Beyond FRIDAY: A Bookish Meme

Dear Lisa at Eudaemonia (who tagged me for a fun but thought-filled meme last night. This is an overly long comment in response to her related post):

Okay, smarty-mcsmart-smart, I finally posted my answers but they’re nowhere near as enlightening as yours. I feel like I’ve been in back-to-school mode for fourteen years, since my son turned one and I finally returned to creative writing, which I’d completely abandoned in college. Big regret for me, especially since the graduate writing program at my alma mater, Syracuse, is top-notch, but as an impoverished undergraduate I felt compelled to get a major that would get me a job, so I went the communications route. I’ve been playing catch-up ever since, yet another reason why those darn Lighthouse classes are so terrific. Patry once commented that her blog has served as an MFA program of sorts for her with the community it provides. For me, reading others’ blogs, like yours and Patry’s and Carleen’s and The Writers’ Group, serve as my MFA because of the constant hints and direction you guys provide regarding writing, reading, links to so many other authors’ sites and blogs, and just how to work all this into the everyday to make at least some sort of literary life possible despite so many other demands on one’s time, energy, and other limited resources. Surely all this is proof not only of a desire to write and write well, but of an innate love of the written word. Thank goodness so many writers are social animals more than willing to reach out and receive, to share and exchange. Without you all, I’d be reading in a vacuum as well as writing in one, which would be no fun at all.

(Sorry for the lack of links as I toss around titles but hey, I’m bushed!)

Total number of books: I have no idea. Suffice to say I use shelves in my closet for a library (and so does my eight-year-old. I love that.).

Last book read: I got a sneak peek at Carleen Brice’s upcoming Orange Mint and Honey (at lunch today with her and Lisa at the fantabulous Jerusalem Restaurant near DU) and can’t wait to read it, but I guess that doesn’t officially count. I also read the first few pages of Tobias Wolff’s Old School before listening to him speak at a recent Lighthouse event, but again that wasn’t a complete read (yet). And I’m still reading short stories from the current issue of Glimmer Train Stories, but that’s also not done. So I guess the most recent completed book was The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, read for a neighborhood book club and not thoroughly enjoyed because it needed to be edited down a few hundred pages and used some devices that just didn’t work for me. How about the last book I finished and LOVED and can’t wait to read again? That would be The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

Last book bought: Tobias Wolff’s Old School (not a first edition but signed, woohoo! I love that, too)

Five meaningful books: Yikes, this one’s loaded, isn’t it? I’m going to stick with YA (young adult) titles since I’ve read so many on my own and through Junior Great Books and still love these dearly: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Island (and anything else) by Gary Paulsen, The Pigman by Paul Zindel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

Five People to Tag:
Some favorites from Patry’s blog…
Matt from Empathy
Steve from On the Slow Train
Gerry from TwoBlueDay
Tara from Paris Parfait
…and a very (!) funny new friend:
Patti from Welcome to the Patti-O

To all of you, feel free to keep your answers brief! No need to babble on like yours truly, though this has been fun. And I just read how busy some of you are with travels and such. Just let me know if and when you get a chance to list any answers. I’d love to see what you’re reading.