Tagged by the Book Meme

Mustang23 says I'm "it."

1. Total number of books I own. Hundreds, some I've even had since I was a teenager. My Grandmother was a librarian and she used to "rescue" books for me when they were slated to be destroyed.

2. Last book I bought: The Price of Vigilance: Attacks on American Surveillance Flights, by Larry Tart and Robert Keefe.

3. Last book I read: I can't remember the title! It was about an aging retired doctor suffering from cancer who'd planned to commit suicide during one last hunting trip alone in the hills of Washington state. Disturbing that throughout the time I was reading it, the part of the lead character was played in my head by the father of the lady who lent me the book. Who happens to be from Seattle. Strange. I started Great Presidential Wit, by Bob Dole, but haven't finished it yet.

4. Five books that mean a lot to me: The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the greatest work of literature crafted by man. Tolkien was a linguist, man! A Elbereth Gilthoniel! The Brotherhood of War and The Corps series by W.E.B. Griffin are absolute jello, meaning I can slurp them all down quickly and still be hungry for more. Just saw a new one in the BX...must wait for paperback. Raiders of the Deep, by Lowell Thomas, is one of my library "rescues." Written in a romantic style about WWI German submariners before there were such things as Nazis, it still calls me to reread it. Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising is the perfect techno-thriller for war-geeks, even including an NSA linguist as a protagonist. Adding an Eagle-driver named "Buns" Nakamura was icing. The North Korean Air Force Technical Handbook...I could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya.

5. Tag five people: Oh, my...who hasn't done this already?

Billy Budd at American Dinosaur
Bullseye at American Drumslinger
H2SO4 at Sulfuric Attitude (just discovered today)
Chaos at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (another Tucson gunblogger)
Benjamin at Reasonablenut