Book Memories

Looking at my book collection today. :D I love them all so much. Now I have to pick the ones I want for Mizzou. So, let's see...

Maison Ikkoku... almost the whole series at 7 books. It's a nice little manga series with good art, but I never got that into it. I bought them all in ninth grade, I think. :)

Fruits Basket... Brilliant. I have 20 books - all the ones that are currently out. It's the only manga series I'm continuing to collect, though it's reaching the end now. The art isn't brilliant but somehow I feel amazingly privileged every time the next installment provides me with one more detail about one more characters past or present... it's lovely. :)

Foreign Language Manga Books: I have two Fruits Basket books in German, 1 Ranma book in German, 1 Ranma book in Finnish, and 1 Inuyasha book in German. Surprise, I bought the German ones in Germany... in Mainz, where the printing press was invented. At 6 euros, the Finnish Ranma book was the only item I found in Finland that was cheaper than it would be in America.

Vital Statistics: A nice book with... statistics. They are combined into relevant categories and are at turns hilarious and disturbing.

So You Want To Write: A standard writing book. Pretty good as I remember it, definitely not a reference book. Surprisingly readable.

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes: What it sounds like. A thin volume that serves to remind me of things to avoid, at a glance. P.S. - 38 is more than it sounds like, if you read them cover to cover.

The Writer's Guide to Fantasy Literature: I was so surprised by this book! Gwen gave it to me for a birthday at a time when I thought I had enough books on writing. This one really got me going. It's far from a complete guide, but it made me excited about writing for a long time, and has some good, fantasy specific advice from real authors.

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference: I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. More stuff for modern fantasy or alternative reality than the good old traditional stuff. Still, it's good reading about modern cults or whatever. :)

Building Believable Characters: This was the first character book I got. I couldn't put it down for a long, long time. Want to know 300 ways to describe a characters eyes? It's almost too good.

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits: I got this one after Building Believable Characters. It's a little different, worth it to have both, but actually even better. More 'deep' stuff, about the characters personality and what about their childhood can mess them up, etc, than appearances, clothing styles, hair styles, etc. Too bad I got it towards the end of my writing mania.

The Writer's Guide to Character Traits 2: See above. I actually didn't realize they were the same book when I bought them. XD Luckily, a lot is added in the second edition, but there's almost nothing in the first one that isn't repeated, so a little stupid of me.

Elements of Fiction Writing: Plot
Elements of Fiction Writing: Viewpoint
Write Great Fiction: Description and Setting
Write Great Fiction: Dialogue ---- Good books, all. Lots of specifics. I'm glad I read them. They are decent for reference, too. Someday I'll go back and do the exercises they suggest. XD

Hearts Swords Flowers - This is supposed to be some sort of weird anime-style rping guide. It's interesting for characterization and plot of that sort of genre, though. Very thin volume.

Webster's New World Thesaurus - Good Times. :) Dictionary.com has rendered it useless, though.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Fiction. I got this at Stian's behest. It was good reading, but I remember thinking I wouldn't like the second one as much... and, um, don't remember if I've actually bought it or not.

Oxford Essential Biographical Dictionary:
Oxford Essential Dictionary of Word Histories:
Oxford Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology:
No, the last one is not a joke. They were on sale for like 4 dollars, give me a break. :) They're fine reference books, especially the Word History one.

A Tale of Two Cities: Layla told me I had to read the real thing when we all read the abridged version in 9th grade. Myself, I'm not sure it mattered. It was okay. Not a huge fan.

1001 Insults, Put Downs, and Come-Backs - Very few of these are applicable for the readers life. However, many do make me laugh. Learned a lot about Churchhill's sense of humour reading it.

The Da Vinci Notebooks: Got this from Laura for a birthday. I was so interested... but it turned out to be a lot less dense than expected. Not awful, though.

The Master Backwoodsman: I love this book. All of this how to survive in the wilderness stuff. Dense, too.

Finn Family Moomintroll: From Liisa. Tiny little book, as most Scandinavian published books seem to be. It's in English, and it's the story where the Moomins find the hat. :D

Naiv. Super. - From Liisa. Tiny. In Norwegian, and not hard to read either. Not extremely interesting, though.

The Boy Scout Handbook: See 'The Master Backwoodsman". But also served to make me wish I was a boy growing up. Girl Scouts stink.

Journey Across Tibet: Got this one free from the library's rubbish pile. Haven't read much of it yet, but looks okay. Old, but okay. :)

The Complete Persepolis: Mrs. Smith insisted that I read this/see the movie. Still waiting for the movie to come out on DVD, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's in comic book style, and about an Iranian girl growing up in a liberal family during the Islamic Revolution.

Three Cups of Tea: I've skimmed most of this book. It's about some mountaineer who decides to devote his life to building schools for these rural villages in the east... yep. It could be written in a more interesting way, but it's an amazing story. I bought it on a whim, only to find out a few weeks later that it was the Mizzou assigned reading! So I may brush up on it before I move in.

Castles on the Rhine: Little more than a pamphlet. Guess what it's about.

Lies My Teacher Told Me: More discussion and less specifics than I had expected, but well worth the read. Learned a lot about that Indian guy the Pilgrims met and about Helen Keller.

Eat, Pray, Love: Got off to a great start and went slightly downhill. Love her writing style, but couldn't relate to some of what she went to, for example most of the stuff in Indonesia.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Brilliant book. Love the writing style and the content both. :) It's about a little boy who grew up in Cuba and was sent away to live with foster parents in the US. Despite the sad situation, most of the book is a beautiful ode to his childhood in 'paradise'. It's hilarious at times, too. Written like a poem.

