Tagged By Brownie

I was pleasantly surprised, and quite honoured, to be tagged for a book meme!

The number of books I own:
Although I am a constant reader, I actually don’t own very many books, unless you count textbooks. I have groaning shelves of textbooks that I haven’t touched since I graduated from University in 1990.

I don’t own books because I am a trader and a passer-on. I trade books at work, pass them between friends and I share them with family. My very dearest friend, Sue, is a voracious reader and has the benefit of disposable income. She lives in Vancouver, and my yearly visits have me returning home with a tote bag full of novels, which I read and then pass along. I rarely write my name inside books, preferring instead to allow them to go their own way, settling in with the reader who can’t bear to let go.

The few books I own NEVER leave my home, lest someone else love them as much as I do.

The last book I bought:
The last book I bought was a gift for my husband, “The History Of Blues”, complete with a CD of the referenced music. The last book that I bought for myself was “A Recipe For Bees”. I really enjoyed it, but only enough to give it to someone else.

The last book I read:
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. I recently spent three weeks in Europe, touring WW 1 and WW11 war memorials and battlegrounds. Reading Birdsong was a way for me to bring some meaning to what was, sadly, a meaningless experience. This novel follows three generations of families through the first World War to present day. It was graphic and gritty and amazing. Highly recommended, but maybe only because I actually saw the tunnels of Vimy ridge in France, and the rows and rows of grave markers left behind.

I gave it to my sister, who went on the trip with me and also needs to rewrite that three weeks of her life.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

The Little House In The Big Woods
And so began a lifelong love affair with Laura Ingalls Wilder. I started reading The Little House series as soon as I could read without help, and I read my set until the spines broke and the pages were thumbed bare. My mother gave me a new set for Christmas when I was eighteen, complete with West From Home, Laura’s Diaries and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Cookbook (nice tie-in to my food addictions).

A few months ago, I started reading “Little House” with my seven-year-old daughter, though I’ll admit that I edited the part where Pa beats Laura for slapping her sister. I can’t bear the thought of her hating Pa before she falls in love with him, like I did.


A Prayer For Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules (Read them back-to-back so they count as one in my head.)
High school. Teen angst. ‘Nuff said.

The Power of One
This was the first book that my husband gave me, when we were first dating and talking and eating and gazing and singing and sleeping and having tons of sex. Where I actually found the time to read the book is beyond me.

She’s Come Undone
One of those books where you finish it, and you lay it on your chest and grieve because it’s over.

Fall On Your Knees
Probably one of the most treasured books I own, not because of the story, but because of my story and the chapter in my life at the time. Sue bought this book for me, not knowing at the time that I was in the midst of post-partum depression. I started to read it, and just couldn’t (if you’ve read it, you’ll understand why).

That book sat on my shelf for six years until I felt ready. It was like “goal jeans” for me.

I read it last summer. I wallowed in the turning of the first few pages and I celebrated the last.


So, after all of this talk about how much I love to pass things along, I find myself at an impasse. Having been tagged by Brownie, and wanting to pass on the challenge, I have to admit that I don’t know how.

Too bad this meme is about books and not in one!