Booken Tag

"I always thought the joy of reading a book is not knowing what happens next."

~Leonard Shelby, from Memento.

I do not know much of this book-tagging business. ( I thought there was some tool to enter the choices, but there isn't). Yet, as Sumeet has tagged me for good, I must submit (to) it.

Number of Books I Own :
I have lost count, but must be around 100. I want to equalise the count of the number of books read to number of books in possession. Perhaps, after I restart earning. This number does not include the number of books I have on the Gutenberg CD!

The Last Book I Read (and Bought) :
The above two entities are not the same. Yet, the last bought-read book is "The Moon and Sixpence", by Maugham. The last bought-but-not-yet-read book is "The Exile", by Pearl S Buck.

Books That Mean A Lot to Me :

"Of Human Bondage", W Somerset Maugham. The longer you take to read it, the better.

"The Fountainhead", Ayn Rand. I had never imagined such a style of writing and such a class of intellect.

"Metamagical Themas", Douglas R. Hofstadter. The name is an anagram of "Mathematical Games". A collection of AI-mathematics-philosophy-art soaked essays that appeared in the Scientific American in 1980's. A classic. I am trying to locate a bookshop that sells this one.

"The Good Earth", Pearl S. Buck. No words.

"ययाति", वि. स. खांडेकर. द्न्यानपीठ विजेती कादंबरी. A masterpiece!

"एक शून्य मी", पु. ल. देशपांडे. पुलंचे विनोदावरचे प्रभुत्व विख्यात आहे. मात्र हे पुस्तक, वैचारीक लेखांचा संग्रह, माझे सर्वांत आवडते आहे.

Books I wish I had completed (and plan to complete) :

"Catch-22", Joseph Heller. I have tried so many restarts, but never could go beyond first-50 pages, a safe headstart for reading an English book completely.

People I am tagging :

Mihir, Piyush, Amol