The Poisonwood Bible: Great book. I'd like to see how people who have lived in Africa respond to the statements it makes about it, but it certainly pulled me in. I want to read more by Kingsolver, no idea why I haven't yet.

La Casa de Los Espiritus: Gift from Lucia. Kind of difficult reading. :) Especially as it's in Spanish. But someday I'll find time for it...

Grimm's Fairy Tales: Love it. It's such a guilty pleasure - I know I don't appreciate them like they're supposed to be appreciated. But I can't stop reading, just the same. There are so many of them but at the same time you can see why Disney ran out... there are perhaps a dozen in all that are possible to turn into a children's movie, and it isn't just the gruesome aspects, but also the repetitive structure and at times, the completely chaotic nature of it all. Sometimes I laugh at the ridiculous plot holes. But oh well. :)

The Interpretation of Cultures: High on my 'to read' list.

Declino e Caduta Dellimpero Romano: Bought this in Italy. Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire in Italian. I've skimmed it and it's surprisingly readable. But I won't really read it until I have some combination of needing to study the rise and fall of the Roman empire and Italian. :)

Claudius the God: A gift from... Mr. Spraley? Yep. Read most of it. I liked I, Claudius better.

Storia di Roma I - III: Bought this in Italy. Livy in Latin and Italian. Someday when I have time on my hands/am studying Italian/am studying Latin again. But not until then, sadly. :(

La Ciudad De Las Bestias: I've read the sequel to this (which I left on an airplane :() before I realized that it was a sequel... need to go back and read this one. It's in Spanish and by Allende. I've only read her books for children. XD Go me.

Turning Japanese: I've read most of this one, but I want more time for it. It's about a Japanese American looking for his roots. Let's be honest: I mostly bought it because of the song. XD Jk, jk. It's pretty good as far as I am.

The Asian Mystique: Brilliant nonfiction. About Geisha girls and Dragon Ladies, and everything in between - how the west views Asian(mostly Japanese) women.

Hannibal: The big orange biography. Skimmed it for my project on said enemy of Rome. May read it in full someday, I certainly wouldn't mind.

The Reindeer People: One of the only one of this genre of books that I've actually read cover to cover (though you get so much out of just skimming them too). Spawned my interest in Sami. :)

Guns, Germs, and Steel: This book is everything anyone's ever said it is, and more. One of my all time favourite books. I think I'll even take it to Mizzou... The only criticism I'd have is that the guy is almost too obsessed with the inhabitants of Papau New Guinea... at times it seems to be a regrettable bias. But, considering all the books biased towards white people or (the controversial ones!) Asians, it's almost necessary. I've even read one book that thought Native Americans were the most intelligent group, but this is the only one sticking up for that part of the world. And it uses good arguments.

The Taming of the Samurai: Really about most of the history of Japan. I've only begun to skim through it, though.

Understanding Global Cultures: I actually read the first half of this one cover to... erm... half. :D Then I got busy. I think I'll bring it to Mizzou, definitely deserves to be Finished. Another one of my favourite books.

HUMAN: A sort of encyclopedia of humanity. Brilliant idea. It's got the body (medical stuff), the soul (religious, mystical type stuff), the mind (how our brains word... the latest research, at least), our life cycles (in different societies), technology, and more explained. It's brilliant. Lots of cultural stuff too. It's almost like a new, age and specific interest appropriate version of my favourite book growing up: The Random House Children's Encyclopedia.

Weird History 101: More of what you don't hear in school. Not as dense as it looks. (A common complaint of mine, if you haven't noticed). Still, it's interesting. Worth a read, maybe not worth owning.

Barnbibel For Et Nytt Årtusen: A gift from Bjørg, my Norwegian aunt. :D It's in Norwegian, obviously, and is a children's bible with a pleasantly surprising amount of cultural/historical sidenotes.

Jesu Fødsel I Meddel Alderens Lys: Another gift from Bjørg... all about Christmas and Medieval Art, though I haven't looked closely enought to see if it's just illustrated with the medieval art or if it's interpreting it. In Norwegian.

Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath: I read this part one in English. I liked it a lot. (For a classic ;) It was like Anna Karenina in some ways but more approachable and real. And it takes place in beautiful Norway with tasty Lefser. :D

The Top One Hundred Italian Dishes: A cookbook from my mom for Christmas this year.
A thin book. Haven't looked too closely yet.

The Italian Cookbook: A very small, portable book. A present from my mom for Christmas this year. It's rather old and is interesting because it has general recipes more than specific ones... kind of neat, really... (f. eks. how to make ravioli... just the ravioli themselves... with only vague suggestions for how to flavour it)

Vasagrisen: A book I bought in Stockholm. It's in Swedish and is a humourous story about a big that survives the Vasa Shipwreck. (It wrecked like 100 feet from shore, on a clear day, in case you were wondering.) I can read most of it. It's a childrens book and it's sweet - I bought it as a souvenir after going to the Vasa museum.

The Cooking of Scandinavia: Another Christmas present from mom. Less recipes and more talking about Scandinavian food culture. Actually fine to just read like a book. The narrator is a little bit crazy, though. :)

Ensimmäiset 1000 Sanaani: My first 1000 words - the picture dictionary kind. In Finnish. Bought in Finland.

Mine 1000 Første Ord: See above, in Norwegian. Bought in Norway.

Moomintroll Colouring Book!: From Finland.

Taikatalvi: A Moomintroll book in Finnish, with CD. :D (It's called Enchanted Winter in English). Bought in Finland.

