The Book Meme

Karen at A Deaf Mom Shares Her World tagged me for a book meme. This is one meme I’m responding to as it fits the theme of my blog.

Total Number of Books on my Bookshelves: Not counting the nearly 100 books I’m donating to my friend Beverly’s literacy project, I have more than 500 print books on my bookshelves in my den and my office. These include writing and reference books as well as Bibles, devotionals, and other Christian books. In addition, I have a bookshelf in the bedroom with about 150 autographed books (mostly novels) – from my clients, writing friends, and favorite writers. I have about 600 e-books (nonfiction and fiction) on my computer “bookshelf” and more than 100 e-books (mostly novels) on my virtual bookshelf at Fictionwise. It’s possible there’s some duplication there, but generally I download e-books I buy directly to my e-book reader rather than to my computer.

The Last Book I Read: The last 15 books I’ve read have been entries in a contest, and I can’t divulge the titles of the books I judged. The last book before that was Help from Above by Misti Sandufer, a Touched by an Angel type novel.

Last Book Bought: I never buy just one book! 🙂 I ordered e-books from Fictionwise just before I got the contest entries to judge, so I haven’t even downloaded them to my e-book yet. The titles I bought are Web of Deceit by Kim Watters, Fated Love by Darcy McKenna, Secret Agent Minister by Lenora Worth, Marriage on Her Mind by Cindi Myers, Stranded with a Spy by Merline Lovelace, Their Christmas Wish Come True by Cara Colter, Summer Heat by J. A. Clarke, Junior Matchmaker by Susan Lyons, and One Halloween Evening by Susan Lyons.

Five Meaningful Books:

The Holy Bible – You can’t get any more meaningful than God’s Word! I love the King James Version for its beauty and like the New International Version for study and understanding.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis – This short treatise lays out the basics of the Christian faith in a way that is both simple and profound.

Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton – Through this book and the accompanying profile, I discovered my strengths are belief, achiever, responsibility, learner, and arranger. I was surprised communication wasn’t one of my top strengths and that learner was. I never had any desire to get a graduate degree or take any formal classes, but I do like to learn by the trial-and-error method. 🙂

The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk and E. B. White – The classic book of writing style packs a lot of valuable information in a small package.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King – Though geared toward fiction writers, this excellent guide to editing your own work is helpful to any writer.

Rather than tag anyone individually, I’m inviting anyone who loves books and wants to share their favorites to participate. Just put a link to your post in comments. I’d love to hear from booklovers!

[tags]meme, books[/tags]