Gypsy Poetry

Snitched from Estella’s Revenge.

Reading memories:

20 Years Ago: (age 6) I’d already been reading for about two years at this point. I was reading stuff off of signs and billboards when I was three or four, so by the time I hit kindergarten, I picked up reading really quickly. I remember really digging Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle when I was little.

10 Years Ago: (age 16) Fantasy. I read high fantasy novels all the time when I was a teenager. Hell, I read all the time period when I was a teenager. I think this was right around the time I got into the X-Files, too, so I started reading fanfiction.

5 Years Ago: (age 21) Reading was my escape at this point. I was unhappily married, and I read to get away from it. I was still stuck on fantasy novels, particularly Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series, but I was also into fanfic big-time. I had recently shifted from Star Wars fanfic into the wonderful world of X-Men, thanks to the first movie. I had also recently started reading X-Men comic books, so I was pretty engrossed in writing Logan/Jean fanfic and reading as much as I could. I also discovered Harry Potter couple of years before this, so I was marathon-reading the novels that were out while at work. Ahh, escapism.
3 Years ago: (age 23) Still into X-Men fanfic, though not as much as before. I think at this point I had gotten into Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic a bit. Still reading Harry Potter. Reading a lot of non-fiction, too, along with The Lord of the Rings and its fanfic. I was also introduced to Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series by my aunt, and I read them voraciously until Obsidian Butterfly came out and the series jumped the shark. I got into LKH’s Merry Gentry series, too, which I’m still ashamedly hanging onto. I love the sidhe men, especially Doyle. Mmm. Darkness.

Last Year: (age 25) I hardly read at all last year, which makes me very sad. School was eating up most of my time, and I hardly had time to read for pleasure. By this point, though, I had discovered Neil Gaiman and read his stuff voraciously. I also spent seven straight hours reading the new Harry Potter book on its release day. :D

This Month: (age 26) I’ve been catching up on my lost reading time. I’ve read some smut, a couple of science non-fiction books, most of Salman Rushdie’s East, West, my own old fanfic (hehe), and I’m working on a book on queer theory and film for my honors thesis.
And another:
3 Favorite Reading Locations: in my bed snuggled up with my body pillow, on my couch with the blinds open, on the balcony of the apartment I lived in in Germany (unfortunately can’t read there anymore, dammit)
3 Reading habits: tea + book = happy Gypsy, my books have to be in alphabetical order on my shelves, I buy books compulsively
3 Things that distract me: people talking to me, music from other apartments, random noises outside
3 Characters I’d love to be: Jean Grey from the X-Men comics (hey, comics are too books), Lady Door from Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Tonks from the Harry Potter books
3 Three Characters I despise: Scott Summers from X-Men, Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter, Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice
3 Favorite Book Beverages: Earl Grey tea, Tazo or Stash chai, Columbian coffee with lots of half-and-half
3 Favorite bookmarks: I usually use receipts and toilet paper
3 Dead Writers I’d love to meet: Jane Austen (though I’d be afraid she would just use me as snarky character fodder), E.M. Forster, J.R.R. Tolkien
3 Alive Writers I’d love to meet: Neil Gaiman, Salman Rushdie, J.K. Rowling

And in non-book related news, X-Men: The Last Stand opens on Friday. I’m trying so hard to not be excited about it. The movie version of Goblet of Fire broke my heart, and I’ve learned to not expect much from sequels so that if they’re good, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. But I can’t help but get all giddy about X3. Even if the rest of it blows syphilitic goats, I’ll be happy with the Logan/Jean love.