I was tagged by @lady-arryn to answer 20 book questions, thank you! ♥ I’m tagging @joannalannister, @apprenticemockingbird, @alayne-stonecoldfox, @myrandar, @sansaregina, @sansasnark, @emmawintertownes, and anyone else who wants to do this! :)

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest?

Hungry, Hungry Sharks as a picture book that’s sentimental for me. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is one of the earliest books I loved reading as a child that I actually return to as an adult, though.

2. What is your current read, your last read and the book you’ll read next?

I’m reading The Lady in the Tower by Alison Weir right now; I didn’t think you could make the downfall of Anne Boleyn dry…I’ll probably read Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash next since I’m a little behind on my Indiespensable books.

3. Which book does everyone like and you hated?

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Never have I read such a melodramatic, cliche-riddled mess.

4. Which book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

Crime and Punishment or War and Peace. They’re both books I feel like I “should” read, without being interested on my own.

5. Which book are you saving for “retirement?”

I’m not saving any books in particular, although I worry I’ll always have more I want to read than I’ve finished.

6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?

Wait! Peeking defeats the point!

7. Acknowledgements: waste of ink and paper or interesting aside?

I don’t often read them, but they’re not a waste of ink. I think it’s nice that author’s get space to recognize the help and support they received.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Marya Morevna from Deathless, or Agnieszka from Uprooted.

9. Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life (a person, a place, a time)?

Many of them! The two that stand out the most (since they’re both a series) are Harry Potter, which made up most of my adolescence and A Song of Ice & Fire, which I really got into in graduate school.

10. Name a book you acquired in some interesting way.

Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. I wandered into a small independent bookshop when I had a little time to kill in Chicago, and they had a signed copy!

11. Have you ever given away a book for a special reason to a special person?

I don’t often give books as presents, so not that I can think of.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?

I don’t leave books behind when I move, so…all of them? And when I travel I’m taking books I haven’t read yet instead of old favorites.

13. Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad ten years later?

The Great Gatsby. I enjoy it so much more when it isn’t being used as a teaching tool. Also, novels by Albert Camus. We read The Stranger in high school and although I haven’t revisited that particular book, I enjoyed a lot of his other works when I picked them up on my own.

14. What is the strangest item you’ve ever found in a book?

Love letter.

15. Used or brand new?

Both! Just not e-books *shudder*

16. Stephen King: Literary genius or opiate of the masses?

I enjoy some, but not all, of his books. My personal favorites are the “Bachman books” because I think he was at his most honest in those.

17. Have you ever seen a movie you liked better than the book?

Stardust! And The Skin We Live In, which is based on the novella Mygale by Thierry Jonquet.

18. Conversely, which book should NEVER have been introduced to celluloid?

I don’t think they’re unfilmable (the only novel I’ve read approaching that classification is Blood Meridian) but The Giver and Ender’s Game both had horrific adaptations. I hope both get better treatment sometime in the future.

19. Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?

No, although I tend to wind up craving tea if I’m reading for very long.

20. Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?

I don’t seek out book advice often, but I’m always reading up on suggestions by friends and favorite authors that are put out there unsolicited. I’m happy to take them, though, if someone’s read a great book!