Book nerd, book worm, book lover.   Everytime I hear those words, I can only think of one person. My very good friend Jodi.  This hip chick knows her books, and is one of the few people whose opinion I listen to when it comes to what is good to read.  I realized she is just too cool not to introduce to my readers. I thought it would be fun to pick the brain of a book nerd, so I threw a few questions in her direction.

1.  What is the very first book you remember reading?

I remember reading books when I was in kindergarden, but I can’t seem to remember the names of the books. I can only remember the pictures and the story lines. There was one with illustrations all done in blue about a doll that gets lost far from home and has to find her way back. There was another one about some sort of Schmoo creature that is being killed by oil spills. I try all the time to find the Schmoo book but never have any luck mining my memory for any more supporting details.

The books I actually remember the names of? Most everything by Beverly Cleary, of course. I was in love with the Ramona books and still remember that great image of Susan’s boing boing curls and Ramona’s desire to pull them and see if they spring back.

2.  I think it is safe to say, the only thing you love more than books is music.  What are some of your favorite music related books?

When it comes to music books, I seem to have a penchant for rock and roll memoirs. This is odd because I’m generally not a fan of memoirs. I recently read Dan Kennedy’s Rock On: An Office Power Ballad a memoir about his year working for a major record label. This is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. I bet I laughed out loud about a hundred times. This books shows you that there is absolutely nothing rock and roll about the record business and explains why it seems to be dying a slow, painful death at the moment.

Another rock and roll memoir that I loved beyond all rationale was Rob Sheffield’s Love is a Mixtape. Here Sheffield uses a history of mix tapes to tell us about meeting and falling in love with his wife, her untimely death, and what it’s like to be a young widower.

Of course I have to mention The Replacements: All Over But the Shouting. This is one of those books I had been waiting for all my life. I fell in love with Jim Walsh’s writing when I was 19, a few years later I discovered the music of The Replacements. When I found out he was writing a book about the band, I just about died from sheer ecstasy. The book is an oral history, the story of the band told through old and new interviews What makes this books so phenomenal is that Walsh manages to craft a very compelling narrative about the band using the words of other people. I knew the story and I still found myself being drawn through the story, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Simply amazing.

3. What book has had the strongest influence on your life?

This one is surprisingly easy, A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving. I read it when I was 18 and until that point I had no idea about the beauty of language, storytelling, and the effect it could have on me.  Owen Meany was the first literary novel I read on my own. Sure I read some great stuff in high school, but those were school books and didn’t have the same kind of impact on me as a book I chose. Before I read Irving I had mostly read really bad romance novels and Sweet Valley High Books.  While I don’t want to diss on Sweet Valley because it is my first love, it cannot hold a candle to the depth and imagination found in any of Irving’s novels.

4.  How do you decide what books you are going to pick up to read? The back cover? The first few sentences?

You know, I really have no idea how I choose which book to read next. I keep a running list in my head of all the books I want to read, so I usually just pick whatever’s next on the list. I also belong to a bookclub and do a monthly podcast about books so those titles get priority if a meeting or podcast is imminent. I make a concentrated effort to make sure I keep my reading list varied. If I have just finished reading a novel the next book I read will usually be a short story collection or something non-fiction. Wow, that was an incredibly nerdy answer.

6. (because in the Chromey-verse there is no five) What is your favorite book related website?

I read a lot of the litblogs, at least twenty on a regular basis, so it’s really hard to name just one. I use literary blogs as a way to find new books and authors. There’s a lot of competition to be #1 in my heart so you know that when I say Largeheartedboy is my absolute favorite that it’s good. I like that his book combines books and music (see question #2). He has this great Book Notes feature where authors talk about the music that influenced them or their writing. I have discovered so many books because of that feature — Joshua Furst’s Sabotage Cafe, Lauren Groff’s The Monsters of Templeton, and so much more. It might sound weird, but I have found that if I really like the music an author is listening to chances are that I’m really going to dig their book.

You can get a full dose of Jodi at i will dare.com. (it is worth the click, trust me)