TAGGED AGAIN! SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

1. My father made a movie once and I had a part in it as a screamer -- off camera.

2. I feel that my junior high school years were my favorite school years.

3. I used to paint ceramics.

4. When my children were small, I took a creative writing correspondence course because I have always wanted to be a writer.

5. I have always wished I could draw.

6. I can't quit buying quilt fabric or embroidery floss -- it is a sickness!

TAGGED!

Yay! I have been tagged! This is my first tagging and I am thrilled because I love, absolutely love, all these questionnaires and bulletins and things. So, here goes!

1. Who is your all time favorite author and why?

This is difficult to answer because I have several authors that I gravitate toward which is bad, because I probably ignore many others that would be very good. Jan Karon comes to mind immediately. The Mitford series was very captivating for me although some reviewers found it to be milque toasty. I loved every minute of it and couldn't wait to get the next book. Barbara Taylor Bradford is another favorite. I thoroughly enjoyed all the "Woman of Substance" series. I will also read and re-read Shirley Jackson. While I read "The Haunting of Hill House" more than once, I really enjoyed "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" more. I received my first copy of it for Christmas when I was about 14 and loved every page of it. I can't leave out Grace Metallious of "Peyton Place" fame. I seem to really like books that are soap opera-like. Doesn't say much for my reading taste, does it?

2. Who was your first favorite author and why? Do you still consider him or her among your favorites?

I think the first author that I remember being struck by was Kate Seredy --"The Good Master". Every year we had required reading lists -- a thing of the past, I am sure -- and she was the first author that I remember reading most of her books. I really enjoyed her books because they took me into a different culture than my own and I found her descriptions -- mostly of the clothes -- to be quite enchanting. While I haven't read her in a good number of years, I am looking to collect her books if I can find them of the same vintage that I read them.

Other authors that I enjoyed as a child were Doris Gates "Blue Willow" and Lois Lenski "Strawberry Girl" and I do have those books in my library.

3. Who is the most recent addition to your list of favorite authors and why?

Well, I have to say that Barbara Pym, introduced to me recently by JLSHall is a new favorite as is Miss Read. I am enjoying them because they write "comfortable" books. I am not good with science fiction or deep intrigue, although I am beginning to enjoy mysteries other than Nancy Drew but I tend to read books that are either historical fiction or more family drama sorts of things.

I have never been to "into" romance novels once I moved out of the "Gidget" stage but I am involved with a Romance Challenge that is allowing me to revisit the genre. I have chosen a couple of Debbie Macomber books for that. However, I have to add that I did obtain my daughter's name from a Harlequin novel that I was reading at the time so I guess romance novels really don't deserve the discredit they so often get. I will let you know how it goes.

4. If someone asked you who your favorite authors were right now, which authors would pop out of your mouth? Are there any you would add on a moment of further reflection?

Spontaneously, I would probably mention the ones I have already mentioned above because I am reading some of them now. However, I would have to add Beverly Lewis, Henry Winterfeld (can't leave out "Star Girl"), Larry McMurtry, JD Salinger, Barbara Delinsky, Belva Plain, Rosamunde Pilcher, James Howe (you gotta love "Bunnicula"), Kim Edwards. Oh, I don't know, there are so many out there it is really hard to say.

I don't know six people to tag so I will probably tag Monique and Mary Kathryn.