electric mist

tagged (15 things about books)

Pooks tagged me for a book meme, where the point is to write fifteen things about books. I like this topic. (Imagine that.)

So...

1) My love of reading started very early. I'm not sure if it was because my mom and dad were voracious readers and I always saw them reading, or if it was because I just loved being in a different world than the one I lived in and would have gravitated to books or a sanitarium at some point, anyway. My aunt brought boxes and boxes of books to our house whenever she was finished with them and I'd squirrel off a box or two in my bedroom and be in heaven. I loved going to the library when we were kids and if my memory's correct, I'd check out the maximum I was allowed every time. I love libraries, but suck at returning things on time, so end up buying instead now.

2) I'd stay up and read all night when I was in junior high / high school. My dad routinely had to get up at 2:30 in the morning to go to work. I'd hear his alarm, turn off my light, wait for him to get dressed and leave (because I wasn't supposed to be up so late reading since I had to get up at 6:30 in the morning for school). I'd listen for him to leave, waiting until I heard the whine of the truck engine make the corner and pass out of range (in case he looked back in his rearview mirror, he might be able to see the glow from my room) and then I'd read at least another couple of hours until 4:30. I'm sure most of my high school thought of me as tense, or not terribly friendly and the truth was, I was incredibly sleep deprived. But I still read all night through whenever something grabs me, no matter what I have to do the next day.

3) I think a bookstore is my idea of heaven. I love the thrill of walking in there and seeing so many stories from which to choose. I love the smell of new books, the virgin feel of a text which hasn't been opened yet.

4) It never really occurred to me to just read one genre; I read pretty much everything (except horror). Overdosed on southern fiction and literary fiction for a while there in college, but do love it, still, alongside thrillers and capers and mysteries and... er. I may have a problem.

5) I ended up with a creative writing degree and pursued an MFA. I stopped 6 hours short of the MFA in screenwriting due to the fact that I'd signed with an L.A. agent and had to get another script done (and didn't have time for the two French classes I'd have had to take to graduate.) Seemed a moot point at that time.

6) When given a choice between books and jewelry for Christmas or my birthday, jewelry never even got a consideration. In fact, lots of things completely lost out if I had to choose between them and books.

7) My favorite birthday / vacation idea is a week of no obligations, non-stop read-a-thon.

8) I have a lot of books on my TBR pile, perfect for the rare events like #7.

9) There are too many times I'll end up tossing a book after just a few chapters. I'll give one a chance for that long, but if at that point, I'm not hooked, it just ain't gonna happen. I have too many more on the pile to be read and like Nancy said, life's too short when there really are so many great books out there.

10) I have read many classics (partly as a result of the English degree and the MFA), but constantly hear about so many more I feel like I "ought" to read.

11) Even so, if I have the time to read and there's a current page-turner sitting there vs. an age-old classic that's supposed to be "good" for me to read, I'll hit the page turner every time. I want to be entertained, to escape, to live vicariously.

12) There are a few books I pull out and re-read every year. They're not important books, and they may not have even been a best-seller, but they meant a lot to me at a particular time in my life and re-reading them not only reminds me of where I was, but how far I've come from that point. I think books saved my life, many times over, because I could read about something and start to understand a bit of the world that seemed chaotic to me, or I could find someone who was going through something similar and not feel like I was alone, a complete freak. (Notice that I am not hoping that I'm not a complete freak. I just like knowing I'm not the only one.)

13) One of my prized possessions is a first edition Robert Penn Warren's World Enough and Time.

14) I didn't read many normal children's classics until I had kids of my own. I read whatever my mom and dad had around (everything from Agatha Christie to Louis L'Amour to whatever the latest bestseller was).

15) Logic flaws will drive me to throw a book at the wall. Especially when there's a clear way to have solved it, if the writer had thought outside the box a bit. It's probably my biggest pet peeve, and a big flaw will make me not want to read that writer again.

Well, hmmm. Fifteen doesn't feel like enough, but I'll stop there and tag Diane, Tamar, and Gwenda.

Posted by toni at December 2, 2005 04:57 PM