Kintropy In Action

Jodi over at Reimer Reason tagged Janette and me for some book blogging, so here's my version, and I'm sure my bookaholic-wife will follow closely behind :-)

Total Number of Books

Eeek!  Ever?  I started reading early.  When I went to kindergarten and saw the library, I was in heaven.  I probably chewed through half a dozen books a month at minimum.  Slowed down considerably as I joined the working world.  Music traded places with books off-and-on as my passion, but I'd say I burned through several stacks of books so far in my lifetime.

Last Book Read

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.  Dune was one of my all-time favorite series as a kid.  I read and re-read the first book 4-5 times (after getting past the first 50 or so pages after several first attempts).  The Sci-Fi Channel series based on Dune was pretty good; Lynch's film, in the long version, interesting.  The books still beat both, and the new books read well and are a little easier to get into.

Last Book Bought

We buy a ton of books regularly.  The last two I bought were magazines, though:  Highlights for Children (Halloween edition) and the newest Star Wars Legend comic for, er, Gabriel?  For Hannah, I bought a new DVD:  That Baby.  No image at Amazon.com yet, but you can see it more clearly here:  by the same people that brought us Oy!Baby 1 & 2.  Really - Hannah's favorites.

Five Meaningful Books

Hmmm... for me they would probably be

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.  I met Ray Bradbury when I was younger at a book signing; I heard him give a speech soon after.  He is an amazing storyteller.  This book, in particular, reads like a roller-coaster.  There are a few pages of monologue in the library with Mr. Dark, but outside of that, the book is almost entirely built from short sentences.  It's an amazing read, but I also kind of tore it apart trying to figure out how it "worked."  This book was important to learning how to improve my writing (which doesn't suffer from short sentences, I'm afraid).

Edgar Allen Poe - any short story collection.  Another early favorite & influence.  Yes, I have written many morbid horror stories.  Janette tries not to read them.  Especially when we're alone.  In a cabin.  In the woods.  Seriously - Janette will confirm.

This Is the Way The World Ends - James Morrow.  This is my first book-buying memory from the year I lived in San Francisco.  Great used bookstore that stayed open until midnight (but closed permanently not long after I left SF - sniff).  Great book, too.  What do you have if you mix Alice in Wonderland and mutually assured destruction?  This book.

The Sleep Book - Dr. Seuss.  This is one of the more memorable ones we forced my dad to read to us as kids.  When he got to the Moose Juice part, he had to read the two page spread without taking a breath.  Sadly, Gabriel is not a big Dr. Seuss fan.  Hannah is, though.  Provided she has my undivided attention, she's happy to listen to me read or talk or sing.

My 1986-87 high school yearbook.  Our theme was Born To Be Wild, and I was the editor-in-chief.  With the help of a good friend & co-editor, I ruled with an iron fist.  Well, actually, kind of, yeah.  I remember some staff circulating a petition (probably about actually having to do work during zero period).  My good friend intercepted & tore it up.  Ah, high school was fun.

Now to tag...

Terry, want to give this a shot?