Meet my Reading Buddies Laura and Cindy!

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a call for reading buddies for 2012! I thought it would be a lot of fun and a great motivation to be in friendly competition with some fellow book lovers and bloggers. We are tracking the number of books we read as well as the number of pages, and sending weekly updates via e-mail. We have bookish prize incentives for the end of the year, too. While this is a cool bonus, I'm mostly looking forward to getting to know my buddies and helping motivate each other. I have two competitive buddies, Zahida from Musings of a YA Reader, who you met a couple of weeks ago, and Cindy from Oodles of Books. I also have a non-competitive buddy, Laura from Book Snob. I've asked all of them a different set of questions so that I, and now you, can get to know them better!

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Today, meet Laura and Cindy! First up, Laura from Book Snob! I've loved Laura's blog for awhile now, and through our being buddies, we are now getting to know each other better. It's been a lot of fun!

1.  Can you tell me about your job?
I am a high school social studies teacher.   I currently teach 4 classes of 9th grade World Studies and 1 junior class of Economics/Government and AP Human Geography.  I teach in a urban high school of about 2000 students that represent a huge variety of cultures.  It is a great job and keeps me extremely busy.  The best part of my job is interacting with the students and seeing them learn something new.  The worst part is grading papers as it cuts into my family/personal time.

2.  What do you like to do when you're not reading?
I am married with two kids and a dog and when I am not spending time with them, I love to write, blog, crochet, go to movies, do dance central on my Xbox and hang out with my family and friends.  In the summers, I camp, hike and go backpacking.  I love wine and enjoy cooking.  I also love music and can usually be found twirling around my kitchen to the songs on my Ipod. 

3.  What do you think about books being turned into movies?
I don't mind when books are turned into movies.  If I read a book and see the movie right away, I always hate the movie because the books are always better but if I read a book and let a year go by and then see the movie, I tend to like the movie more.  Overall books are way better than movies because you create the characters in your head, you own it, the story becomes a part of you.  A movie is another person's vision of how they saw the book in their head and that is OK too, usually it is never as good as my own version.

4.  What was your favorite book you read in 2011?
This is a hard question for me as I don't have just ONE favorite book.  I really liked The Hunger Game trilogy.  I loved The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Between Shades of Gray and Crazy by Han Nolan.  There are so many great books out there. 

5.  What three books are you most excited to read this year?
I created a challenge on my blog this year to read Pulitzer Prize winning books and my plan is to read 12 this year.  I am really excited about reading some of those novels like March by Geraldine Brooks.  I am excited about finishing the Waterfall YA series by Lisa Bergren I started last fall in 2011.  I also read a lot of local Minnesota authors who are under the radar so to speak, and so I am looking forward to reading Kara, Lost by Susan Niz.  

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Cindy blogs at Oodles of Books, and is one of my oldest blogging buddies! We started blogging around the same time and have been reading each others blogs since, so I was super excited when we became reading buddies for 2012!

1. What do you do for work/school?

I go to school full-time at my local State University. I am double majoring in Child Development and English Literature. I plan on transferring in the next year or so to start working on my Master's Degree in Library Science. I am also attending a community college part-time and earning a degree as a Library Technician. I will have my degree in less than 5 months and then I can start working at a library! I worked full-time as a preschool teacher (I have a Child Development associate's degree), but when I decided to go back to school full time AND take extra courses for a second associate's degree, I quit my job and now work part-time in retail. It is not such a great job, but it pays the bills and gets me the extra money to support my book buying addiction :)

 

2. What are three books you always recommend?

Three books only? That's a tough one. It usually depends on who I am recommending them to...but I guess the most common ones are The Hunger Games (YA), God Shaped Hole (Adult Fiction) and Tuck Everlasting (Middle Grade).

 

3. How did you get into reading?

I have been reading forever. Or at least since I hit that stage where you go from "learning to read" to "reading to learn," so somewhere around 3rd grade. Reading was something that came naturally to me. There is no one who suggested I read, or bought me a good book that started it all or anything like that. One day, I was just in love with reading and that was it. The rest is, well, history. There were a few people I remember who encouraged my reading, like my third grade teacher, my mom, my aunt, etc. Even though I was always quiet and shy, I have always been rebellious and when other kids thought it was weird that I liked to read...so what? I read because I wanted.

4. What do you like to do outside of reading?

There are A LOT of things I like to do beside reading, of course. First off, I have school and work and those take up a lot of time, but I enjoy them. I also hang out with my boyfriend a lot, because you know, I love him and all. I also like to spend time with my momma and baby brother (he's 14, but he'll always be my baby brother :D). But here's a generic list of what I like to do beside reading: blogging, hiking, shopping for books and clothes and shoes, going to shows/concerts, sleeping, going out to dinner with my besties, traveling, scrapbooking, cuddling, browsing the interwebs, writing, watching movies (sad ones, usually), biking, walking the puppies, and crocheting. 

 

5. Are there any books you could read over and over again?

Two words: Harry Potter. There are plenty of other books I can probably read over and over, but I will stick to one...er, sorta.