Friday, December 09, 2005

I've Been Tagged!

Okay, so I didn't even know what a meme was until I was tagged to write one. I'm supposed to write 15 things about books and my preferences and then tag three people to do the same. Here goes:

1. Right now I'm in the middle of reading a young adult novel set in my native Michigan (this story's in Traverse City, where I once ran a cross country race on my birthday) called Going for the Record by Julie Swanson. It's a terrific first novel!

2. Tomorrow I'm going to Tokyo where I will meet Holly Thompson, author of the beautiful expat novel Ash, and John Shelley, illustrator of many children's books. I will be a guest speaker at the meeting of the Tokyo branch of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. I'm very excited to be going, but I will probably miss my children like mad!

3. Last night I read How My Parents Learned to Eat to Lilia. Or rather, I signed it.

4. Tonight I read a few chapters of Geronimo Stilton to Jio. It's a pirate story, with some references to the pirates in the book I finished a couple weeks ago.

5. A somewhat embarrassing fact: I have written two (unpublished) romance novels. I was planning to use the first one to pay my way through college but then I got a scholarship. Phew.

6. I love novels about expat women in unstable developing countries.

7. As a kid, I read Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew books. My neighbor and best friend used to tell me the endings before I got to them.

8. My son doesn't want me to read The Lost Boys of Sudan to him again because "it's sad."

9. My favorite expat-in-Japan books are Ash, Green Tea to Go by Leza Lowitz, Audrey Hepburn's Neck by Alan Brown and In the Empire of Dreams by Dianne Highbridge.

10. I'm currently big on Nigerian novelists, but I have to ask, what's up with all the twins?

11. My friend and writing guru Andy Couturier has just published one of the best books on writing ever: Writing Open the Mind. Unfortunately, I am not mentioned in the acknowldegements.

12. My daughter is going to attempt a picture book at school on Tuesday. I can't wait!

13. My son has already written a picture book about visiting the Ice Age with his sister.

14. If we lived in the United States I would just go to the library and we would save so much money!!!!

15. My review of Modern Japanese Culture by Leith Morton is due next week.

2 Comments:

Blogger Scott said...

Hi,

Found your blog via 'sharp mama'.

I'm a Canadian who lived four years in Japan (Kanagawa-ken, over two years in Cambodia, and have just moved to the Philippines.

Looking forward to reading more of your insights into Japan and life and everything in between!

7:32 PM  
Blogger Gaijin Mama said...

Thanks, Scott. I'll bet you have lots of stories about Cambodia!

5:26 AM  

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