Alot. This arose because of the library fines. You see, I would take out a book and really enjoy it. Hand it to a friend and say, "This was great, give it a read, and we can talk about it." So they'd read it and then we would haggle over what it meant and then the finer points and then . . . . I would pay the fine for turning the book in weeks late. Then there was the time I took a bunch of books out to read on vacation. I stayed longer than I thought I would, and had to pay the maximum fine of $10 per book. I had over a dozen books out . . . oops.

Really, its just cheaper to buy them in the first place.

Bought new: American Gods by Neil Gaimon. Which I have read and really enjoyed. There was that bag full of stuff I bought at Paperbacks Unlimited. I think a bunch of murder mysteries, including Michael Connelly's latest "The Narrows". It's the sequel to his book, "The Poet". The bad guy in "The Poet" is Robert Backus. Which is funny, because my father was Robert Backus - he was the epitomy of the ultimate good guy, so I think he might have found humor in having a bad guy named after him.

This is a difficult question since I read several books concurrently. Good Omens, by Neil Gaimon & Terry Pratchett, though is the last one I finished. But somewhere in the middle I read Final Account, by Peter Robinson, and Hard News, by Seth Mnookin.

Now, Chuck thought this was an easy question. I think its really hard, because (being Liberal, I am tolerant and inclusive), I want to list ALL the books I love. We could be here for weeks. OK, so I would be here and you would be asleep.

5. Sketches New and Old, by Mark Twain. My copy was published in 1922 and came from my grandfather's library. Be sure to read the story, "Political Economy", since it explains alot about life in general and is screamingly funny.