A Game of Blog Tag, with A Book Meme

I'm new to this blogger tag thing, but because it came to me from my esteemed fellow SCBA blogger John Schroeder of Blogotional, I'll play along. Bloggers are tagging each other with a "book meme." "Meme" is one of those I words I hardly ever saw before the rise of the blogosphere. According to Merriam-Webster Online, a meme is "an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture." Well, the blogosphere is certainly a culture.

Here goes:

Total number of books owned, ever:

I have no idea. We like books and we have lots of them-- history, children's, textbooks, religious, politics, self-help, you name it. I'll guess 1,000.

Last book I bought:

Just last Saturday, I purchased a one-volume set of what my church calls "the Standard Works:" The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine & Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price. It was a gift for my 8 year-old daughter, who was just baptized and confirmed.

Last book I read:

• John Adams, by David McCullough. It read like a novel and helped me appreciate the Founders much more than I had previously.

Five books that mean a lot to me: This is not easy, and this list is not exclusive, but here are six, not five:

• Bleak House, by Charles Dickens. It's a great yarn, and no one's better than Dickens as spinning tales. I intend to read everything Dickens ever wrote, and am about halfway to that goal.
• To Kill A Mockingbird: I read it when I was 14 and haven't been the same since.
• Paul's Epistle to Philemon: I know this is an odd one to choose, and it's not really a book. Heck, it's barely a page long! But I love Paul's teaching here about mercy and forgiveness, and if John can include Romans as one of his, then I can include little old Philemon.
• The Brothers Karamazov: Perhaps Dostoevsky's greatest.
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: This book organizes timeless principles of human interaction in a way that makes them more usable and easier to incorporate into one's life. Self-help books have become unfashionable lately, but I do not care. This is a great one.
• Moby Dick: I'm only halfway through, but this book is changing me for the better-- perhaps the highest praise anyone can confer on a book.

Okay, I've done my duty. Now, in accordance with the rules of this particular game of blog-tag, I need to tag 5 others -- here they are (in no special order):

Rick Brady at Stones Cry Out, Dale Baker at Okie On The Lam - In LA, Michael Smith at Wagonboy's Garage, Bonjo at Sons of the Republic, and Teflon at Molten Thought.

Like John, I am looking forward to what these people have to say.