The Random House Children's Encyclopedia: My number one favourite book/friend/hobby etc when I was 7-10 years old. Will go to my children. :P It will be outdated by then, though. :( Illustrated and fascinating. Learned so much from it that I hardly learned anything in school until 7th or 8th grade.

Chi Mi: A book of Gaelic poetry that the library threw out. :D It has English translations too. But who knows? Maybe someday I'll learn Gaelic.

Brødrene Løvehjerte: An Astrid Lindgren book. She wrote Pippi Longstocking, but this one is more serious. Apparently, it's about two brothers who die and then have all these adventures in the afterlife. A little bit weird, but very deep. I bought it in Norway and haven't read it yet.

Mio, Min Mio: An Astrid Lindgren book. She wrote Pippi Longstocking, but this one is more serious. I've read about half of it. It's not incredible so far, but I have a feeling it's going to pick up in intensity. So far, this boy is a lonely unwanted foster child living in Stockholm... until he finds a genie in a bottle and goes far far away to a magical perfect kingdom where his dad is the king and everyone is nice and loves him. So far there are only a few hints of a bad guy. And I'm almost a third through. The whole transition to the magical kingdom also seemed kind of fake... but then, sometimes reading in another language does that. Bought it in Norway.

Ronja Røverdatter: An Astrid Lindgren book. She wrote Pippi Longstocking, but this one is more serious. Apparently it's a Romeo-Juliet meets Robinhood kind of thing. Bought it in Norway and haven't read it yet.

Nordic Moral Climates: This book is exactly what it says, though the title seems confusing at first. :P It's basically like 'how many Scandinavians in what ages and with what incomes and with what criminal records or lack thereof etc and living in what Scandinavian countries support the death penalty, abortion, and so on and so forth.' Also some analysis. Surprisingly, it's rather interesting.

The Everything College Survival Book: Present from my mom for Christmas last fall. Guess what it's about? A lot of it is too basic, but it's not bad.

Ideas That Changed the World: Lovely book, encyclopedia style, very interesting and well illustrated. I like it almost as much as HUMAN... it could easily be a part of HUMAN. I can't believe I found it in the library rubbish pile!

Fakta Om Finland: Another book by Erlend Loe. Bought it in Norway. I've only just started it, but it looks a little harder to read and a little more interesting than Naiv. Super. And it's about Finland!

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: I bought this yesterday and just started it. Not what I thought. However, I think I'm going to have to buy the whole series. :D It traces civilization from ancient times until today, and focuses on the good and the exchange of ideas rather than on the bad and the wars. Interesting. I love it. So far. :P

Norge: This is a beautifully illustrated tourist book I bought in Norway in Norwegian. I've read most of it, but the pictures are more important than the words.

Laura Ingalls Wilder: Main series is 5 books, I also have 3 spin offs about her future husband, mother, and daughter. I read her books when I was little, starting in first grade. I imagined that they grew less and less interesting as Laura grew older: Looking back I see that not only is each book progressively thicker, the difficulty level increases and the font size decreases. Interesting... anyhow, loved the first 3 books in the series with all my heart. :D Even had the recipe book and made some of them...

His Dark Materials: This is a series of 3 I read in middle school. Didn't even really figure out they were challenging the church/god until it became incredibly obvious in the last book. Still, I liked the adventure, the world travelling, and especially the Dæmons.

So You Want to be a Wizard?: This is a series of 3 I read in late elementary school. I picked them out myself (some of the first) and brought home the boxed set. I read them in a desperate rush, and afterwards could never decide whether I loved them or hated them. Certainly, they challenged me. Many of Diane Duane's books (I read a few others later from the library) have a bad habit in setting up all the mystery I craved without every answering it. The Lord of the Rings, for example, is full of hints to other stories, half forgotten. But if you look those stories up, you often find them... or at least part of them... or other rumours of them. The world feels alive. Diane Duane's feels falsely alive. The hints are there, but nothing is behind them, which always made me feel tricked. So You Want to Be a Wizard? wasn't as bad about this as some of her other books, though. And, it was one of the first modern fantasies I had read, and it wasn't just modern... it was also grittier than average. They use a car antenna as a wand! :S Wasn't sure how I felt about that... sometimes it seemed wicked cool and other times just annoying. It also might ask harder questions than I was ready for: I was ready to see characters die, even good characters as long as it was tragic and beautiful... but in the second book, the main character faces her impending death and asks, "But I can't just die, can I?" with the last of her youthful (She's like 14) feeling of immortality. They answer, "Uh, actually, you can." That was a lot... And the third book had parts that were just weird.

Artemis Fowl: I only read the first book, but I liked it a lot. Kind of the opposite of Diane Duane's books in that it didn't set up any mysteries it couldn't answer in the main text. Still, it managed to be deep and interesting enough for my taste. :)

Pride and Prejudice: I think Layla recommended this one, but I hardly remember. It was fine... the kind of book you never regret picking up and reading, but it's hard to pick it up. I had to go to the lake for a week with no other reading material to get through it, but it was fine...

Anna Karenina: This was our book club summer selection last year, and I can say quite honestly that I otherwise would never have finished it. Same reasoning as Pride and Prejudice. It is, perhaps, just a little too old fashioned. There was nothing wrong with it at all, I enjoyed the imagery every time I picked it up, and I began to understand the characters and enjoy how well the author had filled in such a believable world. But ultimately I had a hard time relating to the world the characters lived in... all the card games and horse races and blah blah blah...

