I did get all my packing done last night, chose a few books to bring, finished emptying the kitchen and bathroom–and still had time to watch an old, silly movie with Mom. “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” Have any of you seen it? From 1965. Brian Keith, Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin, Eva Marie Saint, Jonathan Winters. A Russian submarine–at the height of the Cold War–runs aground on a fictional, New England island and sends a party ashore to find a boat to tow the sub off the sandbar. Crazy, hilarious panic ensues. Mom’s favorite part is poor Muriel hanging on the wall with her clueless husband eating breakfast right in front of her. I love the group of sailors saying “Emergency. Everybody to get from street,” in unison, in thick Russian accents, to a little boy . . . like that was going to work! And of course, the stirring ending, the kid on the church steeple (an idea stolen by the TV show “Early Edition” a few years ago).

For that matter, we watched a 1966 movie the night before: “Yours, Mine and Ours” with Henry Fonda, Lucille Ball, Van Johnson, and a young Tim Mathieson as the oldest son. Henry has 10 children, Lucille has 8, so of course they get married! Love the shopping trip–four, fully-heaped shopping carts of groceries for a total of $126. (Wow!) Sweet little movie.

Chappy, I think, is just glad this day is over. He looks confused and worried–the kitchen is in the dining room, the bathroom is in the guest room, I’ve got a suitcase . . . I’m afraid he thinks we’re moving, or evacuating, or something, but he’s been wandering out, checking out everything and NOT letting me out of his sight!

Anyway, as Mom, Chappy and I are driving up to the Vineyard, today, Sunday, I don’t want any of you to be completely bored so, here–even though it’s not knitting related, at least it’s something! I picked it up off somebody’s blog–I’ve seen it on so many of them lately, I don’t specifically remember whose I took it from, but I couldn’t resist it. It is, after all, about books!

Total number of books in your house

Well, let’s see. I have 2,635 books. My parents have about 200, so . . . That’s about 2, 835!Last book bought

Well, I don’t buy them singly, but in groups. In the last week or so I’ve bought:

Lapsing into a Comma by Walsh, Bill

Sanctuary by Lackey, Mercedes

Paris 1919 by MacMillan, Margaret

Blind Lake by Wilson, Robert Charles

Slight Trick of the Mind by Cullin, Mitch

Never Let me Go by Ishiguro, Kazuo

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Foer, Jonathan Safran

Saturday by McEwan, Ian

Books you often read or that mean a lot to youI re-read my favorites over and over again, so it’s hard to pinpoint specific books. I’ll name some authors that I revisit, though: Jane Austen, Sharon Shinn, Anne McCaffrey, Sean Russell, Diana Wynne Jones, Elizabeth Peters, Robertson Davies, L.M. Montgomery, Mary Stewart, John Myers Myers, Jasper Ffordes, Dorothy Dunnett . . . (stopping. getting tired now.)

Who are you going to pass this on to and whyI’m not going to actually pass this to anybody, but anyone who wants to join in, please do!

• Tags: Reading • Permalink:Book Meme //