Tag! It's my turn

Debbye passes the torch. Or slaps me and passes on, laughing, into the cover of dark. I get my opportunity to say my piece and pass it along to other bloggers.

Number of books I own: Easy one to answer. At last anal-retentive count, 2702, not counting Elizabeth's or Victor's volumes. Add theirs in and we probably have nearly 4500 books under our roof at the moment.

Last book I read: Another easy, although not exact question. The last book I completed was George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman on the March, but I always have at least a dozen books currently being read. Most recently completed were The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Midway Campaign by Jack Greene, Bacchus and Me by Jay McInerney, Interior Desecrations by James Lileks, Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson and Castles of Steel by Robert Massie.

Books that mean a lot to me: A much tougher question to answer. I cannot possibly limit this to only five.

• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. My first "serious" SF novel, read in about 1972. While I'd be damned uncomfortable living in Juan Rico's world, I'd understand and be able to cope with the why men fight if I'd been raised there. One of the best SF novels ever.
• Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser. If ever there was a more brilliant follow-on to an already successful novel I've never heard of it. Harry Flashman is the best Victorian who never actually existed. I'd hate to have had to depend on him, but damme, he's the exemplar of so much that made Victoria's Empire the greatest the world ever knew . . . if only by counter-example.
• The Face of Battle by John Keegan. This stands as one of the best works of military history of the 20th century. Military history at a human scale.
• Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Odd pacing, clumsy language, and yet engaging, lively, real. I re-read the trilogy every couple of years, and still find myself carried away with the Fellowship, involved in their struggles, tearful and yet triumphant at the end (spare me the criticisms of unresolved minor plotlines . . . I'm too much the romantic to bog down with pedantic mithering).
• The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line, and Flying Colours by C.S. Forester. Hornblower was the man I wanted to grow up to be, sea-sickness, self-doubt, and all. These three books were the heart of Hornblower's career, rising from obscurity to fame and fleeting happiness. I wore out several copies of these books by re-reading.
• Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. My first written introduction to libertarian thought (outside science fiction novels). I wouldn't say it converted me, but it certainly opened my eyes to much that had been obscured beforehand. This was one of the first books I bought from the Libertarian Party bookstore.

I'm supposed to tag other bloggers at this point, but most of the folks I regularly read (and who visit my site) have already been tagged. I was going to tag Chris Taylor, but he posted earlier this morning, tagging me, drat the man! Tiger, Damian, and Der Brigadier have all been tagged by now.