A Song of Ice and Fire: One of the best book series' I've ever read. If it wasn't also one of the largest it would definitely be going to Mizzou. This rivals Tolkien as the best fantasy series ever created, but they're very different, so I don't even have a favourite. It has incredibly rich description about everything... the author excels at anything from describing a feast to setting up a realistic but tense political struggle to writing a battle scene to describing a feast to crafting very different very interesting characters to giving magic it's magic to describing a feast.... oh dear, did I say describing a feast 3 times? Well, the only metaphore I ever saw him reuse was "fingers fat as sausages"... I think the man likes to eat. XD Can't wait until the next book comes out.

The Mists of Avalon: A classic fantasy book, one of the three best retellings of the King Arthur Legend. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Ancestors of Avalon: A spin off of The Mists of Avalon that I haven't really read yet.

Lady of Avalon: A spin off of The Mists of Avalon that I haven't finished reading yet. Need to.

Daughter of the Forest: A retelling of a less famous fairy tale about (6?) brothers who are turned into swans and their sister who has to save them by not speaking until she has spun 6 shirts from nettles. Another one of those books with beautiful, poetic description which is too slow moving to really grip you. But I liked it well enough. :D

The Crystal Cave: The first book of another of the famous 'King Arthur retellings'. This one is from the point of view of Merlin and was highly recommended by my father. I still haven't gotten farther than the first few chapters, but I will...

Memoirs of a Geisha: Lovely book... the rare book that is both beautifully written and fairly quick moving. I was completely absorbed by it... I'll never think of Geishas the same way again.

The Iliad: A good translation of the Iliad. I read it while in Athens. XD Yet another book whose lovely imagery makes it worth reading despite it's slow pace.

The Iliad and the Odyssey: Bad translations of both in a pretty, cheap, hardcover edition. :(

The Order of Things: Another quirky reference book. I haven't given this one as much time as it deserves yet.

The Tolkien Companion: One of my first books about Tolkien. I got it for my 11th birthday from Stephanie. It's not bad, it got me started with random Tolkien things, but it's a little basic for me now. XD One surprising feature was that every letter of the Elvish alphabet was listed, with the letter drawn in beautiful calligraphy and a full paragraph about it's name, etc.

The Silmarillion: Need words be said? This one was a present from Mr. Moore for no reason.

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Lots of fun for the Tolkien fan. But it's really not NECESSARY to own... all the relevant ones are referenced in other words.

J.R.R. Tolkien - A Biography: This is the original Carpenter Biography. I checked out an older than dirt version from the school library a while ago and never found anything as good in the more modern ones. (and there are many). It was surprisingly difficult to find a reprinting of it.

The Lord of the Rings: Need words be said? Read them in 4th grade.

The Hobbit: Need words be said? But it's also so cute and sweet in comparison. :D Innocence! I read this one in 3rd grade.

Farmer Giles of Ham: Not that incredibly wonderful, but it's Tolkien.

The Smith of Wootton Major: Not that incredibly wonderful, but it's Tolkien.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight> Not that incredibly wonderful, but it's translated by Tolkien.

The Tolkien Reader: A little Tolkien anthology with Leaf by Niggle, On Fairy Stories, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, etc. Towards Tom Bombadil I feel the same was as I feel towards, for example, Tales of Beedle Bard or whatever that Harry Potter spinoff is. What is it about authors of serious book that compels them to put in something silly? Oh well, it's nice to own, I guess. I like the nonfiction things better than the fiction, in general.

The Book of Lost Tales 1: Some very interesting, rough stuff that shows Tolkien's early silmarillion ideas.

The Book of Lost Tales 2: See above, and notably includes the first version of the Tinuviel story.

The Lays of Beleriand: This is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Seriously. I love the Lay of Leithian... I've actually memorized about 60 minutes worth of it.

The Shaping of Middle Earth: Book that shows the transition from the lost tales to the Silmarillion. Also lots of yummy maps for the Tolkien freak.

The Lost Road and Other Writings: More old Tolkien stuff. This time, Numenor, a lot of Elvish stuff, which made me happy... the crucial etymologies.

The Treason of Isengard: The rough drafts for The Two Towers (I'm notably missing the rough drafts for the Fellowship of the Ring)

The War of the Ring: The rough drafts for The Return of the King (I'm notably missing the rough drafts for the Fellowship of the Ring). There's also a very short and pricy volume called "The End of the Third Age" that I should buy. It has the original epilogue to the story, which Tolkien wisely discarded. It was similar to the Harry Potter epilogue - too happy, didn't fit. But as it wasn't included, it's sweet to know. :)

Morgoth's Ring: The rough drafts of the first part of the Silmarillion. (I'm notably missing the War of the Jewels, or the rough drafts of the second part.) The Laws and Customs Among the Eldar and Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth are incredibly interesting as far as the Elvish stuff is involved, and Myth Transformed tells us where the orcs came from... probably my favourite HoME title, though Peoples of Middle Earth comes close.

The Peoples of Middle Earth: More about the races, the interesting but pathetic first thoughts Tolkien had of his wisely discarded sequel to the Lord of the Rings, stuff about the Numenoreans on Middle Earth and the Wild Men, even more Elvish language stuff (Why Elvish languages change, for example). It's lovely. (I just found out that there's a History of the Hobbit too... just published... I need that book.)

The Children of Hurin: I actually haven't started this one yet... it's the new one. I assume it's just the Turin stuff rehashed.

The Monsters and the Critics: I checked out my high school library's version of this book and wouldn't give it back for four years. When I finally returned it, my library ordered one for me from England. :) Thanks, Mrs. McFarland! :D The best part of the book is when he talks about his 'secret vice' and also his love of Welsh and Finnish, his dislike of French, his belief in ancestral knowledge of language, and so on.

De Förlorade Sagornas Bok 1: The Lost Tales Book One, in Swedish. I bought this in Sweden.

