Tagged? Me? I'm honored......

I was "tagged" by Sareet! Woohoo! Someone cares enough to tag me. So I have something to actually write about. I've been cheating though, and reading other people's answers...and am surprised to see what I consider quite a few similarities. My pals read the same junk I read (at least some of the time) and I don't even know about it.

Here goes:

1. Total number of books I have owned--

I can't answer. I have no idea. I have owned so many. I was a bookworm as a kid, and I worked at Barnes and Nobles for a short while, and I aquired a bunch of books that way. I can't begin to imagine. Lots.

2. What is the last book I bought?

Well, the last book I bought was called Radical Forgiveness by Julie Barnhill. Haven't started it yet. This seems an unfair one because I wouldn't normally buy a book like this, this one is a fluke. My mom isn't doing well since my dad's affair, and, she talks about suicide a lot. It scares me. She's been talking about it for so long, that I just don't really know how to handle it. While I'm not a religious zealot, I know that people find a lot of comfort in God. So, I got this book from the Christian Bookstore, and it supposedly talks about forgiving others and forgiving God as a way to heal yourself. I am going to read it first to make sure it's not too over the top, because my mom has pretty much given up on the religion thing a long time ago, and I don't want to scare her with a bunch of God stuff. But if it's gentle enough, maybe she will be able to find a little peace and a little healing in spirituality. I don't know. I'm scared enough that I am willing to try anything. I'd rather have a mom who's over the top about religion than one who's dead.

The most recent book that I bought for myself was Ya-ya's in Bloom by Rebecca Wells. I know, I know, it's cheesy, but I loved Divine Secret of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood so much. I couldn't help it when I saw it there.

3. What is the last book I read?

Technically, the last book I read was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in preparation for the the next book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. God, I love Harry Potter.

But I say technically, because, I am only PAGES from being finished with Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

4. 5 Books that mean something to me.

Hmm. They're almost all cheesy, but, at least I'm being honest (boy, I wish I could drop a few great works of lit in here, but then I would be lying, and then someone would want to talk to me about them, and then I wouldn't know what to say, so...)

a) Sweet Valley High--Malibu Summer--by Francine Pascal (I think)
I bought it from a school book sale in the 4th grade, and it was my first 'grown up' book. I read it over and over and over. It even prompted my mom to read it, because that fact that I kept reading it made her think there was something SUPER interesting in there...there wasn't. I just felt like a grown up reading something I thought was meant for 'high-schoolers'.

b) The Elm at the Edge of the Earth--by Robert Hale
I can't put my finger on why this book means something to me. I did a little 'nanny-ing' in my day, and the lady I worked for was reading this book for her book club, but never got around to actually reading it and offered it to me because 'it was supposed to be excellent'. I read it, and didn't think about it much at the time, but I seriously think about something from that book every single day. It didn't strike me as spectacular, but sometimes I'll just be taking a walk and my mind goes to some of the characters or a particular scene. So I guess somewhere inside it must mean something to me (it's been more than 10 years since I read this book! And I only read it once) but I haven't figured out what it is yet.

c) Watership Down by Richard Adams
I saw the cartoon-movie version as a little kid, and while I worked at Barnes and Noble, I picked it up cheap. Had it for a long time and didn't read it, and then one day--I got it out and read it. It's about bunnies. Bunnies that live as one big civilization, one of them has a vision of their warren being destroyed, so a small band of them leave, elect a leader, and find their own pladce away from harm. They have a language, they have folklore, they have basically their own God. They have names, they tell stories, they think, they have ESP (well, a couple of them do)--it's amazing because I want it to all be true. Whenever I look at my own bunnies, I wonder it I shoudl be telling them stories about THEIR God, "El-ahrairah". I don't think I will ever forget the bunnies of watership down, I just loved it. In fact, talking about it makes me want to go back and read it again....

d) Harry Potter--all of them.
Sometimes when I read, I get so immersed in the story that I forget what's real and what's not. That's how it is for Harry Potter. I borrowed the books from a co-worker from Scotland, so they were all written with the 'british' accent/words. I can't tell you the number of times I had to stop myself from asking Ross (scottish co-worker) if he had ever been to Hogwarts or knew anyone who went there. Had to keep reminding myself that it's not real. Oh, how I felt like it was and wanted it to all be real.

e) The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom.
First, I don't know if I spelled the author's last name right. I was hesitant to read this one, having read his first book Tuesdays with Morrie and mostly just thinking that the 'lessons' were things people should just know (I grew up with someone terminally ill, so maybe my perception is just different). So when people were all talking about this one, I didn't read it for a long time. While I was on a business trip to Salt Lake City, I picked it up for the plane ride home. I didn't want to start a new long book with the wedding only a couple weeks away, but I had finished my thank you notes from the wedding shower on the way TO Salt Lake City. So I picked up this book, read it on the plane, and cried the whole way home. I cried about everything. I think that was the first time I ever read a sad book, that I loved. I still don't know how I feel though about acutally LIKING the book, because I was so disappointed in the author's previous book. Even today, months later, when I tell someone about the book, I cry.

I know it was supposed to be 5, but:

f) The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Probably my favorite of all time. I have read it a few times now, and I still feel all the emotions of the characters in the book. I know it's cheesy, and the movie disgusts me, but the book--how wonderful. How wonderful to look at the intricate details of relationships that women have with each other, to look at love and forgiveness through these completely flawed women. Too bad her other book, Little Altars Everywhere was so bad. I didn't like that one at all. I even wish I hadn't read it. Oh well.

5. I have to tag 5 more people? That's going to be tough considering Melissa and Sareet have already been tagged.

KARI--Consider yourself tagged. If you don't want to start your own blog, you can answer in the comments section of mine. I'm just curious about your answers.

Catch you guys later---this was fun. I love talking/ reading about books.