La Vida Mommy made me do this. A link to her journal is over there in Other Journals. Hey, I'm on a MAC. Do you know what a pain creating links can be?
Number of books I own: 1000 and I've given away hundreds.
All my bookshelves have not one but two layers. One row of books in front of the other.
There are floor to ceiling built-in shelves that take up one end of the living room, a seven foot tall shelf at the other end. And another seven foot shelf in my bedroom.
Last Book I read:
A Walk In The Woods by Bill Bryson -- at least two months ago. Recommended by a friend. It's a wonderful, amusing tale of a great travel writer's walk along a portion of the Appalachian Trial.
I have a pile of books that need reading, but I've been working so much the past few weeks, my reading is confined to the internet, newspapers and magazines.
Five books that mean a lot to me:
Neuroses -- I love reading case histories of troubled folks the way some people like eating cheddar cheese popcorn. This is a textbook with 700 pages of synopses of patient stories, including therapy and results. Mmmm, good.
Out of Africa -- Isak Dinesen's lilting memoir lost some of its cache after the movie came out. But nothing can compare to her words on the page. She writes in her second language, English, with a Danish accent, sometimes Danish syntax, too. A wonderful storyteller, I can imagine her sitting by a fire after dinner reading out loud.
Roger Tory Peterson's Birds of North America -- I use this book all the time when I hear an unfamiliar warble or evening song. Time to track the bird down. When I see a flash of color flying about I can get out his guide and find a nice big picture of whatever new bird I've just discovered. A rose-crested grosbeak. An indigo bunting. All kinds of warblers. Woodpeckers.
Joy of Cooking -- an old edition. This one has the best scratch hollandaise I've found. The new editions are different. I refer to it for everything I'm not sure how to cook. And yes, I will sit and read it like a it was a novel, too. Nothing like reading recipes to whet your appetie.
Physicians Desk Reference -- I took mircobiology in college. That course and typing are the two most useful courses I took in school. Micro lets me understand all the gobbledegook written on the medical inserts that come with your medicine. It also levels the playing field with me and the docs, when I know as much about a drug as they do. Or as I've discovered at times, when I know more than they do.
Anybody who wants to play the book thing is welcome to.
18 comments:
I have one of the newer JOC but I LOVE mine. It is one of the most comprehensive instructional cook books around (versus a "recipe book"). My mother in law gave it to me because she knew that I loved cooking and I use it very often.
Chris
http://journals.aol.com/swibirun/Inanethoughtsandinsaneramblings
http://journals.aol.com/swibirun/MyJournalJarSaturdaySixetcanswer
I love books, im a particular fan of Harry Potter. You seem like someone I can relate to. Read my blog "Miscellanious Things" please.
I started college majoring in Animal Science, then went on to do Veterinary Medicine, then went on majoring in Dairy Science/ Biology. I reference my books ALL the time! Or I get phone calls asking why someone's pet is acting the way they are. Or I will pick one up and just read- there's something interesting about the way a body works! Come by and visit my site- Kori
http://journals.aol.com/ladyish28/SingleandSearching
It's scary what doctors don't know about Rx. Talk to your pharmacist for drug info, not your doctor!
xoxo
i highly recomend books by idries shah. they are out of print and a little hard to get a hold of but they're worth it. i like reading too, and i am always happy to give a recomendation.
Best movie line ever: "He was not ours. He was not mine." Out of Africa. Was it in the book? It had to be. Tell me it was. If it wasn't, lie to me.
Books owned = about 100 that wont ever leave my shelves and 1000's over the years that have been swapped loaned and gifted.
Last book i read = Love all the people - Bill Hicks letters ,lyrics and routines of the stand up ,social commentator and all round rabble rouser
Reading now = By myself and then some - Lauren Bacall autobiography of one of the gutsiest , funniest and talented women and intersting as hell
Favourite book = i do read fiction but my fav book is an autobiography of a woman called molly weir a scots actress and historian three books in one from childhood to her late 60's ....its like scotish life in all its forms bound in one x
Well, Mrs L, thanks for playing along. I may have to read Out of Africa, as I've only seen bits of the movie.
I took microbiology in college, too. It was my major :)
Anna
I use my Peterson's Birds of North America all the time. My boss shot a picture of an indigo bunting at his feeder. What a bird! The Joy of Cooking (older version) is a permanent part of my library, but my Physicians Desk Reference is lost somewhere in my storage unit. I really liked Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods." I think I'll skip "Neuroses" but I am going to keep an eye out for "Out of Africa."
Sam
I knew we were kindred spirits - - I double-row my books, too!
Somehow I knew one of your books would be a PDR.
I TOOK UP ASTRONOMY IN COLLEGE ... I.E. ... i took up space. i was getting hypocondrial ... so i kiboshed the 'physician's desk reference'. now i rely totally on the tory guide for all my health needs.
Hey Mrs.L. It's BattleFairy, ya' know at Speedyagain@aol.com. I'm creating another journal called "Things By Me". You emailed me last night about not being able to get to Miscellanious Things, my other journal. Either way, come check out my journal.
I'll be by to sit on your couch and read your books this weekend...... :) judi
I love books. I have this fantasy of being locked in a library for a week with a bathroom, a well stocked fridge and a comfy couch. My favorite books are history books. I buy school history books from yard sales and read them cover to cover. Yea, I get strange looks but I can name all the presidents!
As a former Scout leader and occasional hiker, I read and thoroughly enjoyed Bryson's Walk in the Woods. My kids worried as I laughed aloud at his description of the various maladies and awful symptoms of diseases one could catch from tick bites and other woodland bio-hazards.
Neil
Wow. I thought I had books...but you have me beat!
I could relate so much to this entry.
I love reading and I usually read 2-3 books at once.
Lol.
Eli
hey i love to read too and put a Maries book list on my page too. http://journals.aol.com/mbeaven6/CalmCoolAir/
feel free to add to my site any book you think i should read as you get done reading them. I love to read and write thanks for the book recommendations on your site. and hey if you dont want that mac you have ill swich ya....(lol)
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