Der Herr Der Ringe Band 1, Die Gefährten: A present from my dad: The Fellowship of the Ring in German.

The Ultimate Atlas of Almost Everything: A present from my Aunt Janet for Christmas one year. It's sweet but I would have adored it as a small child... it came a bit late. A thin volume with random information about endangered species, holidays and stuff, laid out on a world map.

The Best Recipes in the World: A big thick book with all these great ethnic recipes... need more be said?

1491 (New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus): I love this book. It's the one I mentioned that's so partial to the native Americans. I think it might go too far... it gets hard to believe, especially as I've read very little that agrees with it, but it's still brilliant and raises great questions.

Teach Yourself Linguistics: Bought this really recently, haven't looked at it yet... I wanted to learn some of the fancy words, etc, that linguists use...

Culture Smart Finland: A cute, tiny book about how not to offend Finns and stuff like that. Answer: It's very difficult to offend Finns. If you want them to like you, you can try to do a bit more. But yeah. Just don't expect hugs and kisses and smiles from strangers. :D

The Kite Runner: I loved this book, and got it a little bit before it became famous. :) The criticisms of the book: that the conclusion mirrors the problem too perfectly, for example, I find to be among it's charms.

A Thousand Splendid Suns: The second book by the author of Kite Runner. I think he's definitely proven that he has more than just the 'semi autobiographical first novel' in him. :) This one is very different, much sadder than the Kite Runner, but I very much enjoyed it.

Ibsen: Four Major Plays "A Doll House, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, The Wild Duck": I've only read A Doll House so far. It was a lot more complicated than I expected. I expected just a sort of ahead of it's time feminist statement... but it turns out that the woman in the story did act like a child too... so it's very interesting in that regard.

Italian Coursebook: A random little phrasebook/grammar book combination, just small enough to fit in my purse. Came in handy in Italy.

The Foxfire Book: Some very interesting folklore and stuff from the Appalachian people. I learned how to cut up a pig from this book.

Fabulae Romanae: So, at one point I had 6 copies of this book in my house. It's the history of Rome, fantastic where historical is not available, told in fairly easy to understand Latin.

Animal Speak: Some crazy new age stuff about totems, but, more importantly, what different animals are supposed to symbolize. It's rather comprehensive... I like it.

The Random House Dictionary: My big, beautiful, unabridged dictionary with a whole bunch of other reference stuff too. Can't remember the last time I used it, thanks to dictionary.com, but ah well. I'll love it forever.

World Reference Atlas: My big beautiful atlas with huge pictures etc. Can't remember the last time I used it, thanks to Google Earth, but ah well. I'll love it forever.

Ranma: I have 22 books of Ranma, and let's be honest, I bought them for my sister... with only 14 books left to go, I wonder if I'll ever finish the series?

Chobits: I have all 8 books. I was forced to buy the first two from a 'friend' after she accused me of damaging her copies. Oh well, I don't mind owning it. The art is beautiful, if borderline pornographic... :S Still, finish the series and you'll realize that the message is anything but, it's actually pro-abstinence!?

Planet Ladder: I have all 7 books. What a waste of my life/money. The questions are never answered, and ultimately it's just kind of pathetic. That said, the art is beautiful, and the last volume has a good atmosphere about it... What a great reason to have spent 80$.

Holes: My first 'look how everything fits together!' book. We had to read it in fifth grade, but I had already read it a few times by then. I was amazed by the fact that I got more out of it every time I read it. My children will certainly be forced to read it. Muahahaha.

On Writing: Stephen King's Reflection on Writing. I bought this yesterday and haven't read it yet. But it's Stephen King, it must be good.

The Serpent's Shadow, Flights of Fancy, Bardic Voices: Some of Mercedes Lackey's non-Valdemar books. I was lukewarm towards them. I finished and rather enjoyed Bardic Voices, couldn't get into The Serpent's Shadow, and Flights of Fancy was an anthology... some stories were okay, others were a waste of my life.

Alta, Joust: A three part series by Mercedes Lackey... or wait, did it go even further? I don't remember. I liked the idea behind Alta (Dragons and Egypt) and liked reading it. I bought Joust but either my interests had changed or I didn't have time, because I never finished it. Maybe I will someday. :S

Winds of Fate: This is part of one of Mercedes' trilogies... I haven't read this one (I got it cheap after my real obsession with her had faded).

The Black Gryphon, The White Gryphon, The Silver Gryphon: My first Lackey books and still among my favorites. :D Made me love Gryphons. (Black > White > Silver, though, with a big drop between each one...)

Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price: The most famous (among my friends) Lackey books. Gay happiness books. Very, very sad and sweet and melodramatic. Once made someone angry by lending the first one to them... I think maybe they thought I was accusing them of something? Oh well.

Brightly Burning: I read this one before Magic's Pawn, Promise and Price. Good thing, too. On reflection, it seems like a paler version of them. But I liked it well enough. Guy is in love with his companion thing (Which is kind of like a horse, but not really - it can 'talk' and stuff, and is humanly intelligent, so not THAT weird) but okay, still weird. And did I mention that he has the amazing power to burn up pretty much the whole world? As you can imagine this doesn't end well.

Exile's Honour, Exile's Valour: These are kind of funny because the main character talks weird, and it's nice to have read them if you want to understand Alberich in the rest of the series, but yeah, not Mercedes Lackey's best.

Take a Thief: One of my first and favourite Lackey books. :D Skif! (A semi-honourable thief becomes a hero).

Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall: These were the first Valdemar books, and are quite famous because of that. They fell right in the middle for me. I enjoyed them, but they weren't my favorites. The First one is notable for being the first book to make me cry in months, or maybe even years.

