This morning I read a super fun blog post called, “Questions About Reading” and I asked the author if I could steal her questions to my own post, and she said yes! I hope this inspires some conversation from you about books, too!
What’s your favorite book from childhood?
I wish I could pick just one, but there are a few that just really stick out to me! I was so lucky because my parents got me enrolled in a book of the month club for kids so I got books delivered to me at home all the time! One of those books was Frog and Toad Together and I remember loving that book! I also remember reading a book called The Bad Times of Irma Baumlein — it was this book that taught me the word, “cerulean” so when Miranda Priestly used it in the movie The Devil Wears Prada, I already knew exactly what shade of blue she was talking about! I also devoured numerous Nancy Drew books as a kid, but probably my most read and favorite books were the Little House series. I think I read those books over and over again. Oh, and let me give a quick shout-out to Encyclopedia Brown because I loved trying to solve the mysteries! And I also had this great tongue twister book called A Twister of Twists, a Tangler of Tongues and I practiced those tongue twisters over and over. That’s why I can recite, “The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick” and the entire, “Betty Botter bought some butter” tongue twister!
If you could change one book and save one character’s life, which book would you change and what character would you save?
This one gave me pause, and I asked my husband who he would pick, and he said he would have to give it some thought! My immediate reaction was Dobby from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I see no reason for Dobby dying. He was a good house elf who got his freedom and deserved to live a long and happy elf life! But maybe I would prefer to save Old Dan and Little Ann from Where the Red Fern Grows. I would prefer for those dogs to just die of old age like all dogs deserve. If I have to choose people, well, maybe I’ll choose Romeo and Juliet. I would have liked to see if their marriage lasted and if their families could reconcile on their own without the shared tragedy of their children’s suicides being the catalyst.
Did you ever have to call in sick because you couldn’t put a book down? What book?
No, I have never called in sick for a book, even though I have been tempted! I usually just drag the book with me and steal moments of reading when I can. There’s no way I could name any particular book for this because it happens so often. I must have really good taste in books because nearly every one I’ve ever read has really sucked me in!
Would you rather read a book that is really well written but has a terrible story, or the other way around?
I will always take a book with a great story that is terribly written. Because honestly, I am not even sure what “terribly written” means. For example, people often point to the Twilight series and the Fifty Shades series as being “terribly written” and I can’t figure out what is actually so terrible. I really enjoyed both of those series because I got wrapped up in the characters and their lives. I enjoy books that allow me to get to know and understand the characters and develop feelings for them — positive or negative — and suck me into their loves and experiences. To me, a book where the characters are flat and I am not emotionally rapped up in them or a a book with a plodding plot makes the book “terribly written” so I can’t really choose one aspect over the other.
Do you read more at night or during the day?
I try to do my reading during the day or evening because if I read too late at night or in bed, I fall asleep! Even if a book is really compelling, there’s something about being in bed all cozy that makes me sleepy!
Did you ever visit a city or place just because you read about it in a book you loved?
Nope, not yet, but there are a couple places I want to visit based on books! One is — yes, call me pathetic if you want — Forks, Washington. Actually, I have always wanted to visit Seattle, so when I go there, I’ll take a day trip to Forks! (I don’t care that I am a 57 year old woman who loves Twilight. #TeamEdward) The other place I would like to visit is Nepal, specifically Mt. Everest. After reading the book Into Thin Air, I thought 2 things: 1 — you must not be someone who thinks straight if you ever want to climb Mt. Everest! and 2 — I would LOVE to climb Mt. Everest! I know I can never in reality do that, but I sure would like to see it with my own eyes!
Can you name a book that kept you up at night?
Yep, and I am not going to talk much about it because it had such an impact on me when I read it as a teenager that it still impacts me now. The Exorcist. I don’t know what possessed (no pun intended) me to read that book, but I did, and I couldn’t get it out of my head at night for a really long time. To this day, like 40+ years later, sometimes it creeps into my head if I wake up at night.
Have you ever met a writer in real life?
Yes, I met 3 that I can think of off the top of my head! I’ll go in reverse order! A few years ago, my dearest friend Cathy, who lives in Key West, took me to a bookstore on the island, and I picked up a couple books there, one of which just so happened to be Summer Sisters by Judy Blume. Lo and behold, it turns out I was at the bookstore Judy Blume owned in Key West and she was there and I met her and she autographed my book! I was star struck and tongue tied. I tried to tell her how much her books meant to me as a young and teen girl, but I was just so babbly, and I have to wonder if she ever gets tired of hearing that because I’m sure she has heard it so often! The next author I met was Larry Heinemann who wrote the novel Paco’s Story, a Vietnam novel I read in a Vietnam in film and literature college class. It was a really powerful book, but there was a rape scene in that book that was really horrific and graphic and disturbing. It tainted my whole reading of the book and the author, so when I had the chance to go to an event where Heinemann was speaking, and I got to hear him talk about the book and meet him in person, it gave me some peace with that scene because I had some context. It was very powerful. And then I also had the great honor of meeting Gwendolyn Brooks on an Amtrak train once right when I was out of college. She was travelling with her daughter, and I recognized her immediately. She and her daughter were so gracious and friendly. I was lucky enough to meet her one more time a few years after that when I was pregnant, and Gwendolyn Brooks laid her hands on my big ol’ pregnant belly and I felt so much good energy! I wonder if that’s part of why my daughter is such a good, kind person, because Gwendolyn Brooks passed that on to her while she was still baking!
Would you rather be allowed to only read new books, or to never be allowed to read anything else than what you’ve read before?
Oh man, that’s a tough one! I am going to say only new books because I have read so many books already and they all live rent free in my head, so as long as I can keep the memories of the books I have already read, I’ll happily take on new ones!
Did a book ever make you cry with laughter?
Hmmm, let me think. Honestly, I don’t think so. To be fair, I don’t read a lot of funny books. I tend to go for books that are emotionally compelling, tragic, impossible love stories, dystopian. The only book I can think of that may come close to making me cry with laughter is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. I know there are LOTS of people who would call the book sacrilegious, and I’m not going to deny that it probably is! But is sacrilege always a bad thing? I say no, and that’s because sometimes it can make you think of things in a very different way. While there were numerous funny parts of that novel that made me literally laugh out loud, and parts were certainly meant to be funny, that book also caused my to think about Jesus’s death in a whole other way because of the perspective it was told from, and it became something a little more relatable to me. My relationship with God grew because of that book in ways that years of religious education and 4 years at a Catholic high school never could. So don’t discount sacrilege. (Sorry, I got a little off topic there!)
Okay, I would LOVE to know your answers to these questions! Add them in the comments (or if you’re seeing this on my social media, respond there) or write your own blog post! If you do that, please be sure to give credit to Debs Despatches since it was her post that was the original inspiration!
The View from the Cheap Seats 