Jenners interviews Kitten

My bloggy friend Jenners recently posted an interview meme on her blog. Anyone who wanted to participate had to leave an interview request in the comments section. Part of the fun of this meme is that the interviewer E-mails you five questions, which you have to answer and post in your blog.

I thought it would be fun to participate, so here it is!

1. What book do you remember fondly from childhood? Why was it important to you?

Well, like most of my memories, I tend to remember things in threes (probably because I was born on the third day of the third month). There are three books from my childhood that stand out: Charlotte's Web, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. These were the first chapter books I ever read. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Werner, read it to my class. She always read books in such a calm, loving way; she never gave the characters funny voices, but let us use our imaginations as to how the characters would sound. She'd stop at various places and ask us questions about the story.

Mrs. Werner encouraged us to get our own copies of the books she read so we could follow along. Sometimes, she'd stop reading and let one of us read aloud. We always fought over that.

Mrs. Werner is the one of the reasons why I'm such an avid reader today. She helped me develop a passion for reading, and always had such wonderful books on her shelves.

2. What do you think are the five most beautiful words in the English language? (you can pick from meaning or from pure sound or both).

This is a tough one! I can easily pick out my favorite words in either French or Spanish, but I take my native tongue for granted! Let's see...

• serendipity: I like the sound and its definition. They're both romantic.
• cacophony: I like the sound and definition. It's a neat-sounding word that describes something that doesn't sound neat at all!
• gardenia: It's one of my favorite flowers.
• paradise: I love this word because it means so many things to so many different people. Paradise can range anywhere, or be anything, from a tropical island, to a room full of books, to being in a field of sunflowers in Tuscany.
• sunflower: Another one of my favorite flowers! I love this word because it describes exactly what a sunflower is.

3. What author/s do you particularly enjoy reading? Why?

I love Bill Bryson. He has such a great sense of humor, and I love the way he tells stories. He's got so many interesting tales to tell about his travels.

Lucy Maud Montgomery has been a favorite since I was a child. She wrote such wonderful, beautiful stories about what it was like to be a child. She really understood how kids acted and conveyed it well on the written page. She also wrote in a way that made you feel as if you were a part of the community, as if you were catching up on the latest bit of gossip.

And of course, Anne of Green Gables and the entire Anne series remain some of my favorite books to this very day.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is an author I knew about as a kid, but I didn't get to fully appreciate her books until two summers ago, when I bought all of the Little House books at a used book store. I devoured each and every one. They are very sweet, tender books.

I also love Barbara Kingsolver. I got hooked on her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and very quickly purchased most of her novels right after I finished. The Poisonwood Bible is on my Chunkster Challenge list. I can't wait to read it!

4. What was one of the weirdest dreams you ever had?

The weirdest dreams I've ever had have usually been under the influence of some illness or medication, or a combination of both. The one that really stands out occurred in 1996, shortly after I began my semester abroad in Paris. I came down with a cold and had to go to the pharmacy to buy medication. I went back to the apartment, took the medicine, and went to bed. I fell asleep very quickly, and slept very deeply for three hours.

I don't remember all of the details of my dream, but I do remember that it involved Carol Burnett, Kermit the Frog, and a lot of psychedelic colors and funky music. I do blame it on the medication! There must be a few ingredients in European meds that are different than their American counterparts.

By the way, when I woke up, my cold was gone.

5. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging shortly after the school year ended in June of 2007. I had originally started this blog to post all of my book reviews, since that summer, I was reading a lot more than I had in previous summers of my adult life. I wrote five posts in 2007. Later that summer, a personal and financial crisis began in my life, and I stepped away from blogging for a while.

In May of 2008, I joined a book club, and decided to revive my efforts. I started blogging about books again, but as I kept writing, I realized I had a lot more to say. I drifted away from the books for a while as I discovered my voice, and as I tried to find some direction for my blog.

I discovered memes last December and started participating in those. As a result, I started to get a following. I also discovered a lot more blogs that I otherwise would never have found. I also started paying attention to the "Blogs of Note" to see what else was out there. Through this feature, I found the blog Reading Adventures, and through that, I found J.Kaye's blog.

J.Kaye's blog had a lot of reading challenges, and I decided to sign up for them, since I wandered so far from my blog's original focus.

Now I feel as if I've got a good balance between book reviews and personal stuff. I enjoy working on the blog; writing has become a great form of therapy, and I've met a lot of great people whom I would not have met otherwise. I love to write as much as I love to read.

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And now that this interview is finished, it's YOUR turn! I'd like the opportunity to interview some of you!!! Here are the directions, copied from Jenners' blog:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Thanks for this opportunity, Jenners! I hope you guys get a chance to play along!