A to Z

I’ve seen this book A to Z post making the rounds.  What fun!  Also, some of my favorite book finds…

Gregory Colbert – Boy Reading to Elephant -Ashes to Snow Nomadic Gallery

Author you’ve read the most books from: Read, read, like with my eyes, would have to be Marian Keyes (Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Sushi for Beginners) and Mario Puzo (The Godfather and The Last Don).  I’ve read all of both authors’ books with those in parenthesis as favorites.  However, over the last couple of years I have “read” all of Michael Connolly’s 29 books and 15 of Robert Crais’ books on audiobook while walking the dog.

Best Sequel Ever: I think the only 2nd book of a series I’ve liked more than the first one was The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.  It was actually a trilogy, but that book was so exciting.

Currently Reading:  The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.  It was given to me as a gift last month, and I’m hoping to get through it before starting my next book club book.

Drink of Choice While Reading: It is a treat if I can drink a latte while reading, but the reality is that mostly I just read at night so coffee is OUT of the question.

E-Reader or Book, book?: I prefer reading a real book, but I have to admit it’s really nice always having a book accessible on my iPad or iPhone.  They are very convenient.  Oddly enough though, I usually find real books less expensive (library or used) so it irks me to pay $10+ for an electronic book.
Fictional Character You Would Have Dated in High School: Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye

Glad You Gave This Book a Chance: There are a ton of books I only read because they were chosen by my book club.  I NEVER would have picked up Life of Pi or The Thirteenth Tale and I enjoyed both very much.

The best bookstore (Boston, MA), ever!

Hidden Gem Book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Maryann Shaffer

Important Moment in Your Reading Life: Both my parents are/were avid readers so I grew up reading all the time.  However, joining my book club has pushed me to read outside my preferred genres, and that has been a good thing.

Just Finished: The Black Box by Michael Connolly (audiobook) and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple(written).

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: I don’t like SciFi, horror, or anything too froo froo.

I have this up in my classroom.

Longest Book You’ve Read:  The Covenant (+/- 1200) by James Michener and The Gulag Archipelago Volumes 1-3 (+/- 600 per book) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, both in a high school humanities class.  I remember they were painful.  However, I did reread The Covenant before/after going to South Africa a couple of years ago and did better with it.

Major Book Hangover because of: I’ve had a few for various reasons.  The Book Thief moved me to the core, The End of Your Life Book Club moved me to tears, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy was SO freaking exciting everything else I read for about a year afterwards couldn’t hold a candle to it. 

Number of Bookcases You Own: I have this entertainment built-in in my family room and all of the shelves (minus the TV space) have books on them.  Other than a few that I have read and won’t get rid of, the rest are books I wish to read.  I also have a couple of shelves with art books in the office.  I used to have a few of those fake wood/Ikea type book cases that were full of books that I had read.  During one of my purge periods I cleaned them out and gave the books and shelves to friends or Goodwill.  My classroom is where the book habit is completely out of control.   There is a three-shelf bookshelf along one entire wall full of books, plus I have four cupboards that house them as well.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times:  I don’t read books more than once, with the exception of the books I use for teaching.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret has been the most fun to read multiple times.  I did reread The Great Gatsby after the most recent movie came out.

Preferred Place to Read: I like reading at a coffee shop or in my living room on the couch.  However, there isn’t a lot of time for reading in either place so most of the reading is done in bed right before going to sleep. 

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read:  I mark up books like crazy when I read underlining or highlighting interesting word choice, phrasing, and inspiring or thought-provoking quotes.  To pick just one is nearly impossible.  I do like this one an awful lot…
”Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.  And one that really resonated with me is “And that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say.  They think everyone else does too.” – The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Reading Regret:  Technology and work have eaten up a lot of my reading time.  I’m lucky to get through a book a month these days when I used to get through them in a few days. 

Series You Started and Need to Finish – I just downloaded the David Baldacchi’s Camel Club and King & Maxwell series to listen to when I walk the dog.  I’ll finish those before moving on to anything new, audio book wise.  Otherwise I don’t tend to read many series.  Oh, wait, I did start the Confessions of a Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.  I think there are a couple more that I haven’t yet read.  I may or may not get to them though.

Three of Your All-Time Favorite Books:  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (yes, there are three but I’m counting as one), The Book Thief, Shadow of the Wind…the list goes on and on.  There’s no way to pick just three.

Unapologetic For: Mainstream detective novels like Connolly and Crais and Chick-Lit like Keyes and Kinsella.

 
Very Excited For This Release: I just saw that Michael Connolly has a new Mickey Haller book coming out in December.  I look forward to that.  At the movies the other day I saw a preview for the movie The Book Thief.  Loved, loved, loved that book.  Although book movies are usually disappointing this one looks good.  It comes out in November…I can’t wait!

Worst Bookish Habit:  I’ve never been terribly careful with my books as I like to mark them up, dog-ear pages, etc.  They are well-loved.  I also fall asleep shortly after beginning to read, one of the main reasons it takes me so long to get through them.  However, my worst habit has been committed more recently and that’s not finishing books before starting a new one.  I used to be completely faithful to the book I was reading, powering through even if it wasn’t a favorite.  Now, I don’t really think twice before putting a book down and starting a new one.  There are currently five in that predicament sitting on the nightstand hoping to be picked up and continued.  The problem is that it’s been so long since I started them I’ll have to reread most likely.

  
X Marks the Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.  A wonderful book that I’ve recommended to many…most who didn’t end up liking it. Oh well, I did!

Your Latest Book Purchase: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.  It was a book mentioned in The End of Your Life Book Club.

ZZZ Snatcher Book (the last book that kept you up WAY too late): As I’ve mentioned reading books in bed make me fall asleep, but The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo books kept me on my toes.

Now, with all my complaining about not having time to read, I probably could have read something new in the amount of time it took me to write this.  Ha ha!  What are you reading?