The Book Blog

1. Total Number of Books I’ve Owned: I guess around 100-200. Mostly paperbacks, most in fantastic condition. I take really good care of the things I own and it kills me to see literature ruined. I had an autographed copy of Mostly Harmless (the fifth book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide series) that got torn to shreds by a friends dog. Almost broke my heart if I hadn’t had the leatherbound collection signed as well.

2. Last Book I Bought: The Dark Tower, by Stephen King. A great ending to an even greater series. I may have bought a few paperbacks by SK after that, but i’m counting DT as the last one because not only was it brand new, but it was also in hardback.

3. Last Book I Read: STILL reading The Stand by Stephen King. I’ve been reading it off-and-on for the past four-five months or so now. Before that it was Black House by SK and Peter Straub.

4. 5 Books that mean a lot to me:

a. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams - My all time favorite book, this is the novel that really introduced me to the great qualities of british humor. I became such a fan that I went to a book signing and got his autograph, as well as shaking the man’s hand. I actually just saw the movie this past weekend and was not disappointed in the slightest. If a rabid HHG fan like me can love it, then you know it’s gotta be good.

b. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card - Just like my fellow bloggers, this one is on my top five favorite books. This novel really had a profound impact on me during my adolescent years and put forth the idea that anyone, even the smallest most picked on child in the school, can become something great. A real motivational novel as well as just a great example of classic storytelling. It even has a twist ending! The following “Ender” novels were nowhere near as good as the first one, however “Ender’s Shadow”, which told the same story as the first novel but from a different character’s perspective, only added on to an already perfect masterpeice.

c. Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett - A humorous take on the Apocalypse, the story presents an interesting view on how good and evil works. When a mixup at a satanic hospital allows the true antichrist to be switched with a regular child, the son of the devil grows up without evil influences until it is already too late to sway his morals. The apocalypse comes and it is his choice between the end of the world and allowing things to stay the same.

d. The Gunslinger, by Stephen King - Although I tend to like Drawing of the Three a little better, this is the first novel in the 7-part Dark Tower series that started with but one sentence back in 1978: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” What followed is a cross-dimensional/cross-time epic saga that tested each of the extremely well-written characters to their limits, all in order for Roland, the gunslinger, to reach his Dark Tower. Stephen King has said repeatedly that the DT series is the nexus for all of his other novels and everything that happens within.

e. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien - Of course I couldn’t leave this series out. Including The Hobbit, this was my first real foray into epic Fantasy storytelling. I had read shorter more age-appropriate books before this like The Black Cauldron, but nothing in the scope of imagination that Tolkien had created with the characters in his books. It wouldn’t be for almost seven years after reading Fellowship of the Ring that I would finish with The Return of the King, but I still cherished every word on the page.

Honorable Mention: The Dark Elf/Icewind Dale triologies by RA Salvatore, Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice, The Deathgate Saga by Margaret Weiss/Tracy Hickman, and The Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony.

5. Tag 5 people and have them do this on their blog:
Um.. Xian and Rara.. I think everyone else has done it?