Books! More books! Friday Five

This is my kind of Friday Five! I love books -- I read all the time. I have my own books, of course, but I also have library cards to three library systems (public, seminary, the university nearby). I'm the only person I know who maxed out her library card at 14 (75 books -- I mean, really Geauga County, do you think that's enough for me?) The librarians swore I single handedly raised their circulation levels when I was in town.

I take my books seriously :)

1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance????

Mysteries, histoical fiction, epics, romance, scifi/fantasy, children's lit, nonfiction, poetry, classics -- I pretty much read everything. Very eclectic!

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly?

Ah, well, I really have no patience.. I can't stop, once I start reading a book (unless I've read it before, and some times not even then!).. this is dangerous. Ever since I was little, if I started a book at bedtime or before I needed to do something or be somewhere, I couldn't put it down. I can't tell you how many times I would be up till 3am or reading surrepticiously in my lap during class. Yeah, I got in trouble a lot for reading.

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why?

I reread books all the time, so I'll stick to the most unusual returning pattern. I've read the James Herriot books (all five, 300+ pages each) at least twice a year since I was in fourth grade. Sometimes more often than that. I'm very fond of them -- it's like meeting an old friend.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most?

That's a tough one.. I don't know if I could say which has influenced me the most. One of my favorites, though, is Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got that Way. It's funny and interesting. Most importantly, it's funny -- I reread this one too.

5. Describe a perfect place to read.

I like to be comfy when I read -- couch, bed, squishy big chairs. The perfect place is anywhere horizontal with a cushion, pretty much.