Flannery O'Connor, Suzanne Collins, John Bevere, Anna C. Bowling. I also love watching movies based Charles Dickens' stories; but reading Dickens is like watching paint dry.

My writing crosses genres, and although this is becoming more popular with readers, we're not quite there yet.

Coffee.

In third grade I wrote "Trouble in the Dishpan" which involved the various glasses and plates vying for importance. It made me giggle but my teacher was not impressed, and I believe I got a "C".

I like reading memoirs best. Each human has a story to tell that is uniquely their own.

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I confess I saw the movie first, and that's what prompted me to get my hands on the book. This was 20 years ago, so I had to scour the used book stores until I found a tattered copy to call my own. I still have it. I was happy to see a reprinting of this book about two years ago, with big promotions in the big bookstores. Oh, the question was why is it among my favorites. I like to envision myself visiting that time period in Brooklyn. Life was difficult, but it was never boring and Francie seemed to feel that she belonged to something bigger than just her family.

2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Yes, book two of the Hunger Games series. I never got over the scene where Katniss spins and her wedding dress goes on fire and turns into the mockingjay outfit. I must have read that paragraph thirty times.

3. The Bible. Yes, there are parts I totally don't understand. But the more I read it, the more illuminating it becomes. It tells us of a whole other dimension other that just the here and now and it's fascinating.

4. Relentless by John Bevere. I waited my whole life for someone to write a book like that. God's grace is the power to overcome.

5. Scheisshaus Luck by Pierre Berg. A memoir, written by a non-Jewish atheist who survived the horrors of Hitler's concentration camps. I wish this book had a better cover; I believe it could attract a bigger audience. I loved this book. Intertwined within the misery of daily life is a love story of a young man and young woman, enduring hardship. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

I have a Nook.

A lot of course! It's wonderful when someone leaves on comment on something that you wrote saying, "I understand, I went through that too." It takes away the loneliness.