Bookish A to Z Survey

I saw this survey on my pen pal Jaclyn’s blog (it was originally created by Jamie), and thought it looked so fun. I love books and I love surveys – put ’em together and it’s perfection.

Author you’ve read the most books from: L.M. Montgomery. Anne Shirley, Emily Byrd Starr, Sara Stanley, Jane Stuart, Pat Gardiner – I love all her heroines. And Madeleine L’Engle – lots of her memoirs, books on writing and faith, and young adult novels.

Best Sequel Ever: Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery – even better than the original. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which breaks the series wide open. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos is a fabulous companion to the original, Love Walked In.

Currently Reading: I’m revisiting Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and his love, Harriet Vane. It’s been nine years since I first read them and I love them even more this time around.

Drink of Choice While Reading: Tea – either black flavored with spices and citrus, plain black tea with milk and sugar, or decaf/herbal (at night).

E-reader or Physical Book? Physical books. Always, always, always.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School: Someone kind and slightly nerdy. Remus Lupin? Atticus Finch? The usual handsome, confident heroes in books would have been too intimidating to shy teenage me.

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance: I was a Harry Potter skeptic for a long time. Once Val convinced me to try them, the books became some of my favorites. And Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand was utterly, unexpectedly spectacular.

Hidden Gem Book: The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice – a sweet, wise and witty story of two friends in 1950s London. No Children, No Pets – a fun summer tale, one of my favorite childhood books. Cynthia Voigt’s books about the Tillerman family (Homecoming, Dicey’s Song, etc.). Anne Fadiman’s brilliant little collection of bookish essays, Ex Libris. And Susan Hill’s wonderful bookish memoir, Howards End is on the Landing.

Important Moment in your Reading Life: I took a World Literature seminar during my senior year of college that exposed me to a dozen books I’d never have read otherwise – most of them powerful and heartbreaking. That class shifted my perspective in all kinds of important ways. And Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water was my “back door” introduction to her work. I later wrote my master’s thesis on her memoirs, and I have learned so much from her.

Just Finished: Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers; The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg; The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey.

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: I’m not really a sci-fi or western fan. Also: no erotica or trashy romance novels.

Longest Book You’ve Read: Les Misérables, which I finally tackled this year (after many years of adoring the musical) and loved.

Major book hangover because of: Hmmm…I don’t know. My shelves and to-read stacks offer enough options that I can get past a book hangover pretty quickly.

Number of Bookcases You Own: Six. Three in the dining room, two in the bedroom, one in the guest bedroom. (Plus one built-in, and piles of books all over the place.)

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times: I’m an inveterate rereader – I reach for the Anne of Green Gables series, the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings, the Mitford series, my Advent book, and other favorites regularly.

Preferred Place To Read: Curled up on the sofa in my living room; in bed; on a park bench with a hot drink. I can’t say I adore reading on the subway, but I do a lot of it during my commute each day.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read: There are many, but I wrote this summer about a phrase from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet: “I really and truly believe in God with all kinds of doubts.”

Reading Regret: So many books I’ve yet to read – but this isn’t a regret, it’s a possibility!

Series You Started And Need To Finish (all books are out in series): Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series; the Chronicles of Narnia.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books: This whole survey is a love letter to my favorites – but I adore L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet, Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

Unapologetic Fangirl For: Harry Potter; Betsy-Tacy; Anne of Green Gables; so many other favorite series.

Very Excited For This Release More Than All The Others: Can’t pick just one. I can’t wait to read Ally Carter’s United We Spy, Elizabeth Wein’s Rose Under Fire, the latest Royal Spyness mystery, the latest Bess Crawford mystery, Kerstin Gier’s Emerald Green, and the new Jhumpa Lahiri novel.

Worst Bookish Habit: Piling up the to-be-read stacks until they teeter; specifically, going crazy at the library when I already have a dozen or more books waiting at home. I have no self-discipline in a library.

X Marks The Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: The Count of Monte Cristo (on the fiction shelf).

Your latest book purchase: Have His Carcase by Dorothy Sayers (can’t get enough of Wimsey & Vane).

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late): I stayed up far too late recently rereading Gaudy Night, Busman’s Honeymoon and Strong Poison (all Wimsey-Vane mysteries).

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