I've been tagged! Again!

I've seen this tag meme floating around the blogosphere for about a month now, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I got hit - by my friend Julie.

1. How many books do you own?

Good question. I've never bothered to count them, so this is only a rough estimate. Let's say, about 500 here with me in Ottawa, and an equal number sitting in boxes in my parents' basement. So 1000, give or take. (But all the really good ones are here.)

2. What is the last book you bought?

Probably the last book almost everybody bought: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'd tell you what it was all about, but if you haven't seen the spoilers all over the Net up to now, you'll magically miss it now!

3. What was the last book you read?

It was The Tale of the Comet by Derek D. Dempster, a 1958 history of the de Havilland Comet, the first commercial jetliner. Roughly the first half of the book is a brief history of the de Havilland company and the design and early success of the Comet. The second half is about the engineering detective work that went into discovering the design flaw that destroyed three planes, but nobody had anticipated up to that point: metal fatigue, due to the cabin pressure at extremely high altitudes, resulted in explosive decompression and destroyed the aircraft in midair. Fortunately for the future of commercial aviation, this unforeseen flaw was correctible, and the Comet flew again, many of them remaining in service until 1980. However, the entire Comet fleet was grounded for about three years while the investigation was underway, and as a result Boeing gained a virtual monopoly on commercial jetliner manufacturing until the more recent successes of Airbus.

At present I am also about three-quarters of the way through Bono by Michka Assayas, and hope to have it finished by tomorrow.

If you want to know what else I've been reading recently, you can always look on the sidebar.

4. What are some books that meant a lot to you?

Apart from the Bible, of course, probably the three books that have had the greatest impact on me are Desiring God by John Piper, Knowing God by J. I. Packer, and Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen.

My favourite novel is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I also enjoy the literature of C. S. Lewis, Douglas Adams, Roald Dahl, and Stephen King.

5. Tag! You're it...

When you're at the tail end of one of these games, whom do you tag that hasn't already been tagged? Let's see . . .

Take it away, Rand.