Fill this out

Thanks to Thomas for this meme (and for giving me a shout-out):

1) Total number of books I've owned: It doesn't compare to the number of books I've read, but plenty: close to 2500.

2) The last book I bought: Gore Vidal's Burr (brilliant), Walter Karp's The Politics of War, and David Buckley's Thrill of It All, the first decent Roxy Music biography.

3) The last book I read: Desperate Measures, a collection of William Logan's poetry reviews

4) Five books that mean a lot to me (in no particular order)
Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet The Spy. The funniest, truest, most scathing children's book ever written. Louise Fitzhugh understood that I was to be a writer before I did.

Henry James, Portrait of a Lady. The American novel grows up, equaling the achievements of Flaubert and George Eliot. The way in which James' gallery of minor characters appear at strategically important points to reveal another facet of heroine Isabel Archer is psychology (and dramaturgy) of the highest caliber.

Pauline Kael, For Keeps. A collection of the great film critic's reviews.

Robert Christgau, Record Guides. As definitive an influence on my prose as Pauline Kael. See also: Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Christopher Hitchens, George Orwell, Hannah Arendt.

5) Tag three people and have them fill this out on their blogs:

(a)Alex Segura, Jr for a wealth of comic-book arcana.

(b)Andy Diaz and company at my home A Grand Illusion.

(c)Ian Mathers. Stylus colleague. Thoughtful writer and sharp tongue.