15 Things About Books

I have been tagged by Lisa, and this means that I have to reveal to the blog world 15 facts or personal preferences about books. This should be interesting, particularly if compared to Lisa's.

1. "Some books are meant to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" - Frances Bacon

2. I enjoy both the fast paced not-so-brilliantly-written (such as "The DaVinci Code") and the sometimes harder-to-get-through (such as "Midnight's Children").

3. I've never read a romance novel. (But recently read a book about a romance novel writer, Margaret Atwood's "Lady Oracle", which was very good.)

4. Some people would say I have a lot of books, other (like Lisa) would say I don't have very many. I occasionally go through purgings of my book collection, getting rid of ones that I didn't really like or don't think I'll read again.

5. Last year I got rid of my Babysitters Club collection and there wasn't a used bookstore that would take them. The kids of today aren't buying them, apparently. How sad.

6. I can't part with my Ramona books, "Samantha's Secret Room", "My Side of the Mountain", or my Lucy Maude Montgomery stash (I think I have every book she ever wrote, including a book of her poetry).

7. I love the Harry Potter books because I can lose myself in them and feel like I want to be part of that world. I simply don't understand people who don't love them.

8. I respect my books, don't crack the spine or fold over pages as a bookmark and get annoyed when others do that to my books that they borrow. But not as annoyed as I used to get.

9. I was a serious bookworm when I was a kid. It was common for my parents to knock on my door when they were going to bed saying "Is your light still on Courtney? You can't read all night you know. You'd better put that book down and get to sleep".

10. I rarely re-read books.

11. I will re-read Salmon Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" sometime.

12. I don't own any books with the "Oprah's Book Club" seal, but I have read a few that others have owned. My Mom thinks that the books Oprah chooses are always depressing and about people who have screwed up lives. I'd have to agree to some extent.

13. I have read the entire Bible, some parts several times.

14. When I was about ten I submitted the manuscript of a short story "Lost in the Outback" to Kids Can Press and got a very nice reply stating that they publish books for children, not by children, but that I should keep writing.

15. I love the smell of musty old books.