25 Bookish Facts About Me

Grabbed this one from Lianna again, which is good because I can't get the images to work in the other post I'm working on.  

1. I'm told I learned to read when I was 3.

2. My first grade teacher was impressed that I knew the word "architect."

3. I read Charlotte's Web at least a half dozen times in my childhood, but I was in my 20s before I read the last chapter myself. Before that, I always made my mother read it out loud to me.

4. I must have read The Secret Garden at least a half dozen times as well, and I always spoke with a Yorkshire accent for hours and days while I was in the middle of it.

5. Between James Herriot, The Secret Garden, and Code Name Verity, I want very badly to go to Yorkshire some day.

6. I refused to take honors English in fifth grade because I thought "reading and discussing novels" sounded too grown up and scary for me. I signed up for honors math and science instead.

7. The first fantasy book I ever read was Mercedes Lackey's Arrows of the Queen, which my aunt gave me for my 13th birthday.

8. I attended a semester and a summer of classes toward a MLIS at Simmons College before my son was born and the economy tanked at the same time.

9. During the first year of Adam's life, I made it my project to hit at least 12 libraries with him in 12 months.  We visited a lot of very cool libraries in the greater Boston area, and we actually made it to 15.

10. I have a weird quirk where I can't bend my thumbs properly without bending my fingers, which makes it hard for me to hold a book open and read lying on my back.  Ebooks have changed my life!

11. I used to be in a writer's group but just as a reader.

12. I completed NaNoWriMo one time--meaning I hit the 50k word count, though I didn't finish the book.

13. I read the Clan of the Cave Bear series way too young.  My father said, "isn't that book a little mature for you?" and I tried to prove it wasn't by showing him some cave paintings that I later realized were very...vulva-ish, let's say, in appearance. (Also, later, my college roommate and I would speculate on what wonders Ayla would invent in the next book.)

14. A guy hit on me on a subway platform once by asking what I was reading.  He was clearly very nervous, and I feel bad for shooting him down so brusquely--he was very polite. I don't think he even noticed that I had a brown paper bag book cover on my borrowed book to protect it from wear and tear.

15. I have a pile of bookmarks on the sideboard, so I am never without one when needed.

16. My sister still thinks I'm going to write her a YA fantasy series someday.  It seems less and less likely, though.

17. I enjoy Harry Potter very much, but I think it's a bit overrated.  It's charming, but His Dark Materials is far more compelling and well-imagined.

18. If asked what my favorite book is, at various points in my life I would have said The Prince of Tides, Shining Through, The Nun's Story, and Fool.

19. I check my library ebook account to see how my holds are doing and whether any new books have come into he system every day, many times a day.

20. I have three borrowed books from people I'm no longer in touch with that weigh heavily on my soul. (I have other borrowed books, even ones I've had a long time, but I know right where they are and who they belong to, so I don't mind that.)  I'm thinking of getting in touch with someone I haven't seen for five years to return a copy of a book she probably doesn't even remember that I have.

21. I have started at least five book clubs in my life. And I would start another one in a heartbeat.

22. I am pretty much always in the middle of a minimum of three books at once--a graphic novel, an audiobook, and a novel.  More often there's also a read-aloud with my son, and the novel is usually two or three novels.  So I guess I'm saying six; six is the number of books I'm usually reading at once.

23. Goodreads tells me that the author I've read the most of (not counting graphic novels) is Stephen King.  I find this a little embarrassing, especially since the period where I read Stephen King more than "incredibly rarely" only lasted about two years.

24. In high school, my friend Lani and I used to play a game where we'd act out death scenes from books we'd both read (usually in English class, but not always) and the other person would have to guess the book.  Shakespeare was popular because we'd read a lot, but there's a decent amount of fodder for this game in the high school curriculum. (Lani was super-popular; no one would have guessed she was secretly the best kind of dork.)

25. I love the sense of community of being a book blogger, even in my tiny little corner of blogland.  I really like being able to think about other bloggers' posts and post my own thoughts, and I (kind of weirdly, I think) don't mind that I don't have the big readership. I still feel like part of the team.

Yay internet! Love you all!