SDQ Interview with John Green.
Yes, THE John Green. The Printz-winning author of Looking for Alaska. The man who has admitted to being dumped 53 times*. The anagram-lovin', last-word quotin', banjo-listenin', book video-inspirin', footnotin' fool.**
He is currently in the middle of a whirlwind 19-business-day Internet Book Tour to promote his new book, the AWESOME AND FABULOUS An Abundance of Katherines.
This is Stop Number Eleven. I think. Previous stops (in order of publication) are: Jane Mag, Justine Larbalestier, Cecil Castellucci, Fuse #8, Jo Knowles, The Answer May Surprise You, Sara Zarr, Dr. Frank's What's-it, Chasing Ray and Not Your Mother's Bookclub. As if all that isn't enough, he also made a cameo appearance over at MotherReader's place and recently interviewed himself for a Penguin podcast. And his real-life book tour is starting up soon.*** Yeesh. I'm tired just thinking about it.
Book Currently Reading:
Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynmann. It's a slightly dated (1963), relatively short introduction to Physics. (And no, I am not preparing to torture my beloved readers with a book about Physics.) But I do like Physics a lot, insofar as I understand it, which is not very far at all. Even those this is ostensibly an easy book (I mean, it is right there in the title), I read each paragraph about twelve times.
CDs in Rotation:
I've been listening a lot to Old Crow Medicine Show's "Big Iron World." Also Doc Watson's album, "Southbound."
Last Movie Viewed:
That depends on how you define 'movie.' If the definition of 'movie' includes back-to-back episodes of CSI: Miami that feature a single story arc, then the last movie I saw was "CSI: Miami: This Drug Dealer Guy Is Outlandishly Hard to Kill. Let's Follow Him to Rio!" (I recommend it heartily. It features some of David Caruso's very best squinting and head-tilting.) If you mean theatrically released movie, that would be "Little Miss Sunshine." That was also pretty good, although it's no CSI: Miami.
Literary Crush (real person or fictional character):
I recently made a list of literary crushes on my blog (it included Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, Holly Black, and Cecil Castellucci, among others).
Fictional character crushes: I wouldn't mind spending some quality time with Anne Stanton from "All the King's Men." And I suspect the librarian in Richard Powers' "The Gold Bug Variations" could keep me warm at night.
Pet Peeve:
Cotton balls. I mean, their very existence annoys me, but I find it particularly unbearable when I'm forced to see or touch or think about them. They disgust me. I realize this is crazy. Okay, let's talk about something else. I'm starting to feel sick.
Current Obsession:
I'm a big fan of the underrated TV show "How I Met Your Mother," which features both Doogie Howser and a guy I went to college with.
The New York Times crossword puzzle (my wife just bought a subscription, so we can access like 10 years worth of puzzles)
English Premier League soccer (Go Liverpool! Champions of Europe!)
Guilty Pleasures:
Um, I feel pretty guilty about CSI: Miami and How I Met Your Mother.
Irrational Fears:
Cotton balls! Also dentistry (not entirely irrational), air travel (also not entirely irrational), and mice (pretty much entirely irrational).
Favorite Words:
I like the word "deadpanned" way, way too much and have to fight against using it in every paragraph of everything I write.
But really, I try not to play favorites when it comes to words. It's not the words themselves that matter, but how you use them. (Or so argues An Abundance of Katherines.)
* The Today Show reported it as 59, but they got it wrong.
** Everyone seems to use this picture, which I grant you, is a very good one. But I still prefer these.
*** I don't seem to see any stops in Maine. Or even Boston. Ahem.