Ben at Tiger in Winter made me do this, though I hate the me-me thing.

Number of books I own: about 12 shelves worth shelf being about 28 inches makes it about 336 inches worth. About 35 on beer. Books not inches. I have owned many more and sold them. Books are like water: they go in, they go out. I have sold libraries. Right now I would guess I have 200 on hand in total but likely more but I am not counting.

Last book I bought: Para Handy, a book of 1930s Scottish newspaper columns set in a Clyde tramp steamer. My father has always referred to these columns as a font of knowledge for all occasions and taught me about characters like Lobby Dosser, the man who lived nowhere, taking naps in hotel lobbies where he could. Come to think of it, it was that or a amateur sort of publication called Winning Isn't Everything bought also on eBay about the football team from my mother's town, Largs Ayrshire.

Last book I read: On Reading the Constitution by Lawrence Tribe. An early '90s analysis of how the US Supreme Court analyzes badly which makes me very happy to live in Canada where Supreme Court of Canada tests are seemingly written by folk of an overachieving librarian mindset, organized and clear, relied on and maybe wiggled but not made up on the spot under the guise of "tradition" and "values". Interesting read but I fear I will have to read 20 more books to understand how the US Supreme Court might be using the tools time and law have given it. Relying on the founding fathers my arse. Have you met one person who you could rely on to keep or even understand what they meant as opposed to what is simply written? Add 240 years and an argumentative bunch of founders and you can imagine what that is worth.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

• Under the Frog by Tobor Fischer, a Hungarian writer who in I think the late 80s wrote this book about a slacker bunch of industrial league basketball players who get caught up in the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The best book I have read in 15 years.
• Wind in the Willows for the sheer mindless violence and the reference to best Burton, an almost extinct ale style all glossed over as a children's book. Bought Christmastime circa 1988 in a line up at a children's book store in Halifax. When the clerk said how nice it was to give books to children at the holidays, I pointed out that I had a rather nice single malt as well as a head cold and I was taking them both with the book to bed for the weekend, not packaging it up for some child. I am so glad I have changed into the little ray of sunshine I am today.
• The Big Book of Brewing by Dave Line circa 1975 who gave me and many others a first understanding about the science behind a topic so as to understand the topic in a way that has given me so much joy.
• The Yachtsman's Weekend Book, by John Irving. A small 1930s encyclopedia in one volume of things you need to know on a boating weekend off Britian circa 1938: lines, silhouettes of other boats, how to get through Dutchcustoms, how to eat in a force 7 storm, what to drink and sing, the names of the stars. AND
• Esso Power Players hardcover 1970-1971 sticker album. We worked hard to fill out that book. Most effort I ever put into one book. Kept us sane the one year we lived in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton.