The book meme

Oh, Silly Serra - and no, "silly" was not really the adjective I originally thought of when she tagged me - but it is a holiday and I don't have to work and am in a swell mood, so here goes - The Book Meme!

1) What is the total number of books I've owned?
Yikes. Do people really count their books? I'd have to guesstimate in the hundreds. Between text books, fiction, and cook books ... yeah, hundreds. Luckily they aren't all under my roof right now though. As with our DVD collection, we've decided that we've got to start getting rid of "stuff". Although I thought it was really cool in the past to display collections of everything, more recently I've realized it's okay to rent DVDs and check out books from the library, and have less clutter to look at, and perhaps more importantly, less junk to move.

2) What is the last book I bought?
I purchased Another Chance: Hope and Health for the Alcoholic Family last week. My supervisor recommended that I read it for my internship, and I got it used on Amazon for - get this - 21 cents! Woot! Bargain of a lifetime! So it is sitting on the couch beside me at this moment. I was going to start reading when I woke up this morning, but damn you laptop, you evil temptress!

3) What is the last book I've read?
I'm going to take this one on a technicality. I've "read" but not finished reading Lonesome Dove. In fact, I've barely gotten started on this mammoth project, but am enjoying the writing immensely and want to make more time for it.

4) What are the 5 (plus) books that have meant a lot to me?
Okay, tough one. As I've been wrapped up in this whole higher-education thing for so long, I've pretty much forgotten what it is like to read for pleasure, i.e. I can't really say that I've read any life-changing or super-meaningful books recently. So here are some that I just flat enjoyed over the last few years. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris, Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes, The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Wine for Dummies by Ed McCarthy, I Love You, Ronnie by Nancy Reagan.

Extra credit question, 'What book would you wish to buy next?'
I've heard great things about The Time Traveler's Wife - I'd like to give it a whirl.

I won't be tagging today. Feel free to take this meme to your own blog if you'd like!