We thought it would be fun to interview each other on each others’ blogs. My responses to Allegra’s questions are here. Here are Allegra’s responses to mine (with my comments in italics):

What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck Ed.: I’d never heard of this one! It’s added to my reading list.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Alex Rider Series (because I just cannot pick one)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman Ed.: Nice; a definite classic.

Which book character would you choose to come live with you in our world and why?
Alex Rider from Anthony Horowtiz’s Alex Rider series because I think that his character is so much fun and he can do so many things. I also think that it would be fun to be friends with someone who works with the MI6, don’t you?
Ed.: If he wouldn’t have to kill me for knowing too much!

You have $10,000 to give to a person or organization. Who gets the money and why?
I would give the money to The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust as I feel they are doing an honorable thing. They rescue orphaned elephants mostly but they also rescue rhinos and help get them better. I currently am the foster parent of two baby elephants named SHUKURU and MAKARETI and I would want to give the money to that trust as I feel that they organization is amazing.

You can go spend the summer anywhere you want. Where are you headed?
I would want to head out to Greece and Italy because I want to visit the historical places and try and translate the Latin text as Latin is currently my favorite and best subject.

What piece of advice would you give yourself of two years ago?
I would tell myself to get my act together with organizing. It took a lot of effort for me to get organized

Who’s your biggest book crush?
Well, this is a hard one. I have read so many books with great characters who I would love to be my love :). It is hard to choose between Ren and Kishan from Tigers Curse but I may even throw in Alex Rider. :)

If you could do 5 really expensive things or own 5 really expensive items what would they be? (I had so much fun thinking about that, I figured you should get the chance, too!)
1. I would want to buy a really large house
2. I would want to fill the entire house with books
3. I would want to get myself some cats to keep my company
4. I would want to travel around the world (or maybe to space – don’t know which one to choose)
5. I would want to travel out to Africa and have a tour of there and visit the exotic animals.

What TV show do you have to watch every week?
I currently have to watch Terra Nova which is on FOX every Monday night at 8. But if I got CW I would want to watch The Vampire Diaries. I would also watch Hawaii Five-0 (2010) if I could stay up that late.
Then there are the old TV shows which I still watch such as Stargate: Atlantis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. So yeah. A little dose of all of those and I am good to go. Ed.: Yay people still watch Buffy!

It’s your birthday! How are you going to celebrate?
I would want to spend time with my entire family and go out to dinner to The Moss Nook in Cheshire, England.

What’s your favorite holiday and why?
My favorite holiday is Christmas because I get to fly on over to England and visit my entire family and I get to catch up with everyone.

What 5 websites do you spend the most time on?
Well, this is hard to figure out as I spend WAY too much time online (my mother keeps reinforcing that point.)
Well I love FOG.com which is a great gaming website but do not go on there as frequently as I used to. I spend a lot of time on Facebook but I have started managing my time. I spend a lot of time on YouTube listening to music. I go onto places like CBS, NBC, CWTV, NICK (I know I still like some Nick shows :) ) and watch re-runs of some TV shows.
I also spend an insane amount of time on my blog writing and deleting and re-writing posts.

Thanks, Allegra! Sorry I was such a slacker about posting it, but I really had fun with this interview exchange.

I’m not sure how seriously to take the “versatile” part of the name. I think I’ll interpret it as “I am versatile because I care about things other than YA lit,” so I’ll choose to give my awards to a few bloggers I read regularly who post (at least sometimes) outside of children’s lit. Most of them are my friends in real life, but they are also excellent writers (and pretty low-traffic, which I appreciate).

• No Seriously, What About Teh Menz? — Men’s issues written about in a way that fascinates this feminist, rather than pissing her off.
• Pith — My friend Jesse takes beautiful pictures and thinks about the internet and life and the intersection of the two, and has been posting all of that online even longer than I have. (Which is almost 13 years, not that I’m counting.)
• The CSA Files — I get some of my best recipe ideas from my friend Lexi’s blog.
• There’s a Botticelli Angel Inside, Snapping Beans — In addition to being smart about children’s lit, my friend Rebecca is also smart on the internet about queer theory, fat politics, and other interesting things.

Feel no obligation, but if any of you want to pass this award along, please do!

Other contests include Christopher Chant vs. Hermione Granger, Ged vs. Edward Pevensie, and the incredibly painful Katniss vs. Tally.

For added value, each contest includes a bit of fic describing the battle. I like the one in which Chrestomanci informs Hermione the know-it-all that there are more things in heaven and earth, yadda. Go vote! It’s fun!

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:

• Attending a rockin’ New Year’s party at the home of jcn, Latemodel, and some other people whose URLs I don’t know.
• Turning twenty. (Eeep!)
• Teaching myself to cook in my first apartment, a little studio in Providence. Fave recipe of that era, from RSB: stir-fry tofu, canned sweet potatoes, and fresh ginger.
• Taking a year off from college to work, do the obligatory month of bumming around Europe, and figure out how to force myself to finish my degree.
• Starting this blog. (We called them “web journals” then.)

5 Things On My To-Do List Today:

• Figure out what to bring to my work Yankee swap.
• Write more reviews.
• Read the 3 graphic novels I picked up at the library today. The end is in sight!
• Buy new glasses with what’s left of my flexible spending account. Man, what a rip-off.
• Oh, you said today? Finish this and go to bed!

5 Snacks I Love:

• apples and peanut butter
• Taza Mexican chocolate
• nachos
• ice cream, the wackier the flavor the better
• pretty much anything that involves cheese

5 Things I’d do if I was a Millionaire:

• Correct the grammar in this meme. It should be “…if I WERE a millionaire.” What’s that you say? Grammar snobbiness is free? Hey, bonus!
• Buy a gorgeous condo in the ‘ville.
• Pay off my grad school debt. Boring, but true.
• Invest it somewhere that my friends and family can borrow from if/when they’re in financial trouble. (Like, say, if there’s a gigantic economic collapse. Not that that would ever happen.)
• Give most of it away, largely to clean, renewable energy research, and local groups that a) support sustainable food, or b) improve public education.

5 Places I’ve Lived:

• Silver Spring, MD
• Winter Park, FL
• Columbia, SC
• two different suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA
• Providence, RI

5 Jobs I’ve Had:

• Baby-sitter at a Unitarian Universalist church
• Web designer / IT intern / general computer lackey at a sensor manufacturing company
• college tech support student manager (ie., getting paid to goof off with my friends and become very familiar with everything popular on the internet circa 2000)
• the boss of the people doing the job above, only at a different college
• financial aid / registrar punching bag

I’m not tagging this time. But anyone who wants to spend way too long answering all these questions, I’d love to read your answers!

Here are the rules: Grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal/blog along with these instructions.

Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the closest. Tag five other people to do the same.

She walked down to the road that bordered the Tech Area, pulling the wagon behind her, leaving parallel trails in the dust. It was hot, and the wagon made walking a little awkward, but she was looking forward to seeing what might be in the dump. You never knew.

That’s from The Green Glass Sea, by Ellen Klages.

I’ll tag… Ruthling, Martini-Corona, Randy, ams16, and DiceyTillerman.

Comment here