Thursday, June 23, 2005

Tag, I'm It !

Well, ljmcinnis of R Cubed has tagged me with the "How Many Books" game that asks what people are reading and what books have been important to them. This has been going around the blogosphere for a while, and I've read with interest what others have written. I don't mind answering, because a big part of my life is books and I'm always reading two or three at a time. So, here goes!

What is the total number of books you have ever owned?
Well I can aswer this by telling you that my husband has threatened divorce many times if I were to buy any more books. His attitude has developed as my books have overflowed the library (our converted living room) into every other room of the house. I would say at a conservative estimate that I currently possess about 6,000 books and recently I have given away 2-3000 (just to clear space for new ones). In my entire lifetime,I have probably owned about10,000 or so (I started collecting when I was 12 years old).

What is the last book you have purchased?
Well, today I purchased The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger) , The Romanov Prophecy (Steven Berry); Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson), and In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (Alexander McCall) since I'm going on vacation next week. I also purchased in the non-fiction category--Bruce Hoffman's Inside Terrorism.

What is the last book you have read?
I just finished Natan Sharansky's The Case For Democracy and Steven Berry's The Third Secret.

What are 5 books that mean a lot to you?
Narrowing it down to 5 is hard, but here are the ones that have had the most impact on me:
- The Rick Brant Science/Adventure Series , John Blaine (sort of like the Nancy Drew, but science mysteries where the 16 yr old hero flies his own plane and has a 17 yo friend who is an ex-Marine!)
- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand (changed my life forever when I read it at age 13)
- Capitalism the Unknown Ideal also by Ayn Rand (stimulated me to study economics in college)
- The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein (taught me about courage, standing up for what is right and against tyranny; and the price of freedom)
- The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, Anna Freud (steered me toward psychiatry when I was in medical school)

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