A to Z Book Survey

I'm totally stealing this from My Life as a Teacup (neato blog), & she got it from Chocolate & Cream Cake (also worth checking out).

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Author you’ve read the most books from.
*pretends to not mind the wording just used*
Orson Scott Card, John Grisham, & Lloyd Alexander.

Best sequel ever.
I love A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle SO much. It's the third in the Wrinkle in Time series, & they are all great, but this one is special to me.

Currently reading.
The Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene H. Peterson.

Drink of choice while reading.
TEA. All the tea. Particularly chai or spearmint. It can be a wise choice to choose a flavor that is also good cold... ha. Or just start with iced tea. Also hot chocolate is always a favorite.

E-reader or physical book? 
I prefer physical if I have the option. The weight, the smell, the sometimes-yellowed pages. It's nice to have easy access to flip back if desired. I like being able to feel where I am in the book. & if I drop it, it most likely won't risk needing replaced (for well over a hundred dollars at least). That's always nice. That said, I do love my tablet & it's great for having many books with me on-the-go. Also, free access to classics that I haven't yet read. Totally groovy. I sometimes prefer the tablet for reading in bed, so if I'm laying down flat & it slips from my hand I don't lose my place.

Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school. 
Y'know, I graduated high school at 16, plus had vowed at 13 that I wouldn't date anyone until I was 20. (I did end up breaking that vow by a month + eighteen days, but not without much prayerful consideration.) Soooooooo we'll pretend you want to know who I'd've been buddies with & sort of maybe crushed on a little while a teenager. I'm also going to assume you mean someone actually around high-school age? & do you also mean someone I knew about when I was that age? (I don't do well with open-ended questions.)
Let's just say Calvin O'Keefe. He's a sweetie but not a pushover. Also a redhead. I kind of wanted a redhead. He's smart, easy to be around, respectful...

Glad you gave this book a chance. 
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë. I was supposed to read it for school, but COULD NOT get into it so it got removed from my curriculum. (Yay homeschool? I'm actually kind of surprised my mom let it slide. But she doesn't actually like Jane Eyre, so that was probably a big part of it. In addition, the workbook wasn't very good. & I already read like a... person who reads a lot of books.) But then there it was on my shelf when I'd read every other book I owned & couldn't get myself to the library... & I loved it.

Hidden gem book.
Orson Scott Card's The Tale of Alvin Maker series. I consume the Ender's Game/Shadow series/es on a regular basis, but only recently have I attempted to read any of his other stuff. My favorite chapter of A Swiftly Tilting Planet was always The Lightning with Its Rapid Wrath, which is set in the early days of America & as if superstitions & so forth were real... & the Alvin Maker series is entirely about that! I never knew such a thing existed! If you know of any other books that would fit this sub-genre, please let me know, because I dig it.
Also, James Herriot's books.

Important moment in your reading life. 
A few different things come to mind. I like this prompt. When I was I-don't-even-know-how-young & had read so many things & didn't know what to read next & was getting a little bit angsty about it, my mom let me read John Grisham's The Testament. After that, she let me read The Client. Then she just set me loose on all the John Grisham books she had. They were my first 'adult' books (classics don't really count). There was murder & rape & swearing & legalese! & I ate it up. & I have no idea how old I was, really. 12 or 13?
I also remember reading Shakespeare for the first time. & Les Miserables, of course. My first Batman comic. Also, I have only recently really begun to dig into non-fiction... sorry...

Just finished.
Instant Mom, by Nia Vardalos, is the last book I finished. It was beautiful.

Kinds of books you won’t read. 
I usually don't read new fiction (with the exception of course of Orson Scott Card because he is still writing for series that are old now). I do not read romance novels (including "paranormal romance"). I probably wouldn't get much into military fiction.

Longest book you’ve ever read. 
Les Miserables maybe? Probably?

Major book hangover because of…
 I think the Harry Potter books did this to me more than any other. I don't want to sound like one of those weird obsessive fans! (They can be awfully scary. Which is why it took me so long to actually read the books.) But I really like the characters & the world.

Number of bookcases you own. 
For books? *uses a bookcase in the kitchen & the bathroom, sorry (but not really), I love shelves* One big entire, one short entire, some books scattered elsewhere.

One book you have read multiple times.
If I like a book & own it, I've probably read it multiple times. That's what I do. My husband will read just about anything once & only once, but I am the sort to return & return. I'm going to say Batman: The Long Halloween, because comic books are great for rereading even if you aren't usually one to reread. & if Tim Sale did the art, you may as well just keep it handy for browsing constantly, because he is the best.

Preferred place to read.
I love my living room. It has a couch, a loveseat, a wingback chair, & two recliners on wheels. It also has my bird, places to set down a beverage, blankets & throw pillows, an outlet for charging my tablet... oh, & I could play music on the tablet/xbox360/recordplayer all handy. Also, the cabins at McCormick's Creek State Park-- each cabin has a picnic table on a patio, plus a screened-in porch for when it gets dark & the bugs come out. OR A THUNDERSTORM HAPPENS, which in a cabin in the middle of the woods is THE BEST THING EVER. I'm not much for reading in public.

Quote from a book you’ve read that inspires you.
Gah, I'm bad at book quotes. I really prefer to treasure books as a whole, & not pull things out of context. It's in the entire context that any quote is given its whole meaning. But here, I'll toss something at you:
"Changing the world is good for those who want their names in books. But being happy, that is for those who write their names in the lives of others, and hold the hearts of others as the treasure most dear." -Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card.

Reading regret. 
Not getting into the Lord of the Rings books. I've still not finished them. Eh, I can't really quite bring myself to regret not getting into something I can't seem to get into! I'm super cool anyway!

Series you started and need to finish.I'm missing books 5 & 6 of With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child. I even broke my own rules & read 7 & 8 without having read 5 & 6! I also want to read the rest of The Rats of NIMH series, having finally read the first one.

Three of your all-time favourite books. 
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, by Madeleine L'Engle. Batman: Legacy, by Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, & Alan Grant.

Unapologetic fangirl for… 
Uh... good/relateable characters. Fiction loaded with truth. Characters who are good & right but don't "fit the mold" per se (perhaps they don't get along well with others, use unconventional ways to do what is right, that sort of thing-- examples might include Severus Snape, Peter Wiggin, Haymitch Abernathy); I'd never really made the connection before, but I love that sort of thing! Sherlock Holmes & Batman.

Very excited for this release more than all the others.
I may have mentioned that I don't really read new releases... I can be pretty picky about what I need to know about a book/series/author before I pick something up. So even though I feel like I'm doing a lot of talking about Orson Scott Card & ya'll are probably going to disown me for liking his stuff anyway, I have to say Earth Awakens, which shall be the last of a trilogy of prequels to Ender's Game. Guys, I do love his writing. I also never buy his books new, so he doesn't actually get my money. Can we accept that compromise?

Worst bookish habit.
I bend spines relentlessly. I almost exclusively buy used books, & don't have many books that are actually really pretty or anything... I just get books to read them. & bend the spines.

X marks the spot: the 27th book on my shelf. 
Rilla of Ingleside, by L. M. Montgomery. I have to admit I haven't even read that one, I just got a box set of Anne of Green Gables...

Your latest book purchase. 
Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture, by Adam S. McHugh. One of the best books ever, if you are a Christian.

Zzz-snatcher book (latest book that kept you up way late).
When I was reading Anna & the King of Siam, by Margaret Landon, I did so late into the night consistently. I really enjoyed it, & need to have my own copy.