1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
Nana took me to the library every weekend and Mom read to me every night, so I was talking by six months and reading books by three.
2. What are some books you read as a child?
As a young child, I had an illustrated anthology of fairy tales that I loved to death. Mid-grade, I liked the American Girl Collection books and Calico Captive—anything historical. I hated Anne of Green Gables and I still do. By high school, I loved historical fantasy, like The Mists of Avalon. By college, it was experimental fiction if I was being serious or romance novels if I just wanted to chill.
3. What is your favorite genre?
Historical.
4. Do you have a favorite novel?
Novel? To Kill a Mocking Bird. Novella? Siddhartha.
5. Where do you usually read?
On my bed or in waiting rooms; I get ill if I read while moving.
6. When do you usually read?
Because I write for a living, it is REALLY hard to 1) find time to read for pleasure 2) that does not involve short instantly gratifying fan fiction and 3) not become a psycho red-pen-wielding copy-edit-Nazi. For some reason, I typically cannot read books (unless they are children’s books) without the sun having already gone down. I don’t know why, but it helps me focus (like at a movie theatre) and lets me unwind before bed.
7. Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Oh constantly. I’m unfaithful and hop around. I’m currently in the middle of at least five books. Also, if I can learn anything about writing or style or structure from the book, I’ll write notes in it and highlight passages and put in color-coded Post-it flags…because I am a geek…and if it was a really good book, then I’ll buy another copy to keep pristine.
8. Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
After four degrees, I’m sick to death of nonfiction. I like historical fiction because I LOVE history, so if it’s an historical or mythology reference text, cool. I mean, I still love National Geographic or educational stuff like Encyclopedia Britannica, books on cooking, nutrition, psychology, etc., but you won’t catch me with Time magazine or the latest book about Nixon or something.
9. Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
When I was younger, I practically lived in the library.
I rarely borrow books or films because I worry about going through things quickly enough so that I never forget to return them. My one friend who shares my sickening obsession with historical fiction and I will send each other books and movies, like, every other week, but, because we eat that stuff up, we’re quick to give it back…besides, we’re not just each other’s enablers, but soul sisters, so…there’s no stress like there would be from normal borrowing.
Having worked in publishing for five years now, I take buying books (and other copyrighted entertainment) really seriously, but, because I’ve worked in publishing for five years now, I’m poor, so I usually buy books in paperback and when they are on sale—unless the subject or author is dear to me.
10. Do you keep most of the books you buy?
Yes; if I didn’t like it, I donate it to a library.
11. If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them?
I don’t have children yet, but I’ve already begun compiling the list.
12. What are you reading now?
Eat, Pray, Love
Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain
My Lord and Spymaster
The Persian Boy
And tons of reference nonfiction about Richard I and Philip Augustus II and the third crusade, because I think I’d like to punish myself by writing their love/hate story in the same masochistic and moving vein as The Lion in Winter.
13. Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Yes, because I keep lists for everything. But I act according to my mood in my leisure time…
14. What’s next?
After My Lord and Spymaster, probably Warriors of God and The Troubadour’s Song.
15. What books would you like to reread?
I reread Siddhartha at least once a year and The English Patient before I sit down to write anything original. But otherwise, I don’t go back. If I’ve read it, I can recall it.
16. Who are your favorite authors?
Jane Austen, Joanna W. Bourne, Joseph Campbell, Sandra Cisneros, K. Y. Craft, Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaiman, Ursula K. Le Guin, Hermann Hesse, Maxine Hong Kingston, Harper Lee, Teresa Medeiros, Naomi Novik, Michael Ondaatje, Arundhati Roy, Elizabeth George Speare, John Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf, Ayano Yamane, Banana Yoshimoto
Kara Stambach 