How long have you worked at Lemuria?
6 years.
What Was The Best Lemuria Event?
Chuck Palahniuk, duh.
When did you start really collecting books?
I didn’t really start reading until my junior or senior year in high school. For fun, that is; I could read before that. I don’t know if I had a favorite book in high school—Geek Love, maybe. I took it with me to Germany between my sophomore and junior year. That, and a book about Jean Benet Ramsey. Everyone thought I was weird as shit for taking those two books with me, but that pretty much describes my reading taste to this day. Geek Love was the first book that made me love books.
What do you look for in a good book?
Goodness. Does that count?
Who is your favorite book character?
Ignatius from Confederacy of Dunces.
You named your dog after him, right?
No actually, after I read that book, I named everything Ignatius. I had a goldfish named Ignatius. My grandmother heard me talking about my goldfish, and she asked me about that name. I told her it was from a book I really liked, and she said, “That was my father’s name”. Isn’t that weird?
So your dog is named after your great-grandfather?
Yes, and the Ignatius in Confederacy. If I ever have a child, I’m sure he will be named Ignatius. He’ll probably have a complex, because he’ll actually be named after my dog.
What book do you think is the best-kept secret?
Geek Love. Oh god, this is just going to be about Geek Love. Valley of the Dolls, Confederacy of Dunces—there are never enough people who have read that book.
If you could meet any author, dead or alive, who would it be?
I’ve already met him, and I’ve hugged him (Chuck Palahnuik). I’m not a writer, so I don’t really have that desire to meet and pick brains.
If any book could be real?
(Geek Love) no! Don’t write that. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
What meal would you want to fall from the sky?
Probably pancakes.
With syrup?
and butter
What book could you not get enough of as a kid?
Goosebumps, and Archie comics. I have hundreds of Archie Comics still. If I could find my Goosebumps, I probably would 
have a hundred of them. I really loved the create your own story books, too.
Have you read R.L. Stein’s new book, or are you going to?
Probably not, I don’t want to ruin it.
Is there a system to how you choose what to read next?
I don’t really have a consistent pattern. But sometimes I’ve had enough fiction, and I want to read true crime. Or enough true crime, I want to read fiction. It kind of depends on the mood I’m in after I finish a book; I don’t really have it planned out.
When do you read?
Before bed. Sadly that’s the only time
Are you a one-at-a-time book reader, or are you reading many books at once?
Just one. I have much too much A.D.D. for that. If I try to read more than one book at a time, I’ll get the two books confused, plus whatever TV show I’m
watching, plus any conversations I’ve had. I’ve tried fiction and non-fiction, but no. Can’t make it work.
How do you organize your books?
Most of all of my coffee table/ picture books are in one spot. I have 4 sets of bookcases with 3 shelves each that have a lot of books I’ve read. And one of those shelves, I have chronologically all the books I’ve read this year. I have a long wall of books in my bedroom that I intend to read in the near future, even though it is like a hundred books. In my study/living room I have all of my crafting books and books that have the most value to me, whether that’s monetary or sentimental.
What are you reading right now?
Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon in honor of our dear Simon.
What do you look for in a good bookstore? What are your bookstore pet peeves?
I don’t go to bookstores. I work too much, I don’t go anywhere. If I go to a bookstore on a vacation, I just look around, and think: I’ve got all of this already.
I like to see what they do different. Not necessarily bad or good, just how their store is laid out or how they do customer service.
Top 5 favorite books in your library right now (in no particular order):
1. A Father’s Story, Lionel Dahmer
2. Geek Love, Katherine Dunn
3. Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
4. Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins
5. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
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