Twenty Questions, Shared. Round Two!
Books and the reading thereof have always been an important part of both of our lives, and as we are all staying in, maybe we’ll find a chance for more reading time. Then again — maybe not. We are both still busy inside our homes, and with the loss of commute hours for “free” reading time, have changed a bit of when and where we are reading. M used travel time in the car between home visits to listen to audiobooks. S read on the subway…but even if the location of reading is a little different at the moment, books are still very much a part of both of our lives.
M’s mom (S’s grandmother) was a librarian for decades, so there was always a good source of reading ideas. Grandma is 93 now, always with a stack of books at her side, and still subscribes to Publisher’s Weekly and The Library Journal. She saves and shares books, and there’s always a new title for the Inter-generational Book Club.
In thinking about and talking about our current reads, we realized it was time for another round of Twenty Questions, Shared. This is the game where we each ask answer 10 questions on a given topic, then share the answers.
Twenty Questions, Shared. Round Two. Theme: BOOKS AND READING
Set 1. (Questions asked by daughter S, answered by mom M.)
1. What are you reading now?
M: I’m currently in the middle of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, and also The Body by Bill Bryson. In between these, I’ve also started Funny, You Don’t Look Autistic by Michael McCreary, which is currently my library’s “Big Read.”
2. What is the strangest place or time that you like to squeeze in a few minutes of reading?
M: I started reading while brushing my teeth when you were a baby — because I knew that I’d get 5 minutes to myself twice a day, and reading is precious. You’re grown and living in another city…and I still have my “tooth brushing book.” I also treasure the road trip reads — when we are taking long drives (like a little trip from Ohio to Huntsville, AL for Adult Space Camp) where you spend hours and hours reading to me, complete with character voices. (I’ll never forget the fantastic squeak of “We’re all Hoosiers!” as Kurt Vonnegut made the miles melt…although it’s hard to drive while laughing hysterically…)
3. Hardcover, paperback or electronic? Why?
M: E-books, for several reasons. One is that I have cruddy eyesight, and the backlit book is easier for me to see. Too, you can turn the brightness way down and read in a darkened bedroom and not bother your snoring hubby. I love the fact that I have HUNDREDS of books with me on that trusty Kindle (it’s my third…I’ve read a few to death) and can switch between books as my mood dictates (see question one). The Kindle fits in my purse, so there’s no worry of being stuck anywhere without reading material. (And the thought of having no book gives me the willies!) Even a giant Stephen King novel won’t weigh me down — I also LOVE to read in the tub, and some of those monster hardbacks can put a right dent in your belly… I like the ease of getting electronic library books sent to me instantly, wherever I am, as well as the instant gratification of a purchased or library e-book book just…arriving, ready to go. Cookbooks, however — hardback, please. Or paperback with a lay-flat spine. And don’t forget audiobooks! As a traveling teacher, that’s the in-between-home-visit escape, or something to keep me awake on long drives by myself.
4. What is the first book you remember made you realize that this whole reading thing is pretty great?
I have so many book friends and happy book memories — my mom was a librarian, so books have always been a part of my world. Early favorites: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L.Konisburg, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, All of A.A. Milne’s Winnie The Pooh Books, especially The House at Pooh Corner.
5. Are there any books you read as a child that you feel shaped the person you are now or the way you look at the world?
M: It’s corny, but I was given my mom’s old Nancy Drew mystery novels — the first editions, in the blue bindings. In these, Nancy zipped around in her “speedy blue roadster” and solved mysteries. What was great about the series was the relationship she had with her dad, and how, as a teenager in the 1930s, her intellect was appreciated and respected. I still love a good mystery, and think some of my analytical skills came from solving those whodunnits along with Nancy. Carolyn Keene, the original author (there have been many ghost writers of the series in the years ahead) was a very good mystery writer. I give her partial credit for my perfect record in solving the crime at every murder mystery dinner I have attended!
6. Do you have any “comfort books,” and if so what are they?
M: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle. Another book that appreciates and respects intelligent children, and also allows for science, faith and family to happily co-exist.
7. If you were an author, what type of stories or books would you want to write?
M: Wow…I think my catalog of books would be like the music in my Spotify playlists- eclectic! I am at work on a book about food. Not a cookbook, but a way to approach cooking and eating within the constructs of the real world. I have also published some poetry. I could see myself writing a book about child development/parenting, but also perhaps a mystery novel or horror story (remember the one we told each other on one of our long, long girls’ road trips…that was an excellent story…too bad we didn’t take notes!)
8. If you had to live in the world of a book you’ve read, what world would it be?
M: A book, well written, transports, and I have been invited into so many magical places. I do keep going back to the worlds created in A Wrinkle in Time. There’s danger there, but also excitement, exploration, love and respect. I know I’d not choose to be sent to the worlds created by Margaret Atwood, although I adore her work, or the towns and places created by Stephen King…even as I’m on the hold list for his newest work!
9. Has a book ever helped you through a tough time — what book was it, and how did it help?
M: Books in general help me through tough times, by allowing me to be somewhere else, by letting me meet different people, by teaching me new things and re-setting my brain from what is bothering me. I don’t know that there’s a specific book I could name as panacea, but I do know that reading — fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, novels…it is my escape, my reward, my happy place. Reading is safety and comfort.
