SDQ Interview with John Green.

Yes, THE John Green.  The Printz-winning author of Looking for Alaska.  The man who has admitted to being dumped 53 times*.  The anagram-lovin', last-word quotin', banjo-listenin', book video-inspirin', footnotin' fool.**

He is currently in the middle of a whirlwind 19-business-day Internet Book Tour to promote his new book, the AWESOME AND FABULOUS An Abundance of Katherines.

This is Stop Number Eleven.  I think.  Previous stops (in order of publication) are:  Jane Mag, Justine Larbalestier, Cecil Castellucci, Fuse #8, Jo Knowles, The Answer May Surprise You, Sara Zarr, Dr. Frank's What's-it, Chasing Ray and Not Your Mother's Bookclub.  As if all that isn't enough, he also made a cameo appearance over at MotherReader's place and recently interviewed himself for a Penguin podcast.  And his real-life book tour is starting up soon.***  Yeesh.  I'm tired just thinking about it.

Book Currently Reading:

Six Easy Pieces, by Richard Feynmann. It's a slightly dated (1963), relatively short introduction to Physics. (And no, I am not preparing to torture my beloved readers with a book about Physics.) But I do like Physics a lot, insofar as I understand it, which is not very far at all. Even those this is ostensibly an easy book (I mean, it is right there in the title), I read each paragraph about twelve times.

CDs in Rotation:

I've been listening a lot to Old Crow Medicine Show's "Big Iron World." Also Doc Watson's album, "Southbound."

Last Movie Viewed:

That depends on how you define 'movie.' If the definition of 'movie' includes back-to-back episodes of CSI: Miami that feature a single story arc, then the last movie I saw was "CSI: Miami: This Drug Dealer Guy Is Outlandishly Hard to Kill. Let's Follow Him to Rio!" (I recommend it heartily. It features some of David Caruso's very best squinting and head-tilting.)  If you mean theatrically released movie, that would be "Little Miss Sunshine." That was also pretty good, although it's no CSI: Miami.

Literary Crush (real person or fictional character):

I recently made a list of literary crushes on my blog (it included Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, Holly Black, and Cecil Castellucci, among others).

Fictional character crushes: I wouldn't mind spending some quality time with Anne Stanton from "All the King's Men." And I suspect the librarian in Richard Powers' "The Gold Bug Variations" could keep me warm at night.

Pet Peeve:

Cotton balls. I mean, their very existence annoys me, but I find it particularly unbearable when I'm forced to see or touch or think about them. They disgust me. I realize this is crazy. Okay, let's talk about something else. I'm starting to feel sick.

Current Obsession:

I'm a big fan of the underrated TV show "How I Met Your Mother," which features both Doogie Howser and a guy I went to college with.

The New York Times crossword puzzle (my wife just bought a subscription, so we can access like 10 years worth of puzzles)

English Premier League soccer (Go Liverpool! Champions of Europe!)

Guilty Pleasures:

Um, I feel pretty guilty about CSI: Miami and How I Met Your Mother.

Irrational Fears:

Cotton balls! Also dentistry (not entirely irrational), air travel (also not entirely irrational), and mice (pretty much entirely irrational).

Favorite Words:

I like the word "deadpanned" way, way too much and have to fight against using it in every paragraph of everything I write.

But really, I try not to play favorites when it comes to words. It's not the words themselves that matter, but how you use them. (Or so argues An Abundance of Katherines.)

* The Today Show reported it as 59, but they got it wrong.

** Everyone seems to use this picture, which I grant you, is a very good one.  But I still prefer these.

*** I don't seem to see any stops in Maine.  Or even Boston.  Ahem.

Comments

[Erin I]

I hate cotton balls too!!!

[kate]

I hate cotton balls with a passion. And foamcore. And velvet. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

[Adam S.]

I hate cotton balls as well. Note to self: read my copy of Katherines next.

[MotherReader]

Really? Cotton balls? I would never have guessed that this is a shared hate.

I can't get enough of this John Green guy. Especially after he actually answered my loopy questions. He's a gem.

[Leila]

He really is. Did you listen to the podcast interview? Awesome. (And the bit about Katherine's dedication might bump him up to MR Mo Willems Status.)

[Lauren]

I was right there, until the word "wife".