tagged!

Waterfall has tagged me for the latest book meme floating around the blogosphere. Ah yes, books...

Total books ever owned: In the hundreds for sure – probably not as many as 1000.

Last book I bought: Three actually, from our church library’s sale table so they are oldies: Goforth of China by Rosalind Goforth (I already own an abridged version but I wanted the whole thing with photos and all), © 1937. Uganda Holocaust by Dan Wooding and Ray Barnett, © 1972. And To Live Again by Catherine Marshall.

Last book I read: Oswald Chambers - Abandoned to God by David McCasland. It was very good!

I am currently reading: Levi’s Will by Dale Cramer, to uphold my obligation to Mind&Media but this is no heavy duty. I love Dale Cramer’s writing and this book is no exception. (See Amazon.com box in sidebar.)

Five books that mean a lot to me:
Pat of Silverbush and Mistress Pat: This is a series of two non-Anne books by L. M. Montgomery (there may be more, I’m not sure). The main character, Pat goes from being a little girl to being a young woman and falling in love in these books. Two of the things which define her are how passionately she loves her home (a farm on P.E.Island) and how she hates change. I have always identified with book characters and did particularly with Pat in these books, so much so that I began looking for wonderful things about my prairie home. There are also some colorful characters in those books (Judy, the Irish maid for example). Those characters, so realistically and lovingly portrayed, taught me about looking for the interesting and unique in people.

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot. I read this book about the life of Jim Elliot (including entries from his journals and letters) during a formative time in life and somehow it put starch in my resolve to live for God.

Adventures in Prayer - by Catherine Marshall. I’ve lost (or given away) my copy of this book so I can’t check back on exactly why I liked it so much. I just know, I read it at a pivotal time and the chapter "The Prayer of Relinquishment" probably changed my life.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg: My favorite of the books written to empower writers (which would also include The Artist’s Way, The Right to Write and lately Page after Page). Bones is so original and hit me so right-on, I keep a book of notes I made from that book (I don’t actually own a copy) at arm’s length and glance through it regularly when I’m feeling discouraged or blocked in writing.

The Carousel by Rosamunde Pilcher. This is the first book I read by Rosamunde Pilcher – actually, though I could choose almost any book by her. There are several reasons her books appeal to me: the Britishness of the setting, her gentleness towards her characters, her wisdom, the way she doesn’t put down domesticity, her respect for traditional things while at the same time seeming to understand modern life--just off the top of my head (I was gratified to see her book The Shell Seekers number 50 on the BBC's list of top 100 favorite novels, link posted on Rebecca Writes!) When I found her writing, I knew that if I ever wrote contemporary fiction, I would choose to model mine after hers (as much as one can model that sort of thing!).

Now I will tag five people. I hope I’m not tagging anyone who has already played. Here’s my stab at it: Teem at Callmeteem, Nancy at Just Thinking, Bonnie at MacroMoments, Coleslayh at KT’s Site and, finally, Deanna at WhisperingBrooks – who really needs to update her blog!