Survey

I have been asked to respond to the following four questions by the Cap'n. Here goes.
1. "How many books do you own?"
A lot less than I used to. I've been dragging a library around with me for much of my life, and after a while, it just makes moving too difficult. Especially when you consider that I also have an enormous number of vinyl records and rusty sharp things to contend with, as well. I'd estimate the number of books at five hundred or maybe more like four-eighty.
2. "What is the last book that you read?"
Depends on what you mean. Some books you can knock off in an afternoon (David Sedaris's stinkin' hilarious Me Talk Pretty One Day, which I've read multiple times), and others take some effort. In the latter category, I offer Nick Tosches' Dino: Living High In the Dirty Business of Dreams, a bio of Dean Martin (excellent!).
3. "What is the last book you purchased?"
Life In a Putty Knife Factory by H. Allen Smith (newspaper man/humorist from the '40's favored by my grampa). Right before that, A Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L. Mencken, and Closed Chambers by Edward Lazarus (a look inside the rise of the Rehnquist court).
4. "Name five fiction books that mean a lot to you."
That's a hard one. Sometimes A Great Notion by Ken Kesey remains one of the greatest books I know, and certainly one of the best portraits of life as a logger in the soggy forests of Oregon. Gain by Richard Powers (an overview of American history as told through the story of a corporation). Any of Robert Anton Wilson's stuff on the Illuminati. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (all about what makes up a family). The last one? A three way tie beween Billy Phelan's Greatest Game by William Kennedy, Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard and A Little Yellow Dog by Walter Mosely. Whoops. The Brothers K by David James Duncan (about growing up in the Northwest, again): the winnah!
I'd like to add a few more questions which others may answer if they wish (Gringa? Carrier? Bitchslap? Erudite Redneck?):
1. "What was the last book someone bought for you?" Gringa Alta Prima bought me Zbignew Brezhinsky's The Grand Chessboard.
2. "What is your favorite biography/autobiography?" Harry Crews' A Childhood: The Biography of A Place, Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory. Gore Vidal's Palimpsest. The Story of My Life by Clarence Darrow.
3. "What is the greatest political tome you've ever read, fiction or nonfiction?" I honestly cannot say. There's too many.
4. "What book have you had the longest, that you still read?" James Thurber's My Life and Hard Times.
5. "What's the greatest spiritual book you've read?" Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah or The Boo Hoo Bible: Catechism of the Neo-American Church by Arthur Kleps.
6. "What book do you turn to when you're feeling down?" That'd be Palimpsest, again.
7. "If you could force everyone to sit down and read one book, what would it be?" Listen, Little Man! by Wilhelm Reich.
8. "What reference volume do you turn to the most?" Well, the dictionary, then it's gotta be Dictionary of Classical Antiquities by Oscar Seyffert, whenever I'm doing a crossword puzzle and need to know who one of Zeus's daughters was.
9. "How often do you and your pals sit around and talk about books?" A lot.
10. "Name your favorite comic book/graphic novel." I'm gonna have to say Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, but that's sort of a hard one, too.
Man, this is fun. I may just make up another survey here sometime soon.