stack of books

i've been completely unmotivated about blogging this week. not sick or too busy, just blah and uncreative. maybe i just didn't have anything new to say. smile! so it was karma when i visited willow's blog this evening and saw she had participated in a literary quartet meme. oh ho this was just what i was looking for . . . something to sink my teeth into and get my creative juices flowing. what better thing for me to write about than BOOKS???!!! if you've been following my blog since the early days (march this year) you'll know that i've had a love affair going with books since childhood. i love to read books, buy books, collect books, talk about books, recommend books, revisit books, check books out of the library, well you get the picture.

so, i'm being my typical rebellious self and renaming this meme "stack of books". pick one fiction book, one autobiography, one non-fiction book and one book of your choice from any genre. tell why it's on your favorites list. the only other rule i imposed on myself was that the book had to be a resident of my artroom book case. there are dozens of favorites which i no longer own but i wanted to post of photos of my picks. so, here goes:

panther in the sky by james alexander thom is historical fiction at its best. it chronicles the life of tecumseh, starting in 1768 when he was born thru 1809 when his tribal homelands were taken over by the white man. i was intrigued by the indian customs when i first read it and am always empathetic to the indians' plight when i revisit this book. i've read all of thom's books (long knife, follow the river, from sea to shining sea, etc.) but this one still stands out as my favorite.

i've never been a huge fan of autobiographies but thoroughly enjoyed born standing up by steve martin when i read it earlier this year. nostalgic and touching, his recounting of how he carved out a name for himself as a stand up comedian was most endearing to me.

i received a copy of the prophet by kahill gibran as a gift in 1973. a country-girl/college student wearing rose-colored glasses and carrying a fervent belief that i would change the world, i was being exposed to a whole new world of ideas and cultures. kibran's writings had a big impact on my idealistically youthful self. (btw, i just noticed that my hardback copy of this book carried a retail price of $4.50; that was the srp, not the sale price!!)

the stack of books i photographed features j.k. rowling's final harry potter book because i love the colors of the book jacket, but my final free choice selection is actually the entire set of 7 harry potter books. i was completely enamored by this series of books from the very first word. not only have i read each book multiple times, but have spent many contented hours discussing the characters, plots, ideology and utter creativity of each one (mostly with my daughter). was i sad when the final book was read and laid aside? yes. will i be sad when i leave the theater after seeing the final movie? yes. will the heart of a poor orphan boy who awakened the world to the joy reading live on in my heart forever. absolutely!

if you love books and would like to play along, please consider yourself tagged!