Tag, I'm it

I've been tagged by both Wendy and Sylvia in this little game, so here's more than you really wanted to know about my packrat habits:

Total number of books I own:

You're kidding, right? We bought this house because it had a living room with three blank walls and had bookcases added on all three walls. I thought this would give us plenty of room for books for the foreseeable future, plus room for photos and knickknacks. Unfortunately, I forgot the first rule of packrats: Items expand to fill the available space. My "library" is now packed tight on all shelves with books. The photos and knickknacks had to go elsewhere.

Since I have four kids, I collect children's books more assiduously than other books (I tend to recycle romance books through the UBS). I have approximately 1,000 picture books and 400 chapter books downstairs. The girls' room has another 700 books in it. I have several hundred genre books (mostly romance, with some sci-fi mixed in) and at least a hundred books on history. I have a smallish collection of general fiction and quite a lot of nonfiction.

Last book I bought:

Out of Control, Shannon McKenna. The title is an excellent commentary on my book buying habits *g*.

Last book I read:

The last book I completed was Metallic Love, by Tanith Lee. I'm currently in the middle of In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner, Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair, and Star Quality, a Brava anthology.

Five books that mean a lot to me:

Deceive Not My Heart by Shirlee Busbee. My first romance ever.
Lovesong by Valerie Sherwood. Her sweeping tales were the reason I started writing colonial Virginia romances.
All Shook Up by Susan Andersen. Her books and Rachel Gibson's inspired me to start writing contemporary romances.
Never Love a Stranger by Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein got me interested in science fiction in junior high school.
The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov. As previously noted, I love robots:-). I wish I could find this collection of all his robot stories, which I've only read once, but it's out of print. I have lots of his robot stories in other collections, though.

I'm tagging:

Brenna
Mandy
Jaycee
Jaynie
Mary