Rob’s Reader of the Week: Ann Kingman
May 11, 2009 by Rob
Filed under Rob's Reader of the Week
Rob’s Intro: Rob’s Reader of the Week may have been on hiatus for a while now but it makes its welcome return to its regular Monday slot today, and to celebrate I’m pulling out all of the stops and featuring one of the most passionate and respected lit bloggers out there – Ann Kingman, a blogger who comes with double value because she also works for the publishing industry.
I’m really excited to be featuring Ann, and I’m also greatly honoured. When RobAroundBooks first launched last year, Ann’s blog was one of the first bookish blogs I discovered, and it impressed me instantly. At the time I spoke of Ann’s blog, and I really couldn’t say enough good things about it, or of Ann and her co-host Michael. This duo, with a seemingly infinite store of enthusiasm for anything bookish are seriously into their reading, and their ‘insider’ knowledge is a real boon. Their biggest ‘hook’ is a regularly published audio podcast, and it’s while listening to this that one gets a real impression of how big the pair’s enthusiasm and passion for books really is.
If anyone can teach us a thing or two about reading then it’s these two but I only have the space to shine the booklight on one, so it gives me great pleasure to present Ann Kingman as this week’s Reader of the Week. Over to you Ann:
I’m co-publisher of Books on the Nightstand: a blog and podcast about books and reading. I’m always an avid reader, and I spend my days as a District Sales Manager for Random House, Inc., working with bookstores to find just the right books for their customers.
1. Favourite Genre? I love literary fiction, but nothing makes me happier than a brilliant mystery.
2. Favourite Book? It changes over time, but more and more I am leaning toward The Road by Cormac McCarthy
3. Why do you love reading so much? I am inherently curious, and I love learning about other people’s lives, even if they are fictional.
4. Favourite reading place? A comfy chair, with a light blanket and a cup of coffee or glass of wine … and I like to have music playing, though I find that I have to have just the *right* music (depends on the book) or it doesn’t work.
5. How BIG is your reading addiction? It’s not an addiction, it’s my life. After all, I’ve made it my career, and yet still read for pleasure in my spare time.
6. How do you normally add books to your collection? Though I get an enormous number of books for free from work, I still buy about 30 books a year for my personal reading. Most of these are purchased at the independent bookstores that I work with. Believe me, it’s very difficult being in bookstores almost everyday and walking out empty-handed, especially when there are wonderful booksellers telling me about the great books I just have to read!
7. How do you decide what to read? I sample just about everything that we publish, and if I like the sample, I read the entire book. Sometimes I don’t have enough time to read them all (do we ever?) so they will be put on the shelf to finish later. I also read many books that are recommended to me by booksellers or other publishing people.
8. Ebooks – love or hate? I’m mixed on ebooks. The “manuscripts” that I read are e-books, and I love that I don’t have to juggle all of those loose pages that invariably spill all over the floor and get out of order. But if I had to choose an ebook or a “real” book, I’d choose the physical book every time. My main complaint about ebooks is that I often go back to check something in the narrative and I can’t find that place in an ebook. In a physical book, I know that it’s about 1/3 of the way in on the upper left hand page. I really miss those physical touchpoints in an ebook, and I never realized how much I relied on them until I started using an ereader.
9. Has reading inspired you to do any serious writing yourself? As a kid, I wanted to be a writer as a result of the wonderful books I was reading. But honestly, I would prefer to read than to write at this point in my life. That may change down the road.
10. What single piece of advice (or tip) would you give to fellow readers? Find a few key reliable sources for recommendations, whether it be friends, booksellers, book blogs — and then delight in the discovery.
Ann, I know you’re one super-busy lady, so thank you so much for taking the time out of your schedule to speak with me.
If you want to know more about Ann and her reading life then I recommend you head on over to her Books on the Nightstand blog, where you can both read and hear her, along with her co-host Michael, sharing an insatiable passion for books. Talking of Michael, how could I feature one half of Books on the Nightstand without the other? To be honest I couldn’t because these two go together like salt and pepper, ham on rye and ying and yang. So look out next week on Rob’s Reader of the Week as I turn the booklight on the other half of this dynamic duo, and get chatty with Michael Kindness. Something to look forward to? You’d better believe it!
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Rob, a self-confessed bibliophile, is without any hope of rehabilitation. He gets unnaturally excited over anything book-shaped, and if book sniffing were a crime then he would have been locked up years ago (which wouldn't bother him in the slightest provided his cell were lined with books)
