1) You have to get rid of all your books and you can only keep one from each of these genres: Contemporary, fantasy, non-fiction, sci-fi, historical fiction, YA, and one other genre of your choosing. What books do you keep?
Contemporary: Less by Andrew Sean Greer.Every New Years Day my wife and I begin to read a new book that we chose in late December as our first book of the year. This was my pick from 2019 and I loved it. Check out my review here. Less was true joy to read. A fun journey of a man travelling the world and remembering his old relationships as he tries to get as far away from his ex-boyfriends wedding as he can.
Fantasy: The Sword of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks.
The Sword of Shannara was my first introduction to the greater world of Fantasy. Before the first book, all I had read in the genre were The Hobbit and the Harry Potter series It lit a fire under me and I started reading a whole lot more. Am I cheating by choosing an omnibus with the first three books in it? Yes. Yes I am. Do I care? No. No I don't.
Non-Fiction: Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone
I kind of have to pick this book as Monica Sone was my great aunt. But there's more to my pick than that. It's also the best book about the internment of the Japanese that I've read. While I respect Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, I think that Monica Sone did a better job of capturing their lives during the interment.
Sci-fi: Ender's Game by Olsen Scott Card
I could have cheated again and used this one as a classic and kept this genre open to something else. But I had a really good answer for the classic category. The Martian by Andy Weir came in at a close second but I liked Ender's Game more. The "oh shit" twist at the end was big enough that even though I started to suspect it, still was a riveting experience.
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Historical Fiction: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My wife was the one who got me into historical fiction. Truth be told, she was the one who got me outside my comfort zone of fantasy and science fiction in the first place. This book is perfect. It has great characters, a compelling story, and feels like it could all be based on a true story.
Classic: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This book gave us one of the best performances of Gregory Peck's career. Not only that but it's a true classic. It was the first required reading book from school that I actually liked. It's one of the only books from school that I've reread an is one that I still think of fondly.
YA: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertali
I didn't want to read this at first because the title put me off. It came across as standoffish and just negative. Like humanity just has some inherit agenda against the LGBTQ community. But after seeing a trailer for the movie, I gave it a chance and what I loved it.
Urban Fantasy: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
I love the Dresden Files. It's my favorite book series and one that I can always pick up. Dead Beat is one of the more exciting books in the series. I almost picked Changes but the ending of that one always makes me want to pick up the next book right away to get some closure.
2) You're at the bookstore and you hear a teenager telling their mom they don't like to read, but their mom insists they pick something. You walk over and recommend a book you think is great for people who aren't big on reading. What book is it?
Storm Front by Jim Butcher. You may be asking yourself "another Dresden Files book?" Yes. And here's why. A good way to get people to start reading is to get them into a series so reading becomes a habit. Think of all those who grew up with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or Twilight or even The Land of Stories. Book series that people liked so they picked up more books. So a good idea would be to pick a book you know is good that has a lot of books in the series. That should appease the kid and the parent.
3) You're not feeling yourself and need a pick-me-up. Which book do you read to put yourself in a great mood?
Okay, no more Dresden Files books. I promise. If this happened to me right now I'd pick up Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. It's on my TBR and he's one of my favorite authors. There's always something on my TBR that I'm sure I'd like so I'll pick one of those up if I'm in a reading slump. Jim Butcher, Becky Chambers, Brandon Sanderson,
4) You go back in time for a day to your teenage years. What book would you most likely have caught yourself reading?
More than likely I wouldn't catch myself reading. I'd catch myself playing video games. I used to play a lot and I miss those days when I could just play a game for hours doing my own thing. But if there was going to be a book I'd be reading it'd probably be something by Michael Crichton or Stephen King. I reread Jurassic Park the most so I'd probably be reading that.
5) Your friend surprises you with a 4 day trip and you have 1 hour to pack. Which book do you bring to read on the way?
I'm assuming the answer is supposed to be what I would bring this very moment. So if this happened right now I'd bring Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It's the last book in the Wayfarers series and the only one that I haven't read. I think it's the perfect length that I'd be able to read it during travel and in the hotel without losing time doing whatever activities my friend has planned for us.6) Your house has been robbed! Don't worry, everyone is safe, but your bookshelf has been raided. What's the book you really hope is safe?
This is tough because I have quite a few autographed copies of books that I got from author readings. But the one book I'd look for first would be my hardcover first edition copy of The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. It's not only my favorite Shannara book, but it's hard to find. My autographed books are from authors like Brandon Sanderson and Brent Weeks. I'm sure they're going to do more book tours as they're relatively young. Did I just manage to brag about having autographs and a rare(ish) book?
7) Your friend borrows a book and returns it in awful condition. Do you a) Just pretend you haven't noticed b) Ask them to repurchase it or c) Secretly do the same to something of theirs?
Whenever I lend something of mine out, I'm prepared to either never see it again or get it back in bad condition. I do hope that it would come back in the same condition, but you should never loan something out that you can't afford to lose. So I guess my answer is A. Though if they ever ask to borrow something again, I would have to say no OR bring the book up to them and say that I want it back in the same condition. Though if the book is returned in truly terrible condition I'd ask what happened because I'd be curious. If I happened to actually let someone borrow a book that's important to me and not easily replaceable, I'm not sure what I'd do.
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