Book Meme

1. Number of books owned: some. A few hundred. Since discovering two weeks ago that some books that I thought were in a garage in central Warsaw weren't, and last week that books that I thought weren't in a cellar in South Queensferry were, I have come to the conclusion that I have quite lost track of my library.
2. Last book bought: well, I have still to send the cheque, but today I collected from the ironing board in the ancestors' cave (which resting point it had reached after travelling to a post office in West Lothian and then by some friendly gesture on the part of Royal Mail worker with a good memory to my current offical UK abode, then by mama's suitcase to Warsaw) Lux in Tenebris: The Traditional Catholic Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell and the Theological Opinion of Hans Urs von Balthasar (Rome, 2005), the doctoral dissertation of Alyssa (Lyra) Pitstick hot off the press, and I am posting this post for the sole purpose of saying "Na na na na na" to Aelianus, who wants to read it. The dissertation, that is, not the post.
3. Last book read: finished - The Journals of Kierkegaard, ed. Alexander Dru. I suspect it's the selected highlights of the journals, or else S.K. wasn't much of a one for diary writing, as it's awfy short. In progress, and now to be quickly finished so I can get stuck into Lyra's doctorate: Wiara, Prawda, Tolerancja, by our own Holy Father. (Ratzenfreude links for those who want to relive the moment).
4. Five books that mean a lot to me. So, not the same as influential necessarily. Um. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for the sermon on hell, which I am sure did not have the effect on me Joyce intended. Predictably, sorry, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit. Er. The unaccountably neglected Kristin Lavransdattir by Sigrid Undset. Though my immediate ancestor on the distaff side read it at school. (And we read sodding Sunset Song.) I loved When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, which I read in German as my sole revision for Higher. Ach, decisions, decisions. On the Incarnation of St Athanasius. And everyone should read A People's Tragedy (Orlando Figes) and ... (stopppppp . . .)
5. Tag Blog With Really Long Name, James and Ella, though it may have been completed there already, and, I can't think of anyone else at the mo.