andamu

I've been tagged multiple times in a book meme, the most recent being Megha and Dharmendra.
So, I'll bend a rule of mine and complete the meme, and then my next post will deal with why I dislike memes, salving my conscience after the fact.

1. Total number of books I own:

Conservatively estimated around a thousand. (I would have had to up the estimate, but I have just donated three big boxes to the public library before we moved.)
Perhaps 200 of the remainder are textbooks and reference works: I have 21 dictionaries of various sorts.
Of the rest, about 100 can also be donated - they are "airport novels."
Another roughly 200 are mysteries: once I like an author I collect all their works.

So, about 500 works of "literature." That's not what the question asked, but it might lead you to the (correct) conclusion that my shelves are both categorized and alphabetized.

Baksheesh and Brahman - the Asian Journals of Joseph Campbell.
That is unless you count the Indian Travel Guides.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which of course has meant that I am bumping Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf up on my Must-Read list.
I am currently reading Graham Greene's Travels with my Aunt. I started it years ago, perhaps picking up a book while visiting someone, and never finished it. I've thought about it periodically, and then turned it into action by adding it to my library list. I am so glad I did, because I am having a rollicking good time with it.

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
  
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
  
• One Man's Bible by Gao Xingjian
  
• The Norton Anthology of Poetry
  
• Complete Shakespeare

This meme is such an old one that everyone who wanted to complete it would have done so by now. However, feel free to consider yourself tagged by me, and leave a comment if you do, so that I can link to you. If nothing else you will get some interesting traffic diverted to your blog :-)

Speaking of diverting traffic: If you are not yet reading RS' story blog, you are missing out. You should be going over to Whimsical Raconteur, aka Pieces of Life. Just don't blame me if you get hooked.