By the Sword: Okay, so this title always makes me think of Elrond and "Whether by the sword or by the slow decay of time..." :D Oh well. I liked By the Sword fine. I think it might be Mercedes Lackey's longest book. She could easily have stretched the story into a trilogy, but I respect her for not doing it. That maybe sounds silly, but it was just a very solid book, more fulfilling on it's own than most of hers.

Storm Warning, Storm Rising, Storm Breaking: Yuck. These were almost the first Mercedes Lackey books I read, and they're just... not very good. They're not worthy of Van's return, and it just seems random. And the working with Karst thing feels forced. It makes Valdemar seem even more annoyingly idealistic than the others.

Sword of Ice, Sun in Glory: Two Valdemar anthologies... I don't think I fully read these. Funny, I own like 15 anthologies and have hardly read them. I don't think I like that genre so much. XD

Eragon: Got the feeling that yep, he was amazing for a fifteen year old, but didn't deserve as much fame as he got in the main scheme of things... if he had waited, he would have been better... and maybe he will be in the future. Too stereotypical.

Sun-Runners Fire, The Dragon Token, The Dragon Prince, Stronghold, Skybowl, The Star Scroll: I tried so hard to get into these, because they're famous for being some of Fantasy's best. And in a way, I was really enjoying the first one... but believe it or not, I had the same problem with it as I had with Anna Karenina or Pride and Prejudice. Just a little too slow moving, a little too political, a little too old fashioned. Maybe someday I'll get more into it... (Probably didn't help that I tried to read them when I was still buzzing from A Song of Ice and Fire)

Wizard's First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen: This started out just fine, Wizards First Rule was a very acceptable fantasy book. Stone of Tears and Blood of the Fold degenerated into typical. Temple of the Winds was slightly below average. Soul of the Fire and Faith of the Fallen became unbearable. A friend told me that after that, they get really good, but I think he just means overly political and according to his political views. I was absolutely disgusted. The main character becomes perfect after the first book, all fine and good if it hadn't been the beginning of a long series... X( I keep seeing new ones come out, I don't think the madness will ever end... Some people must like it, though.

The Mammoth Book of Wild Journeys: An anthology I actually like! (There's a rarity). Still, the Wild Journeys could be more interesting and culturally focused or something. There's too much emphasis on the same bad conditions (Cold, heat, injuries, lack of water, being lost). It's a bit repetitive as a result. Should be called The Mammoth Book of Hellish Journeys - that would clear things up.

Tolkien's World: Paintings of Middle Earth. Lot's of Alan Lee. It's a lovely book.

J.R.R. Tolkien, Architect of Middle Earth: A modern day biography. Okay, but not as good as Carpenter's.

The Atlas of Middle Earth: Gosh, I geeked out over this one. Everything an RP-er would ever even dream of from an atlas of the world he's RPing. You could use this to set up or topple empires... (starts foaming at the mouth and wishing for the RPing days).

Guide to Tolkien's World: A sort of better version of The Complete Tolkien Companion. Mostly a bestiary, but it had EVERYTHING in it. (Even Dumbledors... now see if you remember what those were... :P)

Meditations on Middle Earth: Lots of people talking about how much they liked reading LoTR. It was a present from my mom when I got some teeth taken out, I think. :P I learned about the Midnight Sun for the first time when reading this book.

Tales Before Tolkien: Kind of some weird, randomly chosen stories in the gap between modern fantasy and mythology/folklore.

Watership Down: :D Oh, the rabbitsies! A surprisingly serious book about rabbits. That act more or less like rabbits. I mean, they talk and stuff, but they don't wear clothes and they eat grass. The author even made up a mini-language for them. So cute.

The Once and Future King: The last famous "King Arthur retelling". Maybe the most famous of the three. They based the disney movie "The Sword in the Stone" off of the first part of this book. I've read the first part. :P Yeah... I really will read the rest someday, this is a great reminder.

Unfinished Tales: Find out all about the founding of Rohan, the loss of the one ring, and the origins of the five wizards! If you care. I did. :D There's even a story that takes place in Numenor...

The Odyssey: I found this in a hotel room. It's more than 50 years old (and looks it) and was the oldest book I owned for a long time. This was the first translation of the Odyssey that I read, and it's not terrible.

Interesting Times, Soul Music, Eric, Monstrous Regiment, Thief of Time, Small Gods: Terry Pratchett! I loved Thief of Time and Small Gods. Eric was lovely too. Interesting Times and Soul Music I have yet to read. Monstrous Regiment was just okay, barely worth reading, but worth it, nonetheless.

Bellwether: This book took me by surprise. READ IT! :D (One of those where everything comes together, and believe me, I was close to giving up at one point, it seemed impossible, but somehow I kept reading... and then, yay! :D)

Doomsday Book: A book by the same author as Bellwether. I haven't read it yet, but it looks very, very different from Bellwether. (Bellwether was modern day and quirky, Doomsday is set during the Black Death and won some very prestigious literary awards). One of these days...

The Road to Middle Earth: One of the better of the more modern analyses and biographies of Tolkien. I liked it.

Snow Crash: A present from Stephanie. Some crazy techno-futuristic-nonsense. :D It was lovely.

Fuzzy Dice: A present from Laura. Similar to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in some ways. A little crazy. Fun. :D

French Step by Step: From the cheap outlet bookstore. Small. May use someday.

The Queen Jade: From the cheap outlet bookstore. I'm planning to read it, too!

The Bastard of Istanbul: From the cheap outlet bookstore. I'm planning to read it, too!

In the Face of Jinn: From the cheap outlet bookstore. I'm planning to read it, too!

