Job Title: Book Buyer
On your nightstand now: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton, The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, My Korean Deli, Blood, Bones & Butter.
Favorite book when you were a child: The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones
Your top five authors: These authors I always read when a new book theirs comes out. Not sure if I have "favorite authors": Lois McMaster Bujold, Lindsey Davis, Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, Connie Willis
Book You've Faked Reading: Generally if I can't get through the first chapter I'm done - no need to fake it.
Book you are an evangelist for: Noah's Garden by Sara Stein.
Book you've bought for the cover: Gardening books.
Book that changed your life: All of them.
Book you most want to read again for the first time: King Lear.
Book you'd take with you to a desert island: SAS Survival Handbook.
Best way to spend a weekend: Reading
Your go-to pick for movie night: Any Korean movie I can find subbed.
Favorite vacation destination: Maine
Window or Aisle: Window
What is the first giveaway that a book is going to be good: First sentence.

The publisher synopsis of celebrated author Kenneth Oppel's new book The Nest states that it is an eerie masterpiece, and eerie seems like the best word to describe it. It is not scary necessarily (unless you have a phobia about insects), but it does leave an impression and Jon Klassen's illustrations highlight the loneliness & grief of Steve's family's struggle to cope with the serious illness of their newborn baby.

The author Naomi Novik has re-worked the classic fairytale Beauty & the Beast, and in the process created characters that seem to live and breathe. Probably my favorite title of the past year, I’ve already read it twice, and I’m certain it will be a title that I re-read many more times in the coming years. It is that good.