mikao's world

Tagged! The Book Meme

Flip tagged me on this one...

I'm not the voracious reader I would like to be. I'm not one of those people who is constantly reading a novel, or one who excites over getting a John Grisham at a yard sale for 25 cents. And I'm not one of those people who goes out and gets every new Philip Yancey or Purpose-Driven book that has come out. I like reading, but it's not one of my great passions. I like learning, and I enjoy a good novel.

With that, here goes... a different spin on the book meme:

1. How many books have I owned?
I really do not have any idea, probably several hundred. When I was younger, and still even know, my Gramma always got/gets us books for Christmas and birthdays, and she always picks neat ones. She says when she was younger a book was a real treat. Most of the ones she picks are educational how-to and learning books. I have a few great knitting and sewing books from her.

2. What was the last book you bought?
Oh dear, I’m not even really sure. Since finishing school, I really haven’t had any disposable income to devote to books. I do like to frequent the library in the colder months though! The last book I bought was probably Andrew Careaga’s eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation, that I bought in December 2003 to work on my final paper for seminary.

3. Last book that you’ve read.
The last book I read was also a book on blogging that I took out of the library this April. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of it! I also had a few knitting books out, including this one.

4. Five books that have meant a lot to you.
The Bible is the obvious answer of course, but also the easy answer.

I’m going to dig into my childhood for this question and answer them from the days between ages 10 and 14, when I was a voracious reader of novels, and when I think reading is the most magical:

* Samantha’s Secret Room, by Canadian author Lyn Cook. I loved this book so much, I used to read it at least once a year, and even when I moved on to junior high I would still go to the elementary library section and take it out. I loved the part when she put the note in the Christmas tree and then Kim came to visit her. The novel took place in Penetanguishene, Ontario, and often I think it would be neat to drive there now.

* Who Is Frances Rain?, by another Canadian, Margaret Buffie. When I was in grade 6, we had a wonderful Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Peterson. We had a great writing program that allowed us to explore our creativity and feel the joy of publishing. And Mrs. Peterson would read us part of a book every day. Who is Frances Rain? is the one I remember most vividly. And at the end of reading it, our assignment was to journal like we were Frances Rain ourselves. I still remember the neat journal I made. The novel took place just east of Manitoba in Ontario… somewhere I had never been, I lived as far east as I had ever travelled.

* The Sky is Falling by Canadian Kit Pearson. I ordered this book from the little book magazine we got through our teacher in grade 7. This book would become the first of a series of three books, following Norah and her little brother Gavin to Canada, from England, during World War II. This novel opened up to me the wonder of wartime, and I think a fascination with travel and spending time educationally in a place I was not from. This novel and series opened up an interest in what it had been like exactly 50 years before… and what would it have been like to grow up during that time. I went on to read her other novels as well.

* Back Home, by Michelle Magorian. This novel took place in 1945, and followed a character named Rusty, a girl a little younger than Norah, after her return home to England from staying in the US during the war. I read it while waiting for Kit Pearson’s series to be written. I read another of her novels as well, and now which one it was has escaped me, but I didn’t like it as much as this one.

* The fifth book would not so much be a book as it would be the concept of now what I think we would call a “tween” series (those from when I was that age). I loved Sweet Valley Twins, Animal Inn by Valerie Vail, Sleepover Friends by Susan Saunders, The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin, and Camp Sunnyside Friends by Marilyn Kaye. Most of these books are now out of print, but at my parents’ house in Alberta I still have a big box of all the ones that I ever owned.

5. Tag five people that haven’t played yet.
If you want to continue this meme, please feel free to do so. But I'm too tired to tag anyone.