Tagging Books

My colleague, Mandar, forwarded this meme. Of course the first thing I had to do was to actually check out what a meme is. Found out all right. And I feel good using the word. So here goes.

Total number of books I own: Let's see, including all the books that I loaned to my 'friends' and never ever got to see again, about a hundred. If the Reader's Digest can be counted as a book, I have a collection of over 300 spanning the last 20 years, and some of the old ones are pretty rare.

Last book I bought: That would be Sons and Lovers by D.H.Lawrence. Always wanted to read up on the classics, and the English Edition sale is a good chance to pick up good books for a steal.

Last book I read: A trilogy of short stories by W.Somerset Maugham - Christmas Holiday, Up at the Villa, and The Razor's Edge. None of the authors I have read so far can match Maugham's style and impact. While not being very complicated, the stories have an uncanny ability to draw the reader into it.

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me:I'll try really hard to get this list in order -
1. The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut
This is the amazing journey of the author into madness (or more specifically - schizophrenia) and back. Every time I look at the book, I'm reminded what a terribly complicated thing the human mind is, and how diffcult it is to unravel its mysteries.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A child's view of adult interactions and biases, this book is a valuable part of my book collection.
3. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
He's one of my favourite authors. The stupidity of war has never been brought out in a better way than in this book. I also like his other books Good As Gold and Picture This.
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
I originally picked up this book because I heard it was a required reading for b-school students at the IIMs. But i have enjoyed this book so much, it has become one of my favourites.
'You are old, Father William,' the young man said,
'And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?'

'In my youth,' Father William replied to his son,
'I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.'
Whoever could think up silly stuff like, deserves my admiration.
5. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
This is another humorous story about the war and its victims. While I like most of Greene's books, this one deserves special mention.
**Also deserving mention are the series of Sherlock Holmes stories. While I don't have all of them, Arthur Conan Doyle has got me on to the the detective novel genre forever.

Now I'm actually supposed to tag five people and get them to respond to this meme. I really don't have many friends who blog and am, therefore, clueless how to forward this on. I can only hope my friends who read this will atleast respond to this post in the comments. You all know who you are, so I don't ave to name you here. So write..