And I've traveled over dry earth and floods

Can someone possibly explain to me why I am so pleased to discover that Postcards is available from both the French and German versions of amazon.com? It's not as though the book has been translated. (That would be awesome. I think I will have to achieve slightly more of a cult status before the translators come knocking at my door, however. But I'm open to being surprised.) And I can't imagine who in France or Germany would want to order a collection of my poetry in English. But still, I'm smiling. It's like being halfway international.

Unrelatedly, I think Liquid Arsonist and the Secret Agenda would make a marvelous children's bestseller title. At least, I'd buy it.

And I've searched the holy books and I've dog-eared every page

Absolutely nobody tagged me for this meme, but I needed something to do, so here it is: The Book Meme. Ominous drumroll, please.

1) Total number of books I own:
Argh. I don't actually know. At the end of last school year, a detailed count indicated something in the vicinity of a thousand. A hasty count in May indicated something in the vicinity of 1200. This doesn't include books of mine still in residence in my parents' house, only books in my actual apartment, and has certainly not been brought up to date on purchases since. (And since I'm not in my apartment at the minute, it's a bit hard to tally. Hmm. Perhaps these meme should have waited until I came home.) In high school, I probably bought books every other day. In college, rather the same. Since I became a graduate student and acquired an apartment, my used-book spending sprees have diminished somewhat, but the majority of my money still probably goes toward books rather than any other form of sustenance. Those within sight at the time of this meme include Walter Burkert's Greek Religion, E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr, Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace, L.M. Montgomery's Emily of New Moon, Angela Carter's Honeybuzzard, Mary Gentle's Rats and Gargoyles, Diana Wynne Jones' Conrad's Fate, Mary Renault's The Mask of Apollo, and just about everything Greg Nagy ever wrote, with the exception of the Theognis anthology he edited with Figueira and Homeric Questions. Also the Iliad. (It's sort of representative . . .) I have a window seat, you see. And a floor. Horizontal surfaces are our friends.

2) The book I'm currently reading:
Hm. I finished Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, and Emily of New Moon, last night, and Snow White, Blood Red this afternoon, so I'm only in the middle of re-reading The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr and Rats and Gargoyles; and I'm one story into Steven Saylor's new Gordianus the Finder collection, A Gladiator Dies Only Once. (Which is the most Bond-esque title I have ever seen on a book set in the Roman Republic.) I need more books.

3) The last book I bought:
For myself, Burkert's Greek Religion. For gaudior, Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt. For rushthatspeaks, E.L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. And for a non-Livejournal friend, Damon Runyon's Guys and Dolls. All from the magnificent Porter Square Books this afternoon.

4) The last book I read:
Er. See above (2). Sorry about that.

5) Five books that have meant a lot to me:
I'm no good at winnowing down favorites. The number of books that has influenced me strongly over the years is probably huge. But to pick a few obvious ones—Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn, Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, Greg Nagy's Greek Mythology and Poetics, Robert Graves' I, Claudius, and Greer Gilman's Moonwise. I'm not sure these would all be my first and only choices if I were to be stranded on a desert island, I must confess. But I'd probably grab at least two of them on my way out.