Book meme

Certainly can't resist this...thanks Amy. And Annie.

1. We've all heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Have you ever picked up a book based solely on the title or the picture on the cover?

I do it all the time. It's pretty subconscious, I think. I'm trying to do less of it, seeing as how I've compiled a long enough list of titles I'll never get through at this point anyway. The most recent example is Molvanîa: a Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry (A Jetlag Travel Guide), by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner & Rob Sitch.

2. Along the same lines, do you ever look at whichever book someone else is reading in public or whatnot, and based on that make a snap judgment about their character or literary taste?
No, I really don't. I'm usually too involved with my own reading material to look around much. Having said that, I have a knee-jerk reaction to pink, especially hot-pink. Someone reading a pink-covered book will likely be female, nowadays likely reading chick-lit. Guys, you really ought to check out the genre, because I'm telling you it will tell you more about women than 30 years of marriage!

3. Do you buy books online? If so, where is your favorite place to find them?
I like Amazon, even tho' the Social Conscience Nerd in me says I need to find somewhere else.

4. From someone who's had more than her fair share of library fines... what is the largest late fee you've ever incurred at a library for returning a book past the due date? Have you ever borrowed a book from a library and never returned it?
Whatever the maximum was at the library in my hometown when I was a kid. None recently; it's a lovely perk that I use and abuse, this lack of library fines.
Borrowed a magazine as a child and never returned it, but purely by accident. It disappeared into the black hole that was my closet, to be found when I was about age 13.

5. What is the first book that you can remember reading by yourself as a child?
I've talked about this before: Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang was the first book I learned to read by myself, with my sister's patient teaching. My favorite picture book was The Little House (by Virginia Burton). I read constantly, so beyond those two, I really have no specific memories of early reading. I have a lovely memories of myself on the 8-foot-couch--long story--in the dim living room with my legs crossed, ankle on knee, while my parents read in the chairs across the room in the evening. Same vision, daytime, involved me popping up regularly to go outside and jump rope until I could be still enough to read again.