Questions For Book Bloggers (Assuming Anyone Cares About My Answers)

I caught this over at Hidden Side of a Leaf, and figured what the hell. After all, I do love talking about myself, and right now I really need a break from trying to edit my own novel into a workable third draft.

(Editing, for those unaware, is where an author gets to forget all that fun “creating something from nothing” crap and delve fully into minutiae. It’s like writing without all the magic, hoorah!)

So here are a few self-indulgent answers for those who might conceivably find them interesting.

What are you reading right now? Collapse by Jared Diamond, Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, and Second Stage Lensman by E. E. “Doc” Smith. Off the top of my head I’m not sure I can conceive of two books more different than the first and the last in that list.

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that? Definitely, definitely, definitely The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont. I really should have read that long, long ago. Also Children of the Lens by E. E. “Doc” Smith to finish up the Lensman series. Ooh, and Captain From Castile by Samuel Shellabarger, which would supersede everything and be next on my list if I wasn’t forced to wait for its arrival.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now? Never keep reading material there… I am always in and out like a flash!

What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read? Not sure, I blocked out most of the shitty books I had to read in high school. I criticized a few of them directly in my class essays though… I bet teachers loved that.

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone? Captain Blood! Captain Blood! Captain Blood! Captain Blood!

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they? Afraid not. I’m a born collector, and have to own most of the books that I want to read. I use the library alot, (yeah, that’s right, Brittany, I’m writing “alot” as one word! just you try and stop me!) but mostly for my own writing, or for research, so I don’t really check out books.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all? Ivanhoe. I fucking love that book. Before I read it, everyone told me not to. Even my own mother, who went to grad school for medieval studies told me I’d be bored to tears. Most people assume it’ll be uninteresting, daunting, antiquated, etc. But I really just had alot of fun with it. Yes, the title character and his lady love are boring, but they’re also hardly in the damn thing.

Do you read books while you eat? While you bathe? While you watch movies or TV? While you listen to music? While you’re on the computer? While you’re having sex? While you’re driving? No because they’d get stained. No because they’d get soaked. No because I am also a movie purist, but I will read while other people watch TV. No because most of my music is intensely lyrical, and so either music or book will distract from the other. No, because my eyes can only read one thing at a time. My girlfriend would smack me. I don’t drive, but if I did the answer would be no… because, ya know, I’d wanna keep living.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits? No, but, truth be told, I didn’t read a whole lot as a kid.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down? The Women’s War by Alexandre Dumas. Maaaan, Dumas does that to me every time. (And it sucks ’cause his books are so long that it basically means I won’t sleep for months.)