I was tagged by Jack on the grounds that I’ve “not done a meme for a while”.
Total Number of Books Owned
According to my LibrayThing profile, 858. I know I have at least one more to add to that list and I’d also need to subtract the 27 tagged as !borrowed or !sold. So 832. Minimum, as there may be more hiding somewhere that I haven’t added yet.
Last Book Bought
A couple of out of print role playing games from eBay. Last ‘real’ book would appear to be Clarissa Oakes by Patrick O’Brian which I found in a bookshop in Amsterdam and made Lettice buy because I’d only just bought something else there and the shop assistant was a bit on the scary side.
Last Book Read
I finished re-reading Human Nature this morning. I’ve been wanting to refresh my memory since the TV version came out. The book is bloodier and does a better job of creating the historical context. However it does have a number of elements that are really superfluous and which the TV version correctly ignored.
Five books that mean a lot to me
In reverse chronological order in my life:
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Life by Richard Fortey
I bought this whilst on holiday in Tennessee visiting
and so it reminds me of a great time as well as being a great book. Fortey takes a look at the history of life on Earth from the moment if started to the dawn of human history. Richard Dawkins did the same trip backwards in The Ancestor’s Tale but for me Fortey’s book is more engaging. -
Ships of the Star Fleet, Volume One
Very, very geeky. But as well as being one of the best Treknical fandom works ever it’s also the first book I bought online.
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Thieves’ World
I could have listed several works of fantasy or science fiction that I read during my adolesence – The Lord of the Rings, Dune, the Pern novels and The Colour of Magic prime amongst them, but this collection of low fantasy stories set in a seedy city at the arse end of an empire is the one that stuck in my mind the most.
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The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
I was the pefect age for this when it was first published. And from this book sprung my interest in RPGs and wargames. It has a lot to answer for.
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Read About Me and the Yellow-Eyed Monster
A childhood treat – a book with me and my family and my friends in it.
Four People You’re Tagging With This Meme
- Chris at The Virtual Stoa
- Tony and his Random Thoughts