The Book and I
1. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is the best book ever written. Bar none. Nothing else has ever come close and it's hard to imagine that anything ever will. The writing is the perfect combination of lush but never purple, tight but never harsh, and powerful but never condescending.
2. I have nearly $200 in trade-in credit at my local UBS. When I'm on a reading streak, I go through nearly a dozen novels in a week.
3. I read SHO-GUN in 7th grade because it was the biggest book in the school library. I didn't get it. I read BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY because it was the second biggest. I totally got it. I'd always loved mythology and that cemented it.
4. I'm a series slut. In that same school library I read every Jim Kjellgard BIG RED book. I then progressed to all the Walter Farley BLACK STALLION books. I still feel the need to read every book in a series, even the stinkers.
5. My very favorite book of childhood was a beautiful copy of EAST OF THE SUN, WEST OF THE MOON, a collection of Norse fairy tales. I loaned it out to someone and never saw it again. I still miss that book.
6. My favorite fairy tale is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and I collect different versions of it. Robin McKinley's BEAUTY: A RETELLING OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is my favorite, followed closely by her ROSE DAUGHTER version.
7. I also have a small collection of truly artistic pop-up books.
8. I don't remember learning to read. My mom has never been able to keep up with my reading and so was never able to censor it.
9. My dad was a reader -- he loved Westerns and owned all the Louis L'Amour books. I own his collection now and still reread the occasional favorite like RIDE THE RIVER.
10. I don't remember my first romance novel. It might have been Nora Roberts' IRISH THOROUGHBRED (a keeper) in college. In keeping with that OCD series thing, I later bought nearly every re-issue H/S made of her books in the mid 90s. My interest in writing romance was probably sparked when I interviewed Christina Dodd for a piece in the Boise State University alumni magazine.
11. I've always loved short stories and novellas. I think they're an art form that is in decline in genre writing. Given a choice between reading a ST and an anthology, I'll almost always pick the anthology. Possibly, however, the reason anthologies are fading in popularity, is that so few people know how to write good novellas anymore.
12. I think being an actor has made me a better writer. Shakespeare's plays had a huge influence on me as both an actor and a writer. Edmond de Rostand, too.
13. If a book is on Oprah's list, there's almost no chance that I'll ever read it. I think the woman has some major psychological issues and it shows in her unbelievably depressing choice of reading. Won't suprise me in the least to see THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO show up on that list someday. That's the most depressing book I've ever read. It even beat Camus' THE STRANGER, which was truly awful.
14. I have a hard time reading in the sub-genre in which I'm writing. For instance, if I'm writing a Regency, I can't read them. If I'm writing comedy, I can't always read one. Jenny Crusie, gut-buster that she is, makes me feel hijously inadequate. Oddly enough, this doesn't apply to paranormal because so much of it comes down to world-building and my worlds are never the same as another author's.
15. The last book I read was Jude Deveraux's FOREVER. It was good, but not great.
12 Comments:
geez, I've been meaning to do this meme for ages, now. Good stuff. It's interesting to read what people chose to list.
By 
vanessa jaye, at
2:51 AM
Hey, another one that got into mythologies early.
And first book I ever bought was "Fifty Famous Fairy Tales."
I've tagged both of you now. I may tag another before the day is out.
By Sela Carsen, at
8:00 AM
You'll have to email me the questions, ya sneak.
Ditto on the questions. Hard to answer when I don't know what they are. I mean I'm good but even I have limits.
By Kristen Painter, at
11:15 AM
2. I have nearly $200 in trade-in credit at my local UBS. When I'm on a reading streak, I go through nearly a dozen novels in a week.
I thought I was out of control with $125. :)
I am so freaked with the labor thing I can't concentrate...
wait-what was that thought???
AT ALL!!! Can't read, can't write, can't cook. I can stare at a wall OK.
Bitch doesn't quite accurately describe my personality at this time. Flaming *unt... maybe. :P
I have a well worn Bullfinches too.
There aren't any questions. Just write anything at all about you and books. We're fiction writers, ladies! Just make stuff up! ;)
By Sela Carsen, at
1:54 PM
LOL Briana was busy, she tagged me too.
I had loving series books on my list - but I totally forgot about Big Red, Irish Red, and Outlaw Red. I loved those books!
I loved fairy tales as a child! I read so many of them, by different nations. And I agree about anthologies. I used to like anthologies more than ST, but strangely, I haven't read a good anthology in a while.
By 
, at
8:43 PM
I can't trade in books. I keep 'em no matter how bad they are. That's why there's going to be 2 rooms for books in my new house. *lol*
My DH loves Louis L'Amour too. :)
Silma, I'm like you, I can't bring myself to trade my books.
By , at
11:52 PM
That's because you both have a sickness. We'd be sitting on furniture made of books if I didn't trade them in regularly.
By Sela Carsen, at
6:33 AM