Books Meme

Pearsall has gone and passed this book meme thing on to me, so...

Total number of books I've owned:

it's probably creeping up towards the thousand mark: at a rough guess, seven, eight, hundred. I read a lot - probably more than I ever have done at university - when I was a child - fourteen, fifteen years of books every Christmas and birthday, and of spending significant proportions of any money I had on them, add up - and I still read quite a lot, so I have accumulated rather a lot (for which I apologise to my parents, as the majority of them are all still in their houses, creating clutter).

Last book I bought:

I think it was China Mieville's 'King Rat', about which I have already written. Not the last thing I read, but probably the last thing I bought.

Last book I read:

'The Human Condition', by Hannah Arendt. Revision, revision, revision. See the horribly lengthy post below for a relatively brief discussion of its contents. It's surprisingly readable, and quite interesting.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Gah! Mean a lot to me in what sense? As a novel-reader, as someone generally interested in humanity, as someone specifically interested in a particular sub-set of philosophy, what? I reject your attempt to impose an identity on me! OK, quasi-philosophical rant over: I'll be good, and try.

Graham Greene's 'The Human Factor'. A brilliant and somehow very English novel about trying to live your life out in quiet that could have only been written by a lapsed Catholic.

OK, I tried, and either the fear of up-coming exams is getting to me, or philosophy has swallowed me whole, but I still keep wanting to deconstruct the question to work out what the hell it is asking me, so that's all you're getting.

Five people:

Bah, dunno. In a philosophical sulk now. Sorry. If you want to do it, do it, and say I sent it to you. Note to people who write these things: the Fahrenheit 451 book meme was better because it was more focused, so you knew what you supposed to be thinking about.