1) Total Number Of Books I Own: Well the To Be Read Sometime In My Lifetime But Probably Never Going To Happen Pile is at 884. I actually keep very few books once I read them, and I'm estimating here, but I'd put the grand total somewhere in the ballpark of 920.
2) Last Book I Bought: I picked up Rafferty's Bride by Mary Burton at the used bookstore a couple of weeks ago. A western Harlequin Historical (big shock) from several years ago. I've really gotten a lot better about my book buying.
3) Last Book I Read: The totally awesome Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. Buy it on September 4.
4) Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me: Here it goes...
- Bears In The Night by Jan and Stan Berenstain - The first book I ever remember reading all by myself. "Up spook hill...."
- The Nancy Drew Files series by various ghostwriters - Totally hooked me on reading in my early teens. Before that I had a some reading comprehension issues and I had a difficult time just reading, let alone finding something I liked. A year in "special ed" and they straightened me right out. A browsing trip to the local library started my serious love of mystery fiction and thank god for Nancy - especially for a girl who loathed Sweet Valley High.
- Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck - The first book that openly made me weep. I'm talking big, sobbing, choking tears. A neat trick since I finished it while sitting in the high school history class where the only thing I learned was that I could finish my chemistry homework for next period while sitting in the back row. For my money Steinbeck is the Great American Writer. Oh sure, people always say Hemingway - but I'm sorry Ernie, war has never been, nor will it ever be, romantic. Steinbeck was often dismissed as a hack because his work was so accessible (still is) and he wrote about the common man. Frankly, that's where his genius lies, and anybody who tries to convince you otherwise is just plain wrong. You can tell them I said so.
- Cooking Up A Storm by Emma Holly - This book was a revelation to me. Straight-up erotica written from a woman's perspective and marketed towards women. The heroine is allowed to be open and honest in her sexuality, bedding several lovers. No apologies, no guilt. The heroine was sexy and enjoyed sex and was The Heroine. Not the villainess. Can I get an amen? It flipped my erotica-as-feminism switch in a hardcore way.
- Breathless by Laura Lee Guhrke - The librarian heroine I've been waiting for my whole life. She's allowed to be feisty, abrasive and vulnerable. I loved how she held her ground, gave it to the hero with both barrels, but wasn't such a hard ass that her feelings never got hurt. For me this is the quintessential romance novel. The very best the genre has to offer. But admittedly it might be the whole awesome librarian heroine thing....
11 comments:
Steinbeck is my GAW, too. I appreciate Hemingway in a technical way, but I can't get into his stories. But Steinbeck just grabs my throat and tears me apart.
I think I first heard about LLG's BREATHLESS here, too, and your comments sold me on ie -- and I had a heck of a time finding it. :-D It's on my towering TBR pile, but this reminds me to pull it out.
I love the Berenstain books, I remember getting them through a Children's Book Club that my mother joined. Sophie just started her little love affair with Nancy Drew, during the summer she's read all of the Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew books.
I've been trying to find Breathless for the last little while and I cannot find it. Grr!
The Berenstein Bears!! I don't remember that particular one, but we had tons of them when I was a kid.
And I'm going to have to check out the awesome librarian in the Guhrke. :)
Amen! I'll give you an amen for your Emma Holly book.
884 books?!?!
I am always amazed at people who know their TBR pile to an exact number.
Myself, I stuff the little suckers into bags and hide them in the closet and that absolves a lot of the shopping guilt. It screws with my memory, though, which defeats the purpose of buying AND reading books.
Gail:
I only know because I cataloged the TBR on Library Thing. Until then I was in a blissful state of ignorance. It was surprisingly easy. Only took me a couple of days to get it all up on LT, although I didn't go hog-wild with labeling/tagging.
Jennie: It's a good one, and very simple to read. Couple of words on each page :)
My Lil' Sis is my Emma Holly fangirl partner in crime.
Leya: There have been so many incarnations of Nancy! The Files books were out in the late 1980s/1990s, and hit me at the right time. I never read any of the older Nancys growing up.
And y'all need to read Breathless and love it as much as I do. That's an order.
I totally remember Bears In The Night! I read that as a kid too. Now I have to go see if I still have it. I like re-reading childhood books for some reason.
I'm not even going to TOUCH Library Thing, even though it seems EVERYBODY on the internet seems to love it. I finally converted to PaperBackSwap and BookMooch this summer and those two sites have already been time sucks (but it's oh-so-satisfying to send/receive little packages in the mail!)
"To Be Read Sometime In My Lifetime But Probably Never Going To Happen Pile"
Oh my gosh, ain't this the truth! I just pulled a dozen new books from this pile this morning to send for drawings. I confess I buy all the westerns to support the genre, but then -- even with the best of intentions -- I don't read ALL of them.
I love Laura Lee Ghurke, too.
Watch your mail for something from me. :-)
Okay. Totally unrelated, but this is my first time on your site... and I LOVE your title banner. Did you design it yourself?
I'm suddenly feeling an urge to do updates.
I'm a high school English teacher, BTW. Thinking about doing "The Book That Got You Hooked" with my staff, using similar blog entries.
Gail:
I love Library Thing because it's allowed me to keep up with the books I actually own. Also, I love the feature that allows me to label/tag them. One click and I can see ALL my Harlequin Historicals and westerns :D
Cheryl:
The westerns that make it on my wishlist tend to get bought new. I also shoot for buying all the HH titles I want new. Want to make sure Harlequin keeps that line going.
Kate:
Good Lord no! I'm not that creative and I'm HTML stupid. My blog template was designed by DreamForge Media. The Batgirl graphic was borrowed from one of the many artists who has drawn her over the years.
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