No Borders: From the cheap outlet bookstore. I'm planning to read it, too!

The Space Between Us: From the cheap outlet bookstore. I'm planning to read it, too!

The Dreamer's Dictionary: What do your dreams mean? This book has no idea. Still, it kept me entertained for a while. And it's not a bad symbology reference.

Son of the Shadows: The sequel to Daughter of the Forest. Daughter of the Forest did not need a sequel. This book should never have happened. :P It's not the worst book I've ever read. But it's far from being a good book, too.

Bedlam's Bard: A modern Lackey book. Not exactly my taste. It's okay. I know Gwen loved it. I got it from a yard sale.

Legends 1: A fantasy anthology I got mostly for George R. R. Martin's piece.

Legends 2: A fantasy anthology I got mostly for George R. R. Martin's piece.

A Midsummer Night's Dream: I read it in school and later bought this one at a yardsale.

The Wizard of Oz: Meh. This read like a junior novelization. I bough it at a yardsale, though, so who cares?

El Hobbit: The Hobbit in Spanish. :D What did you expect?

The Languages of Middle Earth: A nice little dictionary of Elvish and the rarer ones. Came in handy once upon a time. Surprisingly small, but dense. Even some grammar.

The Rough Guide to the Lord of the Rings: A small little book, some sort of Christmas present. I knew most of it, except some of the information about the places in New Zealand used for filming.

Der Zeitdieb: Thief of Time in German. :D Bought in Mainz, Germany.

Walking with Frodo: Seriously, this is a Lord of the Rings Christian devotional. Bought it mostly for comedic value.

Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis: The First Harry Potter Book in Latin.

Harry Potter e Il Prigionero di Azkaban: The Third Harry Potter Book in Italian. Bought this in Rome, Italy.

Harry Potter ja Viisasten Kivi: The first Harry Potter Book in Finnish. Bought this in Turku, Finland.

The River's Tale: I rescued this book from the library's rubbish pile. It's the story of one person's journey along the whole length of the Mekong river. It looks good. I haven't read it yet.

1688: A Global History: I rescued this one from the Library rubbish pile. :( It seems to be an interesting 'history' book describing the world situation in this year, in all different places. Seems interesting. I haven't read it yet.

In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Alternate history book asking, 'what if the nazis had taken over the world?' I maybe would have liked a little more specific information, but for what it was it was brilliant. I really enjoyed reading it. Bought from the cheap outlet bookstore.

Days of Infamy: By the same author as "In the Presence of Mine Enemies". I know it's around the time of Pearl Harbour and also an alternate history book, but I don't remember what was alternate about it. Haven't read it yet. Bought from the cheap outlet bookstore.

Brethren: Bought from the cheap outlet bookstore at Stian's behest. Haven't really started it, and it doesn't seem that good. Not sure if I'll go back and pursue it or not.

Harry Potter Series: Need words be said? Loved the first books. Fifth book was a low in the series. Thought I didn't like the sixth book either, but the seventh book redeemed it... Still thought it was a little strange that he didn't go to Hogwarts in the seventh year, though. XD But yeah, good series... started well, finished well...

Cambridge Latin Course Unit 4: The last book in the Cambridge Series. One last time to see Quintus... :( Remember dear Metella and Caecilius and Grumio and Cerebrus! Dear Cerebrus! Oh my, what a strange outpouring of emotion. Anyway, the last book has the best indices. It's mine.

Best Ever Recipes, Tapas and Spanish: A great recipe book. I want to try some of them out, especially the chocolate shrimp one...

Norsk-Engelsk Visuell Ordbok: I wanted a visual dictionary in Norwegian, and they didn't have one in the brand I was used to, so I bought this one instead. The problem is that it's the kind of visual dictionary you would want for your native language - all hard, obscure words like parts of the eye, when what I want is the word for 'eye'! Oh, well. :) I bought this in Oslo's Norli.

Italian-English Visual Dictionary: One of my lovely DK visual dictionaries. :) This is the only little one I have that wasn't overridden by the five language dictionary.

Viiden Kielen Kuva Sanakirja: This is one of my most treasured books. It's a five language (English, Spanish, French, German, and Finnish) visual DK dictionary. I bought it in Finland.

Better Homes Simple Slow Cooker Recipes: Self explanatory?

Sandra Lee Slow Cooker Recipes: Self explanatory?

Introducing Linguistics: A quirky book from Smith. She got it for me for graduation. It's almost comic book style!

Introducing Semiotics: A quirky book from Smith. She got it for me for graduation. It's almost comic book style!

Native Americans of the Southeast: I took this from the rubbish pile at the library, just because it was still in excellent shape. It's a kid's book.

German-English Visual Dictionary: Another DK visual dictionary I have, but this one has been rendered useless by my five language monstrosity.

På Väg: I bought this Swedish textbook in Finland because it cost 1 euro. :D It's Finnish-Swedish. Somehow, between the two, I manage to understand about 80% of it.

A Grammar Book of Finnish: I haven't used this yet, I bought it in Finland.

Norwegian Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: I haven't used this yet, I bought it in Norway.

Kristin Lavransdatter: The whole thing. In Norwegian. Someday I'll spend a whole summer on this, like I did two summers ago with Anna Karenina! I bought it in Norway.

Zhongwen Level One Workbook: A present from Wendy! A Chinese workbook.

Easy Kana Workbook: A Japanese kana workbook... yeah, pretty self explanatory.

Norsk Antologi (UWM): Some good Norwegian learning material from the University of Wisconsin Madison. When I find the time (maybe before my semester in Norway?) I'm going to go through and actually use this properly.

