meme tagged...

I've been tagged for a while now. In retrospect, I should have been able to respond sooner than now, but life sometimes takes us on unplanned twists. Sometimes they're expected and can be easily included in the general agenda of life, and sometimes they catch us off guard. I was caught off guard.

But let's say that now I'm somewhere near where I'd like to be in a number of ways...I'm still in a confused situation, but more willing to work with it.

Anyways, back to the meme thing.

Total number of books owned: Too many... and I have a problem with letting them go. About 200 are easily countable, and then there are stashes hidden in scarce closet space and archived at home in Libya. Something I'm not proud of, but is related, is that I have been known to steal books from family, friends, and even the public library. I had to force myself to return a book that is out of print and could only do it because I knew some poor student would be searching for it like I did. I know that this is wrong and am working on this problem, but we all have our weaknesses, don't we?

Last book bought: I bought a stack from a street vendor that included a Malcolm X reader By Any Means Necessary and Aaron Cometbus's Double Duce among some others. The last book I bought from a store was Khaled Mattawa's book of poems called Zodiac of Echoes. Most of my books are either hand-me-downs (yes, this may mean I just never returned them to their owners), presents, or bought on the street. It's good that Bay Area people read so much.

Last book read: Hmmm...I guess that would have to be Arab Women, an anthology of essays written by none other than Arab women. Not sure if I would really recommend it though. It left me wondering who the Arab women they were seeking out to speak on behalf of the others were.

Five books that mean a lot to you:
1- The Question of Palestine--Edward Said;
2- The Cairo Trilogy--Naguib Mahfouz;
3- Ismailia Eclipse--Khaled Mattawa
4- The Watchers--Tahar Djaout
5- Woman at Point Zero--Nawal El Saadawi.

Tag five people to continue this meme:

I can't tag anyone at this point. I've been gone for so long... I'll do it though. Slowly but surely.

Did I do this meme thing right? Is there something else I should include?