Inkwell Musings: bookish meme

Here's a little questionnaire I stumbled across when browsing blogs. I haven't done a "meme" in quite some time and thought it would be fun to fill out. Enjoy!

How many books do I own?

Er, I really have no idea. The book collection is scattered over the entire house, boxes of books stored away in the garage and attic and hidden on countless bookcases. But I suppose to make this simple, I might just count the books on the two bookshelves in my room, so here it goes...*Rushes back after counting all those on the bookshelves and taken from the bookshelves and left about on the floor, desk, bed, and endtable* 50, exactly.

An unfortunate habit with me: when I read a book and then have to attend to something else, I don't put the book back on my bookshelf but leave it wherever I have been reading. I suppose I really should start putting them back on my bookshelves--that way I wouldn't have to dig through piles to find the book I want. ;)

What's the last book I bought?

I haven't been to the bookstore in some time, most unfortunately, but the library is different. So, I'll change this to what books I've recently checked out of the library:

[a] Charles Williams, The Place of the Lion (Pellegrini & Cudahy 1951);

[b] Roger Hall, You're Stepping on my Cloak and Dagger (WW Norton & Company Inc.1957);

Katie Beth recommended the one above. :)

[c] Jane Austen, Emma (Oxford University Press 1995);

[d] Bennett A. Cerf and Van H. Cartmell, Sixteen Famous British Plays (Random House 1943).

What's the last book I read?

I'm in the middle of reading (and should soon finish) The Place of the Lion listed above.

Books I have recently finished:

[1] Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

[2] Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (just finished it this afternoon...)

[3] Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas (well, I read excerpts here and there...)

[4] Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

[5] The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

Here is a good site for more information about Poe and his writing.

What are the five books that mean the most to me?

This is the most difficult question of the bunch and, I must say, I'm sure I've left out several important ones. However, I think I'll just list the following (in no particular order) and please understand that this list is far from complete:

[1] Athanasius, On the Incarnation. Wow, this book is just amazing and brilliant. I don't believe I'll ever be finished lauding its praises since I first read it in GB2 last year. Athanasius' logic is stunning and profound; the book gives you a deep sense of the power and holiness of God. I recommend this to all Christians. Find the edition with the introduction by C. S. Lewis. Excellent. (If you like Athanasius, also read Anselm's Proslogium, Monologium, and Cur Deus Homo. Ooh, and Augustine's Confessions and The City of God.)

[2] G. K. Chesterton, especially The Man Who Was Thursday, but most any Chesterton will do. If you haven't discovered him yet, do so. He's an amazing writer and his stories are quite thought-provoking. Also lumped here are writers like C. S. Lewis (his Narnia series but also Till We Have Faces, The Screwtape Letters, Pilgrim's Regress), MacDonald (Lilith and must get my hands on a copy of Phantastes), and let's not forget dear old Tolkien. ;)

[3] Beowulf. This stirring epic was written by an unkown Anglo-Saxon bard. I need to read it again, but it's haunted me ever since my father read it aloud to my brother and I one December in front of a crackling fire with the winter wind whistling outside. Other good epics are, naturally, Homer's two (The Iliad and The Odyssey), Virgil's Aeneid, Chesterton's The Ballad of the White Horse, and I'll probably add Spenser's Fairy Queene here when I read it this April in GB.

[4] Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. I couldn't end this list without mentioning Dickens. He's been one of my favorite authors for quite some time and I believe TTC is my favorite novel of his. I love the Christian themes: themes of sacrifice, redemption, selflessness. Very moving.

[5] I'm going to leave this one open. I'm sure I'll have something to fill it with in the future. :) I can't wait to read Calvin's Institutes, Milton's Paradise Lost, Dante's Divine Comedy this following semester. I'm sure they'll make it on here.