15 Facts about me and books

I WAS tagged! Sorry, Margaret - I hadn't finished all my catch-up blog-hopping before saying I hadn't been tagged.

So, here I am, sharing 15 facts or personal preferences about books:

1) According to my mum, I learned to read at age 4.

2) My fave books as a kid included English school stories (St. Clares, Mallory Towers, Chalet School), Anne of Green Gables, Caddie Woodlawn and the Little House books.

3) I've been collecting books for as long as I can remember - still have most of the books listed above.

4) My favourite room in my grade school was the library. I learned how to treat books with respect from the school librarian, Mrs. Shore (yep, I still remember her name and what she looked like). She was very particular about how books were handled.

5) In middle school I worked in the school library - the librarian there was Mr. Dalton. He was great.

6) A few years ago my husband and I considered opening a bookstore. I even attended Bookselling school, but we decided against it after writing a business plan and looking at the local market. Turns out we did the right thing. One of the reasons we made our decision was that a long-established independent opened a second store in the area we were considering. They declared bankruptcy on the first of this month. Fortunately they incorporated that second store separately from their main one, so it, at least is still fine.

7) History books have always been among my favourites. In the aforesaid grade school library I found a series about the lives of the great composers and remember reading them all.

8) Going to book sales is one of my past times. Sean and I often plan motorcycle routes around them - you would be surprised about how many books the saddlebags of a motorcycle can hold :-) One of my favourite sales almost always takes place the weekend closest to my birthday, so going to it is a birthday tradition - even though it's way on the other side of town. I arrive early to line up (usually in the cold as I'm a November baby), canvas bags clutched in my hand, then make a dash for the History section as soon as the doors open.

9) During my fourth year of university, I earned spending money (you guessed it) working in the library. It was so much fun (well, most of the time - shelf reading was never my fave activity, especially as I invariably got caught up looking at the books rather than just checking they were shelved in the correct order *g*). The best days were those I got to go into the Storage area in the basement of the library - rare and old books were kept there, but we were sent down either 1) to pull those requested or 2) to reshelve those just returned. I just LOVE the smell of books.

10) I'm a complete geek when it comes to my book collection. My books are shelved according to topic and a good number of them have been entered into my cataloguing software (Book Collector), which allows me to export the list to my PalmPilot. Recently I bought the Personal Library Kit - which includes cards, pockets, and date due stamp. AND I'm working on a cataloguing system and hope one day to label all my books, though right now I have bookplates in many of them.

11) My husband shares my love of books and seeks out the used bookstore in any town we're going to visit. Or, if he's away on business, finds a used bookstore and buys me something there :-)

12) We belong to a non-fiction bookclub. Yep, non-fiction. Have read lots of interesting books over the last four years - many of which I'd never have read otherwise.

13) I've been reviewing books for almost six years and really enjoy it. Not only do I get to expand my reading horizons, but I meet interesting authors.

14) I can't travel without a book. Even on camping trips with the motorcycle, I have a paperback (or two) stashed in my luggage.

15) I'm often reading two or three books at the same time - usually at least one fiction and one non-fiction. But sometimes they're all one or the other.

I now tag Kelly and Annette.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Book for review
Also Currently Reading: The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes
Link of the Day: Library Thing