10. What are you excited to read next?
M: I am looking forward to our next mother-daughter book club selection, The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. I so enjoy when we share a book (and related chatter) and I’m excited that you picked this one for us!
Set 2. (Questions asked by mom M, answered by daughter S.)
1. What is your earliest memory of a book or story, either the story itself, the setting, or other memory?
S: The earliest book memory that I can actually recall from experience (not just from knowing that it happened, like reading Goodnight, Moon before bed when I was really little), is being about 5 years old and creating a little nook for myself in the corner of the living room in our then-new house behind dad’s rocking chair. I had a box of those little color-coded, learn-to-read storybooks, and I remember just curling up back there in the corner and reading through the whole set. I don’t remember the stories at all, but I remember being so excited that I was able to just read through them, by myself, and that once I finished one there was always another.
2. What is your favorite genre of book, and why?
S: Horror and thrillers, for sure! I’m not a huge fan of horror movies, but give me a scare-your-pants-off book and I’m in. There’s something powerful about being sucked into a story that’s absolutely terrifying and that brings your mind into this twisted reality, then shutting the book and walking away back into reality, knowing that that spooky, scary, surreal world is sitting there under the book’s cover, just waiting for you to open it again. I also love to play along in thrillers and mysteries and try to figure out what’s happening before the characters do. I hardly ever do it, but it’s fun to try! Any book that is engrossing enough that I nearly miss my subway stop is a good book.
3. What is the book or story that you have read and re-read?
S: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. I first read it in second grade, right when it came out, and have re-read it so many times since that I’m surprised the spine still stays together. During college auditions for theater programs, I’d always throw that book in my audition bag because I knew that if I was too nervous even to think, I could flip it open to literally any page and know exactly where I was in the story.
4. Best advice/idea you’ve ever gotten from an author?
S: So it goes. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut has been and continues to be one of my absolute favorite books, and the concept of ‘so it goes’ is one I try to keep tucked in the back of my mind. In the book, ‘so it goes’ is a way of acknowledging a death. For instance: his brother died many years ago, so it goes. It’s a way of acknowledging loss while also recognizing that, well, that’s the way life goes. If you take the root of that idea and expand it beyond just death and dying, it becomes a meditative sense of acknowledging the things that are bound to happen in life, especially the hard ones and the ones we wish wouldn’t happen, recognizing them as inevitable parts of human existence and then letting them pass by. If today was a crummy day, so it goes. In my mind, the unwritten part of ‘so it goes’ is, so it also goes on. The bad things happen, people die, we all will eventually, but life goes on. Acknowledge the loss, keep living the life. (And now I shall take off my philosopher hat! For now, at least ;)…)
5. If your story were to be novelized, what is the title and general outline of “The Book of You”?
S: Oh, man. This is tough! We always joke that if my life were a movie, it would be an ironic little indie joint a la Wes Anderson. I think the novel version of my life would be written first person with a whole lot of inner monologue, dancing between the highly ironic and goofy and the deeply emotional and introspective — still a la Wes Anderson style in book form, or in the vein of a Gaiman or Vonnegut, who can be at turns wildly hilarious and existentially serious. As for title — for now, I’d have to go with my current life motto: We’ll See.
6. What is your favorite way to get/read a book?
S: There are few things more satisfying to me than a massive haul of paperback books from a used bookstore. I’m lucky enough to live near The Strand (over 3 miles of books!) where you can just wander the shelves for hours, pick out a pile of used paperbacks and walk out with months’ worth of good reading. I’m still working my way through the pile from our last Strand haul — still on the to-read list: Dune, The Good Earth, and Surrender, New York.
7. If you could sit down with an author, living or dead, who would it be, and what would you talk about? Also, what snacks or meal would you share over this conversation?
S: Can I go ahead and say Vonnegut again? Any time I’m asked this question (which oddly comes up quite often in things like phone interviews and market research studies…), he’s my answer. I want to talk about the way that he looks at the world, which feels on the one hand so stark and even bleak but on the other hand so silly and hopeful. I imagine he must have at once the heaviest and the lightest heart, and I’d want to ask him how he finds that balance. I’d also be curious to hear his take on the world as it is now, and just joke with him while we eat Indiana popcorn, since he’s a Hoosier like I (sort of) am!
8. Was there a book you started to read…and just couldn’t get through it?
S: Horns by Joe Hill!! It looked like so much fun — drama, thriller, a touch of Gothic horror and the supernatural…but UGH I could not get through it. It felt like the author was on a deadline and about 2/3 of the way through the book just gave up and rushed through the rest. B and I watched through the movie, which stars Daniel Radcliffe, on Valentine’s Day one year (as one does) and it was nearly as painful — but at least it was entertaining in bad movie form!
9. What are you reading now?
S: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. A friend once introduced me to someone as “a real life Neil Gaiman character.” I still haven’t decided if that’s a compliment or an insult…
10. I’m doing it again: write a Haiku about books, reading, libraries, literacy…your choice!
S: Flexing the syllable counting muscles!! Ok — on the funny thought that you are in a long-distance book club with countless strangers every time you read:
Words not mine alone,
Other eyes devour these thoughts.
Who reads with me now?
Well, enough reading this — time to pick up one of the many books on the “to read” pile and get started! As everything changes around us now, books are here, offering a quick window into another world, a quick stretch of the imagination in new directions, a quick refresh of perception, or just simple delightful distraction.
— Happy reading!
M & S
