, research has stalled — until an ancient diary surfaces. What Tom and Paul discover inside shocks even them: proof that the location of a hidden crypt has been ciphered within the pages of the obscure Renaissance text.”

I read the prologue, and it sounded pretty good. For the price, how could I pass it up? It is $7.99 at Amazon.

3) Last book that you’ve read.

The last book I read was iCon: The Greatest Second Act in Business by Jeffery Young and William Simon. I'm going to post my final thoughts on that book later. You can find some half-way-through impressions, here.

I am presently reading two books. I am reading Brad Thor's State of the Union and C.S. Lewis' the Screwtape Letters, with Screwtape Proposes a Toast. The former I saw at the grocery store's mainline back in June and was intrigued by the endorsement quote by Dan Brown on the front. I went back the next week and they no longer carried it. I finally got it at Borders, which, like Amazon, but unlike the grocery store, was selling it for the cover price rather than at a discount ($7.99). It has a pretty good plot, after you get past the initial disorientation of each early chapter jumping to a new character. Now, I want to know what will happen. Sadly, its language and some events are a bit crude for my taste; while most pop novels use some language, this one has a particular penchant for the f-word. Unlike the Da Vinci Code, I'd have major reservations about recommending it for that reason.

The Screwtape Letters is such a good book. Several years ago, I read a good chunk of it one day at the bookstore when I was waiting to meet someone. Last Christmas I was given a copy, but only have recently found time to return to the world of Uncle Screwtape and his nephew, the newbie tempter Wormwood. I've finished the main part of the book and have ten pages left in Screwtape Proposes the Toast, which was written by Lewis much later in his life. Like everything Lewis wrote, the Letters are both enjoyable and thought provoking.

I had planned to borrow my mother's copy of Philip Yancy's the Jesus I Never Knew to read next, but she doesn't know where it is right now. I'm thinking about moving to C.S. Lewis' Miracles next, as a substitute.

4) 5 books that have meant a lot to you.
I'm going to take the Bible out of the running, like Christopher did. Let's see:

1. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
2. Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
3. the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
4. New! Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
5. the Orestia by Aeschylus

5) Tag five people that haven’t played yet.
I don't remember seeing this meme elsewhere, other than just now at WIT, so I'm just going by who Christopher tagged as to decide who to avoid.

• Michael
• Ed
• Josiah
• Eduardo
• Mark