Norsk Antologi Arbeidsbok (UWM): This is a workbook that goes with the Norsk Antologi.

Spanish Verb Tenses: This has lots of activities for learning Spanish verb tenses. Practice makes perfect! :D

Italian Now!: This is a pretty good Italian learning book. It's a workbook and textbook rolled into one, and actually hits that elusive spot halfway between the two.

Japanese the Manga Way: Learn Japanese from Manga! Yeah... but it's all grammar, no vocab or kana or kanji... you can't start with it. :S

National Geographic Italia (Aprile 2007): This is what it looks like. I bought it in Italy. :)

Campbell's 100 Best Recipes: This is what it looks like. I got it from the library rubbish pile.

Read and Think Spanish: A Spanish anthology, with a disk. It's a bit below my level now.

El Español Al Día: My dad's old Spanish textbook (year 2), which I stole from him in order to get a head start in Spanish class. Didn't work.

Wheelock's Latin: Ah, this book represents so many hopes and dreams. Where to begin? I bought it and I was amazed, after slowly and steadily working through the first few chapters, at the way that it enabled me not only to read but also to write in Latin! I promoted it shamelessly at school, only to have the impossible happen... they adopted it as a textbook. And it was HARD. And no one tried very hard, so we didn't actually learn to write Latin properly or anything.

Selected Verse, Federico Garcia Lorca: A gift from Smithy for my graduation. It's difficult to understand in Spanish or English. The poetic images are beautiful and give off a certain melancholic feeling, but beyond that I get very little out of it.

Norwegian to English Dictionary: This is exactly what it sounds like. It's pretty extensive, including a lot of dialectical stuff. Unfortunately, it is only Norwegian to English. I can use it to read, but not to write.

Beginner's Finnish: This is from Hippocrene Books. It's not bad at all! I used it to learn most of the Finnish that I know. I was frustrated by some editorial mistakes - so much so that I once made a list of them, planning to inform the publisher. My problem is that such mistakes are inexcusable in a foreign language text - the readers risk learning things wrong. It's not as good as Teach Yourself Norwegian, but it's fine.

Beginner's Norwegian: This is no doubt a fine book... but between Teach Yourself Norwegian and Norsk, Nordmenn, og Norge, I never found time to use it. The best thing is that it comes with CDs. It's a beautiful dark green book, too, as if that counts for anything. :D

Colloquial Japanese: This book is hard for me to force myself to use. I also found the way they taught Hiragana and Katakana simultaneously quite tricky. But it's not a bad book.

Write it in Arabic: This teaches the Arabic Alphabet. I learned about four letters from it.

Mastering Spanish Vocabulary: I love this book. It's better than a dictionary or even a visual dictionary for learning vocabulary. I owe my knowledge of the names of countries and nationalities in Spanish to this book, among other things.

Norsk, Nordmenn, og Norge: This is a really great book for learning Norwegian, although it has a fairly high price tag. (It's a University textbook, and is therefore 2x the price of my other language learning materials, which are usually the cheapest available). It refocused my Norwegian and I was actually able to learn some of the fundamentals of grammar from it. Highly recommended.

Around the World with 80 Words: This book is based on a cool idea. It gives you the 80 most crucial words to know in... 25? 30? of the world's most important languages. The idea is that if you know these words, you can manage almost anywhere. I have yet to systematically use it. It will be a week long project some day. :)

Native Tongues: This is an interesting book with cool, random information about different languages, and about language theories. There's even a chapter showing the linguistic evidence for Atlantis! :D

Japanese Manga Things: I have two volumes of Japanese manga, in Japanese. Will surely serve as a learning aide if I ever decide to get good and serious about Japanese.

Italian Exambusters Study Cards: These are super handy. There are three words on each card, which I've found to be a magic number. I really beefed up my Italian vocabulary with these. I plan to use them again before next summer.

The Mystery of Runes: A tiny little booklet Stephanie gave me for my 12th birthday. :D It lists the futhark runes and their meanings.

Inspirational Italian Books: More tiny little booklets. I bought these in Italy. They have inspirational quotes and stuff in them.

Teach Yourself Norwegian Conversation:

Teach Yourself Swedish Conversation: This is a tiny book/set of CDs that get you started with Swedish. The people on the CDs all sound like they're about to cry. but it's not bad.

Teach Yourself Norwegian:

Teach Yourself Finnish:

Teach Yourself German:

Teach Yourself Italian:

Teach Yourself Beginner's Japanese:

Teach Yourself Arabic:

Teach Yourself Greek:

Teach Yourself Gaelic:

Pocket Atlas of the World:

Drive Time Japanese:

Starting Out in Arabic:

Roget's College Thesaurus:

1001 Natural Wonders:

Side By Side:

Beliebte Wettruper Kock und Backrezepte:

Diccionario Basico De La Lengua Espanola:

How To Learn Any Language:

Dante's Purgatorio:

Dante's Inferno:

Dante's Paradiso:

Grammatica Greca Moderna:

Letteratura Romana:

Italian Phrase Book:

Berlitz Greek Phrase Book and Dictionary:

Berlitz Norwegian-English, English-Norwegian:

Berlitz European Phrase Book:

The Red Pocket Book of Spanish Verbs

Spanish Idioms

English - Portuguese, Portuguese-English Dictionary:

Peoples and Empires:

Teach Yourself Beginner's Dutch Grammar:

Danish Dictionary and Phrasebook:

Berlitz Japanese Dictionary:

Way Cool Spanish Phrase Book

The Language Instinct:

The Power of Babel:

The Master and Margarita:

La Lingua Italiana Per Stranieri:

Lose Weight! Get Laid! Find God!: