An A to Z Survey

Two weeks ago, The Perpetual Page-Turner created an A to Z survey on all things book-related and encouraged other bloggers to take the survey themselves. When I was a young teen I loved participating in various surveys and questionnaires about anything (although most were related to some fandom or another). I thought it would be fun to participate in this as well! Once again, credit for the creation of this survey and graphic above goes to The Perpetual Page-Turner. Here goes nothing!

Author you've read the most books from:
I was never into super long series at any point, so my best guess here would be Tamora Pierce. I've read all of her Tortall series to date (Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, Daughter of the Lioness, and Beka Cooper); that's 17 books total from her.

Best sequel ever: 

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. This sequel just upped the stakes to such an incredible degree. And each subsequent book in the series since then has continued to do so. 

Currently Reading:
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

Drink of choice while reading:
Nothing, generally. When I'm reading I don't want to be distracted with food, drink, noise, or anything, really. 

E-reader or physical book:
Physical books! I love my Kindle and the ease of ebooks, but it's never going to get read as much as physical books will. I love being able to pick up old books and flipping to certain passages. I like to refer back to earlier chapters or scenes as I'm reading. Neither of these habits translate well to ebooks, and the whole DRM/licensing issues that ebooks currently face make me wary. 

Fictional character you probably actually would have dated in high school:
I suppose the wording of this question means that my answer should refer to a book that takes place in a contemporary setting. That limits my potential options significantly. But hmm, I think I'd have to go with Jessie de Silva from Meg Cabot's The Mediator series. He's attractive, quite the gentleman, and I loved how he always called Suze "querida." I want to be called querida. I had a legit crush on him when I was a teen and the series he's part of is modern-day, if not completely contemporary.

Glad you gave this book a chance:

Dairy Queen, The Off Season, and Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. These books are about the daughter of a dairy farmer in a small town in Wisconsin who plays football and basketball. Sports are not really my thing, nor are contemporaries. But a few trusted reviewers raved about this series and I liked the fact it's set in my current state, so I gave them a try. So very worth it!

Hidden gem book: 

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst. I actually have no idea what sort of reception/awareness it has with readers, but being a standalone fantasy puts it at a distinct disadvantage. Not many bloggers I know of seem to have read this, but I will continue to sing its praises until it gains the recognition it deserves.

Important moment in your reading life:

Discovering the Harry Potter books along with my fourth-grade class. One of my classmates had gone to London and returned with copies of the first two books, which my teacher proceeded to read aloud to us. Not only was I super early to the Harry Potter craze, but the stories really spoke to me. I just loved everything about them, and it was then that I began reading primarily fantasy and was inspired to start writing myself.

Just finished: 
Austenland by Shannon Hale. Now I have a craving for some Jane Austen, but unfortunately I'm away from my collection. I'll have to read one of her books shortly after returning home!

Kinds of books you won't read:

Erotica. Biographies or auto-biographies. Hard science fiction. Most non-fiction. There are certainly exceptions here, but for the most part I tend to know what I'll like in books and what will turn me away. I just don't want to have to spend time reading a book I'm not that interested in from the beginning.

Longest book you've read: 

I've read my fair share of chunksters. This isn't really a surprise as I have already professed my love of lengthy novels. My best guess, according to Goodreads and scanning my shelves would be A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin (1177 pages).

Major book hangover because of:

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. As soon as I finished, I realized that I couldn't just move on to another book--I needed to re-read it and piece everything together myself.

Number of bookcases you own:
Only one! I've never been a huge book-buyer; well, at least not before I started my blog. And I've been fine with leaving my current favorites on my shelves and then moving the rest into easily-accessible boxes in our storage room. Recently, though, I've been looking into buying another bookshelf.

One book you have read multiple times:
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. This is my absolute favorite fairy-tale retelling ever and I find such comfort in returning to Ella's story over and over again. 

Preferred place to read:
My bed. Nine times out of ten, this is where I'll be found while reading.

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:
“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” 
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 

I think basically any Dumbledore quote would work just as well here.
 

Reading regret:

My biggest reading regret is always going to be the knowledge that I cannot possibly read every book I want to, and that some that I would in fact love are going to get passed by.

Series you've started but need to finish (all books are out in the series):

The Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta. In 2012 I read and enjoyed Finnikin of the Rock enough to buy a copy of that, along with copies of Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn. I plan on doing a series binge and reading all three in a row.

Three of your all-time favorite books:

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Graceling & Fire by Kristin Cashore.

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner.

Unapologetic fangirl for:

The Lord of the Rings series. I'm not as big a fangirl as I used to be, but I have read the original trilogy, the its prequel The Hobbit many times, watched the film versions countless times, own dozens of board game and book tie-ins, and have a shrine devoted to Orlando Bloom as Legolas... Okay, the last one was a joke. But there was a time not that long ago where I devoured everything LotR-related that I could, and I still have a heavy appreciation for Tolkien's epic fantasy saga.

Very excited for this release more than all the others: 

Shadowscale by Rachel Hartman. February, come sooner!

Worst bookish habit:

Probably how anal I am about the maintenance of my books. I get upset if I own books from series in different formats, different sizes, different editions, etc. It also upsets me when my book spines get broken, so I end up reading trade paperbacks opened as little as possible. These OCD tendencies many times lead me to spend extra money on books (I'd rather have new and matching) and super judgmental of the conditions of others' books. The only exception here is with library books, whose varying conditions don't bother me. 

X marks the spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: 

The Oxford Book of American Poetry edited by David Lehman. I bought this chunkster for a poetry-based creative writing course. I've read only a small fraction of its contents, but I do love returning to poetry when I'm in the right mood.

Your latest book purchase:
Preordering Rae Carson's The Bitter Kingdom! I'm looking forward to reading the final two Fire and Thorns installments back-to-back. 

Zzzzz-snatcher book. Last book that kept you up way too late:

I don't really end up staying up super late to read books anymore. I have work during the week and on the weekends I still am used to going to bed at a relatively decent time and then waking up on the early side. So I'm guessing the last one was Neal Schuesterman's Unwind. After that one scene, I needed to see how everything resolved. Also, I knew that if I fell asleep after reading that I'd have nightmares.

That was fun. If you've also done this, please link me up to your survey!