Tagged!

Uh-oh, I've been tagged by Beverly! :-D

Total Number of Books I Own:

I'm not completely sure, as I'm not home right now, but I'd say about 4 or 5 thousand. Yep, the study in my appartment has every single wall covered by bookshelves, in which papebacks are packed two-deep, and there are assorted shelves all around the rest of the house.

Last Book I Bought::

I haven't really been buying many books lately. I think the last must have been Slightly Dangerous, by Mary Balogh, which I purchased about three weeks ago. It arrived yesterday, and I can't wait to read it. Or rather, I can wait, but only until this Saturday, so I can just sit and read and not worry about being interrupted by pesky distractions such as work.

Last Book I Read:

Two of them, which I finished at more or less the same time:
- Kiss Me While I Sleep, by Linda Howard, which I loved
- Affaire Royale, by Nora Roberts (first in the Cordina series), which was pretty boring.

Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:

- "La Ciudad y los Perros" (The City and the Dogs), by Mario Vargas Llosa - I first read it high school and it made a huge impression on me. It's one of the most powerful novels I've ever read and the first one in which the weirdness in style so common in Latin American novels finally worked for me.

- "La Casa de los Espíritus" (The House of the Spirits), by Isabel Allende - Another novel I first read in high school. I loved every single part of it, but it was the last parts that affected me the most. The military dictatorship in the 70s and early 80s was milder in Uruguay than it was in Chile, and my family didn't suffer, but I totally identified with Allende's characters. Those sections killed me.

- Shining Through, by Susan Isaacs - My most reread book. I first read it translated to Spanish and found it forgettable. A couple of years later, I bought it in English, not realizing "Un Destello en la Oscuridad" ("A Glimmer in the Dark") was the same as Shining Through. It's got it all, romance, adventure, a truly heroic heroine and a fascinating setting. It's also wonderfully written. It's a book I can (and often do) open at random and just read a few pages, only to "hear" Isaacs' voice.

- Paradise, by Judith McNaught - The book that really got me into reading romance novels. I'd read a few bodice-rippers before it, but while I was thirsty to read books focusing on love relationships, I truly HATED the bodice-ripping elements. Paradise was the book that made me realize romance didn't necessarily equal ripped bodices and alpha jerks.

I bought it during a trip to the US when I was 14. I actually bought it stripped, from a guy on the street. It wasn't until years later I found out what exactly a book without a cover meant, and I immediately bought myself a new copy to assuage my conscience (plus, the pages were falling out from the original book).

- Lord of Scoundrels, by Loretta Chase - This is the book I think is the perfect romance. I wouldn't change one word of it, it's completely unimprovable.

Tag Five People To Do This:

Ok, I give up, everyone's done it!