A book-related meme

Allison over at Don't Lets Start tagged me with this book meme last month, and I keep putting it off, so here it is,

1. How many books do you own?
Hmm.... I used to be a compulsive book buyer. I would buy at least 40 or 50 at any library book sale or bookstore clearance sale I saw, and I never had enough shelf space for them all. Then I got married. The sight of all of my books piled up all over the floor made Kristen physically ill, and I figured if I had to choose between my books and my wife, I'd pick my wife. So the books went into boxes, out of sight, but still in my possession.

A couple of years ago I realized that I've been cured (mostly) of my book buying habit. I use the library to get my reading material, for the most part. Since that realization, I've been weeding out my personal book collection, so my total has gone down somewhat. I would guess I probably own 800-1000 books at present, and I'll probably get rid of a couple of hundred more this year (if anyone is looking for a nice hardbound copy of The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan or The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie, drop me an email).

On the other hand, I've been buying children's books like crazy over the past year and a half. I think we're up to about 700-800 children's books, and I imagine I'll add to that total in the fall.

Kristen has been going nuts over Christmas books. I think her collection is up to over 75 titles.

2. Last book I bought:

The last book I bought for myself was a copy of Benet's Reader's Guide to American Literature (only $2.00 at the library book sale). Every serious reader (and quiz bowl player) should have a copy of the Benet's Reader's Encyclopedias.

The last non-reference book I bought for myself? I honestly can't remember.

The last book I bought? I picked up 30 or so children's books at the same library book sale I got the Benet's at.

3. Last book I read:

Hmm. Toilet Training in Less than a Day. Before that it was The Happiest Baby on the Block, by Harvey Karp. Both are highly recommended if you fit the target audience.

Actually, I've had a little reading time over the past couple of weeks. I've also made it through Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (thumbs way up), Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard (ok), Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (guilty pleasure), and Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible (highly recommended, even if I still can't get up and down from the sand).

4. Books that have meant a lot to me:

Well, from my high school years up until the past few years, I read the following books about once per year (not including time in Japan on a mission):

Book of Mormon (natch)
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Watership Down by Richard Adams
The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien

5. Tag five people:

I'll get back to you on this one. I'm not a meme kind of guy, and I'm philosophically opposed to chain letters.

We're back!

Well, I've neglected this blog long enough. What with a new baby in the house and summer swim league, I haven't been reading to the kids on a regular basis for a while. Swimming is over now, and Trevor is sleeping more of less through the night, so we were able to read almost every night last week.

Before Trevor was born, Kristen and I would find time to read to all of the kids individually. This is no longer an option if we want to read, so I've been trying to find books that will appeal to both Jaymie (7) and Julia (4), which is more difficult than it might seem. For all of Julia's verbal sophistication, she doesn't have a tremendously long attention span yet, so keeping her engaged is a bit of work. This week we read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, which has held up surprisingly well after all of these years. I rented the movie version for the girls to watch yesterday, and they liked it. Jaymie spent a bit of time figuring out where the movie differed from the book.

I'm not sure what I'm going to read to them next. I'd really like to read The Last Battle and finish off the Narnia books with Jaymie, but that won't work for Julia. Any suggestions?