The Bookworm Tag Challenge

I’ve been tagged by Bookmarkedone to participate in the Bookworm Tag challenge.

• How is your bookshelf organized? By color, author, genre, size, etc.?

Wow. Okay, confession time: my bookshelf is ANYTHING but organized. Once upon a time, I tried to organize by topic and genre, but more books kept coming, I ran out of space, and now there are books EVERYWHERE. My room is basically just a vortex of paper: books and notebooks scattered across the landscape. But if I organized, it would be by genre for fiction and topic for non-fiction.

• What’s the last MG book you read and did you like it?

It’s been a while since I’ve read any middle grade. I think the last one was probably A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Oh, BOY was that an amazing book. So emotional. Tears were shed.

• Pirates or street thieves (or both)?

BOTH! I mean, come on, they both are awesome to read about. There’s danger in the streets, that’s for certain, and on the sea? Well, there’s a lot there too. The environment sort of becomes a character of its own, doesn’t it?

• What’s one of the most fictional things you’ve ever done (went skydiving, played a character at a Renaissance faire, set fire to something, tamed a dragon, had high tea with the queen)?

One of the most fictional things I’ve done was straight out of a YA novel. I was seventeen and in a writing group at my local public library. One of the guys started passing me notes. One said, “Who are you and why are you so beautiful?” (LOL!) Yeah, I passed that one back and said, “You know my name.” Then, the second and final note: “Will you go to prom with me?” I folded it up again and passed it back without comment.

I wasn’t trying to be rude, see. I was disappointed because I’d made a bet with my twin sister that I would not get asked on a date before I turned eighteen. I lost, maybe eight months shy of the deadline, and had to buy Rachel ice cream.

• Bookmarks! Do you use them? Do you memorize the page number? Do you have ticket stubs and old receipts you use instead? Or do you swallow a book whole in one sitting so nothing’s left to mark?

I try to use bookmarks, but they always manage to lose themselves (remember that chaotic vortex of books and papers? Yeah, they’re in there somewhere.) So it’s ticket stubs, clean tissues, receipts, and so forth. The weirdest thing I’ve used for a bookmark was an empty toilet paper roll (I know, I know: weird.)

• The Mysterious Thrift Shop: What’s the weirdest/creepiest place you bought a book, and what was it? The better the find and the weirder the shop, the better.

Hmm. I can’t say I’ve bought a book at a weird place. The one that approaches strange is a Ben Franklin in Oberlin. But it’s half bookstore, half catch-all. The first book I got from them was Girl With a Pearl Earring.

• What fictional world would you want to vacation in?

Hands down, Tolkien’s Middle-earth. More specifically the Shire…if the hobbits will have me. Yes, I would have to travel back in time some, and find accommodations where I won’t hit my head on the ceiling.

• Do your librarians know you by name?

You’d better believe it! Because my mom works there, I know almost everyone on staff, so it’s not that impressive.

• Hardcover, paperback, eBook, or audiobook, and why?

I love the feel of a paperback in my hands, but e-books are more convenient for me these days, as I read in bed. An e-reader is less awkward when I’m reading on my side. But if I’m reading on my stomach, I can read a paperback. I am not a hardcover fan, but won’t turn my nose up too high at them.

• What’s one of the first books you ever read/the book that made you fall in love with reading (and the story behind it)?

The Wolfing by Sterling North was the first novel I bought and read by myself. I got it for 25 cents at my library, and I was so proud of myself for picking it out and reading it. That started me down the path, but the Hank the Cowdog books by John Erickson are what cemented my love of books. The Hobbit by Tolkien hooked me on fantasy, though, and made me want to be a fantasy author.

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Thanks for reading!

Keep your nose in a book,
Beth