Book Challenge

Which it's the Book Challenge, coutresy of an Irish Elk...

1. Total Number of Books I've Owned:
I estimate I currently own about a thousand books. But that includes the three bookcases in my apartment (and the storage unit under my bed) as well a half-dozen odd boxes in the attic of the house I grew up in, plus a bookcase in my childhood bedroom there.
2. Last Book I Bought:
Peter the Great by Robert K. Massie.
3. Last Book I Read:
Chicago Confidential - Max Allan Collins
4. Five Books That Mean A Lot To Me:
Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard. I probably read this book 50 times while growing up.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Another title I read and re-read as a boy, and one which kick started a lifelong interest in the 'literature of the fantastic.'
Beat To Quarters by C.S. Forester. The road to Patrick O'Brian began here.
Eloise by Kay Thompson (and brilliantly illustrated by Hilary Knight). A family tradition.
Massachusetts: a Guide to Its Places and People by the Federal Writer's Project of the Work's Progress Administration. This hardcover original was a gift from my grandfather.
5. Tag five people and have them do this on their blog:
Five? Five!? That seems a tall order for a blog-of-small-readership like this one. Try three:
Heather (because I know she just went book-shopping.)
beth (who used to have a book blog)
Sheila (who probably already got this meme)