Thank you to Rebekah at Sweet Tea with Lemon for this one!

1. Do you remember how you developed a love of reading?
My mom and grandmother are both big readers and library users, so I remember making trips there with them, laundry baskets in tow to fill with books. As I became a more independent reader, my mom would make up "summer reading lists" for me ("Here, read this...") of classics like The Good Earth.

Credit also must go to dear Mrs. Thomas, my third grade teacher. She would read aloud to us daily to calm down our restless and sweaty class after lunch. Her beautiful and clear voice introduced me to Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madeline L'Engle, Judy Blume, and many others.

2. What are some books you loved as a child?
The entire Little House series (I wore the covers off of them), Harriet the Spy, Anne of Green Gables, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

3. What is your favorite genre?
Don't really have one. I'm voracious enough not to have to be picky about my choices. I simply read a lot. With one notable exception, I don't really like fantasy or sci-fi. I love novels that increase my knowledge of other cultures and time periods. Right now, I seem to be on a historical fiction and classics bent.

4. Do you have a favorite novel?
Too many to choose from!! For the sake of brevity, I'll share my "notable" exception to my general dislike of sci-fi/fantasy lit and say that I was blown away by The Time Traveler's Wife. I also love this book because it was a book both dh and I enjoyed equally (very rare in fiction for us)! I'm not crazy about graphic novel's either, but have been known to read them on recommendation--Maus made me cry, and the Newberry-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret was well, a winner for all ages.

5. Where do you usually read?
Any and everywhere. My bed, the couch, the bathtub (I'm guilty of watermarking more than one book!), in waiting rooms (Moffitt Cancer Center has a lovely take-a-book/leave a book program), on the soccer field (they don't play every moment, lol!), while waiting to pick my kids from activities, on the bathroom floor as the little guy plays in the tub (bliss on a cranky toddler/preschool afternoon!), poolside as my kids splash and play, just to name a few.

6. When do you usually read?
Mostly during afternoon rest times and in the evenings (in the tub and in bed), but I grab time to read whenever I can.

7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
If I'm reading a non-fiction book, yes. If I'm in fiction mode, no. Again, I'm a crazy fast reader (and blessed to comprehend pretty quickly, too), so I kind of do fiction the way some people eat potato chips.

8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
Nonfiction takes more concentration than brain candy, so I force myself to slow my usual pace. I try to read non-fiction only a chapter at a time so that I can digest the information given to me. I also tend to highlight/make notes in nonfiction. The only time I've ever taken fiction notes was when I had a paper to write or when I had the awesome privilege of helping to review a draft of Amy Wallace's second novel, Healing Promises.

9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
While I indulge in a few paperbacks in airport bookstores (I've often run out of what brought to read by that time!) it would be wasteful for me to buy novels. We're big library patrons and have been known to have over a hundred books out at a time between our five library cards! Nonfiction I tend to buy our borrow (but I don't highlight borrowed books!).

11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them?
The Little House books, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, the Anne Books, tons and tons of classic children's books (Eric Carle, etc)... TQ has also read Tree Grows in Brooklyn , Pride and Prejudice, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Hiding Place.

Now that my children are getting older, they share books with me, and I'm loving it! TQ and I are both reading Rebecca and My Sweet Antonia this summer and are working our way through the IB summer reading list (I'm skipping the graphic novels...), and I suspended my stance on sci-fi long enough to read through some of her favorites (the Uglies series and Wicked Lovely). Eeyore, Jr. loves the Redwall series, so I've read through a few of those as well. I also made sure that read the Harry Potter novels concurrently so that we could discuss them.

12. What are you reading now?
A Rose for the Crown (historical fiction about the mistress of King Richard III), The Autobiography of George Muller.

13. Do you keep a To Be Read list?
Only in my head. I do try to keep up with summer reading lists (Sunshine State books, the IB summer list, Newberry and Caldacott Award winners, etc.), but dh is much better about that than I by far! I also read the books sections of my newspaper and magazines, and make mental notes during the book features on my beloved NPR news programs.

14. What’s next?
My Antonia, Middlemarch, and whatever swag Amy throws my way from the convention and retreat she's been attending here in Orlando this week!

15. What books would you like to reread?
I regularly reread all of my favorites. Stepping Heavenward is especially good when I need an attitude adjustment! When I struggled with decreased concentration and illness during chemo, I reread the entire Anne series, most of Jane Austin's novels, the Time Traveler's Wife, Amy Tan's novels, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and many, many, other "old friends".

16. Who are your favorite authors?
Again, too many to name. I love Jane Austin's quick wit and social satire. I'm blessed by John Piper's voice of wisdom. While I didn't love Atonement, I think McEwan is a wordsmith who handles the English language with incredible finesse.

I'm tagging...well, it's too darn hot to make anyone do anything here! I do think that Susan, Sally, Laurie, and Amy would enjoy this, but no pressure. Leave me a comment if you decide to play along.