STOP!!... and start reading my other blog

Due to other important matters, I've decided that I can't take time to keep this blog up right now. I promise that I will begin posting again in September or so, but for right now, it will be dormant.

In the meantime, I will post to my other blog because that one takes less time and effort. I'll probably just post pictures, links, and brief messages, but it will be more than here.

Finally, all of you who link to me from your blog, feel free to leave this one as a link, but I would also request that you add the other one too.

Later, player

[Passions Take Many Forms] Book tag (from Kyle)

Kyle Challenged me to book tag, so I HAVE to respond.

Kyle-- Where did the blogging go? Aidan keeps taking it. He'll hide it, and it may be weeks before I find it again. Either that or Regan poops on it. (Seriously, though, the blogs have taken a backseat to childcare, finding a job, teaching, and dissertation in that order. They will definitely return on a more regular basis, but maybe not for another month or so.)

1. How many books have I owned?
I'm not sure that I can respond the way the question is worded. First of all, the question asks how many "have I owned". I have gotten rid of more book than I currently had. I would guess that the answer is around 1,000. Second of all, do I include Kari in my response? Remember that what's mine is hers and hers mine. Although she might buy a book, I might read it and vice versa. Third of all, what about library books many of the books I read (and almost all that Kari reads) come from the library, not a bookstore. If you want to know how many we currently own, I would guess around 350, but that number may be way off.

2. What was the last book you bought
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

3. What is the last book that you read?
Same as above. I just finished it last night. I think it's the best of the series and quite scarry in parts, but I agree with one review that said:

Half-Blood Prince reminds me most of Star Wars: Episode V -- The Empire Strikes Back. Though the book has its own discreet plot and climax, most of it seemed like a long setup for the finale [in Book 7 of the HP series], where the real action will undoubtedly start.

I was thoroughly surprised by many of the plot twists throughout, but not by the identity of the "Half-Blood Prince" himself. Frankly, I think some of the characters should have been able to find out quite easily. What the Prince does at the end of the book did shock me, though.

4. What are FIVE books that meant a lot to you? (These are in a random order, not order of when read or favorite)
1. Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. God's Politics by Rev. Jim Wallis (I've only skimmed this one, and I liked what I skimmed. I plan to read it properly very soon.)
5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I also enjoyed:
Harry Potter books 4-6 by J.K. Rowling (I found 1-3 somewhat uninteresting and tedious)
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (despite its numerous and glaring flaws)
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Lies and the Lying Liers Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

When I get a little further with my dissertation, the next book I plan to read is Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr (sequel to The Alienist). I then want to read the original Sherlock Holmes stories before turning to Carr's latest book, The Italian Secretary, which is a Holmes novel.

If you're reading this and haven't done it, TAG-- you're it.