meme
Pronunciation: 'mEm
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of mimeme, from mim- (as in mimesis) + -eme
an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture
1.) Total number of books owned:
I don't know -- 100? I didn't really buy textbooks in undergrad or grad school - I got them from the library or borrowed them from other people. I don't buy a book until I've read it and know I would want to read it again. Which is why I always need to live next to a killer library...
2.) The last book I bought:
Fast Food Nation. I highly recommend it. It's not really an expose of McDonald's, in SuperSize Me style -- it's more of a commentary on how franchise/strip mall culture has changed American/global (because increasingly, what's the difference?) culture over time. It's fair in its approach to the work of the little guys in these industries (small farmers, restaurant workers, franchisees), conscious of the hard work of the initial fast food entrepreneurs, hopeful for the future... etc.
3.) The last book I read:
I'm in the middle of several books right now (The Insect World by J. Henri Fabre, Fast Food Nation, and Theodore Roethke's Collected Poems). The last book I finished was West With the Night by Beryl Markham, which I got from my honey. It's AMAZING. WOW.
4.) Five books that mean a lot to me:
West With the Night, Wilderness and the American Mind, Mary Oliver's New and Collected Poems - with a special message for me inside, my Stellwagen Bank that's signed by all my Center for Coastal Studies pals from '01, and either Sad Doggy, by Timothy Basil Ering, or my pop-up version of The Night Before Christmas.
5.) Tag five people and have them fill this out on their LJs:
L has already covered the people I would have tagged. I breathlessly await their responses. ;) (no, really, I do -- it's great to get recommendations from people I like... instead of randomly browsing the library shelves.)