You ask, I answer.

1. Favorite childhood book?
The Golden Book of Fairy Tales (still a favorite)
 
2. What are you reading right now?
Joseph and His Brothers, and 2012 manuscripts

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
None. Though I requested so many books at my old library growing up, that I memorized my 13-digit library card number years before I knew my social security number.

4. Bad book habit?
Using coffee table art books as food and drink trays or laptop desks in bed. Sorry, Impressionism.

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
Nothing. I know. The mighty have fallen...

6. Do you have an e-reader?
My iPhone does qualify as an e-reader. I have read a few paragraphs of free ebooks here and there, but that was about a year ago when it was a novelty. I have also used it for last minute Bible references, and on more than one occasion, have pulled up documents from my email. I am more likely to use my phone for emergency writing than reading. The notebook feature is cluttered with bizarre paragraphs from stories otherwise never written.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I prefer one book at a time, but we live in a broken world.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
Yes, but I don't believe the change was influenced by the blog at all.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
I'm gonna skip this one.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
I haven't read much this year apart from work. I think I've hit 27 work-related book reads since January, which is pretty awesome. My favorite non-work book is undoubtedly Divergent. It would probably be a favorite even if it wasn't one of only two options, the other being The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. And yes, read that book you should.

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
I am not sure what "out of my comfort zone" is. Horror, maybe? Romance? The Dummies Guide to Horoscopes? Short answer, I don't. Unless it's work related.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
Literary fiction, teen fiction, science fiction and fantasy (more or less), Victorian, post-Victorian, pre-Victorian, 14th, 15th, and 16th century writing, stuff old enough that it's been translated from the Latin or Greek, epic poetry, poetry-poetry, spiritual philosophy (is that a recognized category?), and my blogroll.

 
13. Can you read on the bus?
I can read anywhere. Except in front of the television. Unless it's turned off.

14. Favorite place to read?
I can read anywhere. Except in front of the television. Unless it's turned off.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
I lend books. I know I will never see them again. I also borrow books. I still have them all.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
Hell no.

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
Hell yes.

18. Not even with text books?
Uhhh...

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English.

20. What makes you love a book?
Epiphany.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book? 

I do not recommend books because I like them. If I'm recommending something to you, it is because when I read it, I felt the book told me something about you. In some way, the book spoke your name. It was more yours than mine. 

(Either that, or you've been begging me for book recommendations. You know who you are.)

22. Favorite genre?
memoirs and spirituality writing (UPDATE: I have no idea why I wrote "memoirs" here, as I do not read memoirs, utterly ever. See "biography" below. Same thoughts apply. The real answer is that I do not have a favorite genre. Sorry.)

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)

General literary fiction. Which is weird. You'd think it would be my go-to genre.

24. Favorite biography?
I am pretty sure the last biography I read was something about Beethoven in 7th grade. Unless that was just a general music history book... The only biographies I ever feel compelled to read are bios of Abraham Lincoln. Other biographies fill me with metaphoric yawn at the thought of them.

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
No. I don't think so. Not that I recall.

26. Favorite cookbook?
Betty Crocker for the basics. The Olive and the Caper for awesome dinner parties of Greek wonder.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
I've been reading some Thomas Merton. Does that count as inspirational? What does this mean, exactly?

28. Favorite reading snack?
Tea and shortbread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
I started The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo before the hype. I didn't get past the first chapter. Then there was hype and I felt guilty for not having finished it. So in a sense, hype ruined my I-decided-not-to-read-this experience.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
I despise D. H. Lawrence. Certain "critics" put him on essential reading lists, lists of classics, required course reading catalogs, etc. I despise such critics.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
I have become increasingly less inclined to give negative reviews on this blog since entering the book industry. Which is sort of a shame, since negative reviews are often way more fun than positive ones. Considering that attitude, I guess it's a good thing I don't do them anymore.

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose? 

Russian

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Greek was intimidating. So I guess the New Testament qualifies.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
These questions are intimidating. I am not nervous to begin any books I know of.

35. Favorite Poet?
Czeslaw Milosz. Still.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
None right now, but when I do check books out, it's usually a stack of about 7-12 titles.

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
All the time.

38. Favorite fictional character?
Levin.

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Spike.

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Best book I brought on vacation was Wives and Daughters. It was so perfect for that trip. Most recently, I started Joseph and His Brothers when I went up to San Simeon with my mom. That was excellent. But the book I always bring on every vacation is my journal.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
I don't know what this means.

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
The one by D. H. Lawrence. Sons and Lovers of Daughters of Ladies or whatever. I would burn that book without batting an eye. 

Also, American Gods. Though I wouldn't burn that one.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
Other books.

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
I am a faithful follower of all BBC Victorian adaptations. North and South (not the Civil War epic) was amazing. But Little Dorrit is possibly one of the best adaptations of utterly ever.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Those Twilight things.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
No idea.

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Only non-fiction, and rarely.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Another book.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
Yes. I used to re-organize my books by subject every year or so. Most of my books are now in boxes from lack of space, so I now organize them by color. My life is too visually cluttered not to make this absurd aesthetic concession on the bookshelves.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
I keep them. You never know.

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Should I mention D. H. Lawrence again? No? Okay, I successfully avoided the Da Vinci Code craze. I avoided Elizabeth Gilbert and The Last Lecture and The Shack. But the books I most viscerally avoid are Nicholas Sparks novels.

52. Name a book that made you angry. 

Graceling. Because it was a good book, but not very self-aware.

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
I don't read books if I don't expect to like them. I have too many books I do expect to like waiting in the wings to waste my time on the off-chance that I'll be wrong.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
I can't remember...

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
Like I'd tell you that.