Meet Your Bloggers: Rachel

About me:
· I learned to read when I was four years old, and have been an avid reader ever since. I have enough books to start my own library, and I’ve seriously thought about taping call numbers on their spines.

· Reading is a very tactile experience for me. I prefer hardcover books to paperbacks, and I rarely read mass market paperbacks because they don’t feel right in my hands.

· I read, on average, five books a month, but quality is far more important to me than quantity. I always have a book (or two) with me, and I read every day, whenever and wherever.

· I love used book stores for the variety of books therein. You never know quite what you might find inside…. One of my favorite used book stores is Molly’s Books in Philadelphia, owned by poet Molly Russakoff.


My top five favorite books are:
· The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

· Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

· If on a winter’s night a traveler…, by Italo Calvino

· Atonement, by Ian McEwan

· The Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer

All of a sudden I realize that my favorite books are all by white males. The multi-cultural feminist in me rages at this. But, what are ya gonna do? Those are the books I love best!


Besides reading, I also like:
· Cooking. I would love to be a gourmet chef, but I have too much of a propensity for inadvertently burning dinner. Instead, I spend my time drooling over the latest issue of Food & Wine, imagining recipes I know I don’t have the skill to handle.

· Dancing. I used to be an avid swing dancer, but have since branched out to other forms as well. Who knew contra dancing could be so much fun?

· Photography. This hobby is still in development, as I learn to make better use of the awesome camera technology that’s available these days. And looking for new and exciting things to photograph gives me an excuse to travel more. Hooray!


Other somewhat random tidbits:
· The year I was born, Rachel was the sixteenth most popular name in the US.

· I share a birthday (the date, not the year!) with Lyndon B. Johnson and Pee-Wee Herman.

· My favorite non-book-related website is Cake Wrecks. Seriously. Check it out.

· I started keeping a reading log two years ago.

· I really like lists. A lot.

Why I love Uptown Literati:
It’s a collection of great voices all discussing one of my favorite subjects. What’s not to love?