Bookshelf Snooping - Adam Slade

Many thanks to Adam Slade for divulging information about his bookshelf. You can find him at his blog Editing Hat. 

1. Your childhood favourite

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett. I started reading the Pratchetts at 12 or 13, and I'm still buying them whenever a new one is released. The man is a genius.

2. Your current favourite 

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett! Seriously, that book doesn't get old. My favourite of the year, though, would be Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Such incredible characters.

3. Your top five authors

Terry Pratchett, Joe Abercrombie, Jim Butcher, RA Salvatore (for his Drizzt series), and Scott Lynch (the Gentleman Bastards series). If it was top six, I'd include Stephen King, for his Dark Tower series, but since I don't read horror I don't like most of his stuff.

4. Book(s) you’re reading now

I'm currently reading Ketchup is a Vegetable by Robin O'Bryant, after being bullied into it by a friend. I'm glad they did. It's a non-fiction series of humorous essays about motherhood and parenting. Normally I don't read anything like it, but now Robin has me wanting to expand my horizons a little.

5. Book(s) you’ve pretended to read 

None. I don't pretend I've read something, and I'm honest if I don't like something. This has garnered me some funny looks (I couldn't stand Pride and Prejudice, and I'm not about to pretend otherwise), but I read for me, not for other people.

6. Book(s) you’ve bought for the cover

None. My books are always stored spine out, so there's no point. Anyway, it's the words that matter! :-)

7. Book you’re a champion for 

Any written by a friend. It's hard getting out there in the publishing industry, so I'm always willing to throw up a post/review/interview to help.

8. Book that changed your life

I've honestly never read a book that changed my life. For one thing, I almost exclusively read fantasy, so it's more escapist than mind-altering. The closest has been Joe Abercrombie's First Law books, which changed the way I write.

9. Book you most want to read again for the first time 

The entire Discworld series. I'd love to rediscover them as an adult, and see if my opinions changed.

10. Book you turn to for comfort 

Anything by a favourite author. That said, I don't reread something until a fair amount of time has passed (years). I dislike remembering plot points before they happen.

11. Favourite line from a book

I have a terrible memory for specific lines, and only two stick in my mind. "YES" from Reaper Man (it's said by a god, and Pratchett used a font the size of a paperback page for effect), and "I just have to wait for Jean to get here," from The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is used in a flashback then again later on in a crucial scene. VERY well done. :-)