Book geek meme...

Since the Husband tagged me and has since been nagging me about this I suppose I should play...

Here are some rules:

–Share seven random or weird Book Facts about yourself.
–Then tag seven other people--yeah, well...I don't know seven people. So play along if you want. Though I'd be interested to see Marit's and Melanie's answers on this...
–Notify the seven (or not) others that they have been tagged.

1. I don't exactly remember when I finally was able to look at a page and actually read--as opposed to the memorization and reciting back that I had been getting away with--but I know it was well after I was in grade school somewhere around Primary 3 or 4 (I was in a British school). Oddly enough, I wasn't diagnosed as dyslexic until college.

2. The first time I realized I could actually decipher the words was when my dad was reading me an Asterix comic book (excuse me--Graphic Novel) and he kept skipping over panels. I called him on it. I then proceeded to read through the rest on my own.

3. Once I had devoured our collection of Asterix and Obelix graphic novels I moved on to my sister's bookshelves--Nancy Drew, Madeline L'Engle. Then my mom's library--Victoria Holt, Phylis Whitney. And then my dad's--Clive Cussler, Louie L'Amour, Tom Clancy. By the time I graduated high school I had read through RVA's entire fiction section at least once.

4. I have a stash of romance books. The historical kind. Manly men in kilts. Pirates and Strumpets. Can't tell you the last time I read one though. Kinda seems wrong to be reading about heaving bosoms while I have children clamoring for my attention.

5. In choosing books I really, really try to stay away from series. Just too much of a commitment for a book. Then there's the waiting--waiting--for the next book to come out. If it does--Robert Jordan.

6. On our bookshelves there are books that I have simply due to the fact that I drew or painted the illustrations. A coloring book. Training manuals. Reading primers. Even a story written by my mom and nephew.

7. Years ago I picked up a Judith Tarr novel in a used book store in Nairobi. Only to come to the end and realize it was merely the first in a series (grrrr....series). After several attempts to locate the follow-up novels, I gave up--these were before the days of Amazon, Google and the bookstore Super Store. Fast forward a few years...I was over at a friend's apartment and looking over his expansive book collection. And there--there was the complete trilogy. And a follow-up trilogy. That friend? Oh, yeah. I married him.