Q&A with a Cannonballer: alwaysanswerb

How many times have you participated in CBR?

CBR4 was my first year, making this my sixth!

Has being a participant changed the way you read? If so, how?

Yes — I actually read now. It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but allow me to set the stage for you: I hadn’t properly read for pleasure since before high school, an idyllic time when I threw myself fully into extroversion and a high school boyfriend of questionable compatibility. Suddenly, upon breaking with that guy almost a decade later, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and not enough Tumblr in the world to fill it. And then, there were books! They had been there all along, but I recalled, dimly, that I could read them. It was great! Less great is reviewing them, which I still approach with only tepid enthusiasm. I wouldn’t have continued to do it if it weren’t for the incomparable CBR community. Social reading! It’s a thing!

How many chapters do you give a book to grab you before giving up?

I am pretty kind to books. According to Goodreads, I have only given up on 2% –10 total — of books I’ve attempted in the last 5 years. Looking over them, a full six were because of gratuitous rapeyness or other alpha male nonsense, so I guess moreso than chapters, that’s my hardline.

What’s the first book you recommend to new friends?

Ha, so, whenever I see this question in Quick Questions, it is the one that I am always like, “Gawd, I don’t even fkn know.” There are some books that I talk about A LOT, but when it comes down to brass tacks I am actually very hesitant to recommend anything because I couldn’t bear if someone was only lukewarm on my recommendation (or worse). I always phrase recommendations as this very casual “Well, I love it, but who knows, taste is subjective.”

ANYWAY. I definitely have recentitis when “recommending,” but I expel a lot of air on the Graceling trilogy (Kristin Cashore), A Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Laini Taylor), Seveneves (Neal Stephenson), and The Expanse series (James S.A. Corey).

If you were to get a book-related tattoo, what would it be? (Or if you already have one, what does it say?)

I’m…not a tattoo person? (Counter-counter culture!) I am not great at declarations of permanence and would feel compelled to not pick something that is meaningful to literally everyone, like the Deathly Hallows symbol or the “Cool Girl” speech (can you imagine that as a tattoo tho?)

Fortunately, bad jokes are a fixture in my life worthy of a permanent tattoo, and I have Google to find one about reading: “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. — Groucho Marx”

It’s summer movie season! Do you: A, go opening weekend; B, wait for the crowds to die down; or C, wait until it comes out on HBO or RedBox.

Definitely C, with a notable exception for B of Wonder Woman. The main reason to go to a theater is butter popcorn, and I finally found a man who makes it at home better.