Monday, December 19, 2005

15 Things About Me & Books

1) The first time I had sex was in a bookstore

2) The first best friend I ever had was a kindergardener who sat in front of our first grade class and read us a fourth-grade level book. He read all the time during class, and our friendship was based on the books we recommended to one another.

3) The sexiest present I ever heard of anyone getting was Kelly Link: on her thirtieth birthday, Gavin Grant gave her thirty books, each individually wrapped.

4) For the last two years, I have lived with a woman who has a book fetish. She counts our books and encourages my book-buying frenzies.

5) Buying books makes me feel good.

6) I enjoy reading books as foreplay

7) The book by my bed that I'm constantly re-reading is Michael Cunningham's _The Hours_. The book I've read the second-most is Cunningham's _Flesh And Blood_.

8) The first fantasy saga I ever read was not the Lord of the Rings (which I've never read). It was the first three Dragonlance books. At the time, I thought it was the coolest thing I ever read.

9) I own almost all of the Howard Conan novels. And I enjoy them. I find them deeply funny.

10) I considered trading, giving, borrowing, and recommending books to other people a bonding exercise. That is, if I really like you, I will buy you books.

11) I have never read _The Left Hand of Darkness_. But I feel really bad about it.

12) I would rather write like Joanna Russ than Ursula LeGuin. Unfortunately, this may mean I will die poor. On the other hand, if I can figure out plot, the world may be ready for bloody brutal women fiction now. You never know.

13) I would like to own at least 5,000 books.

14) I own 30 years worth of National Geographic magazines. I consider it Travel Porn.

15) I would like to buy a bouse so I can stop culling my books every damn time I move.

6 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Anonymous said...

If you write books with bloody brutal women, I know at least some of us are ready for them! 

Posted by Wendryn

Anonymous said...

You know you are a book whore if you buy a house with an eye towards how much wall space there is for bookshelves. Note: I've never counted my books because then I might think I should get rid of some. Blasphemy! 

Posted by Diane

Perpetual Beginner said...

Just because you have a house doesn't mean you get to stop culling books - sigh. I have no idea how many books we have. I'm afraid to know. I do know that the last time we moved we had 147 book boxes, and most of them were actually filled with books.

You're making me want to read Kushiel's Dart, which I've been eyeing for some time, but not actually read yet. I almost bought it today, but it got edged out by the more dutiful purchase of "Cod" as a Christmas gift for my husband. Though I'm looking forward to reading "Cod" myself, so it wasn't that dutiful.

I'm more than ready for some fiction with bloody, brutal, kick-ass women. 

Posted by Tapetum

BadTux said...

There's these things called "mini-warehouses" or "self-serve storage warehouses" that are a godsend for book lovers. Last time I counted, I had about 60 boxes of books in storage, and that's not counting the three book-cases full of books in my apartment, or the piles of books on my nightstands (I discovered that if you lean the piles of books against the wall, you can pile them about 4 feet high!).

And yeah, I like books with kick-ass women. Alas, few do it right. And for the record, I read most of Ursula LeGuin's "classics" and find them largely unreadable, so don't feel bad about not reading them. You haven't missed much. They read like anthropology textbooks. Bleh.

- Badtux the Book-reading Penguin


Posted by BadTux

Kameron Hurley said...

Yes, I realize I could put books in storage, but IT'S NOT THE SAME. I MUST HAVE THEM WITH ME.

Books make me happy....

And Tapetum, wow, yea, you've gotta read the Kushiel books. They fucking rock. She's a different sort of brutal woman, the sneaky courtesan sort, but she's smart and tough as a whip. Some of the S&M stuff is cringe worthy (once you start drawing blood during what's supposed to be "good" sex, I get squeamish), but it's definately worth it. Great bunch of books. As with most trilogies, the first one's the best.  

Posted by Kameron Hurley

Liz said...

It's amazing how the 5000 mark leaves me still unsatisfied.

I would SO love to cruise your bookshelves someday! 

Posted by badgerbag

p.s. this is the most complicated comment-leaving ever,... 3 steps!