Archair BEA: Introductions

This week is BEA in New York, which I would love to be at, but just returned from a long two weeks of travel, so I might be even more excited to be participating in ARMCHAIR BEA, right from home. 

I thought I signed up for Armchair BEA before I left for Europe, but I'm probably wrong, so I just signed up and probably won't be on the list for a bit.


But, I'm still going to do my introductions post now:

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

My name is Laura, and I teach English at a community college in Arizona.  I've been married almost two years, and I have a couple of pugs that I love.   I got into blogging because I wanted to talk about books more, I guess.  And I wanted to write regularly, stay in practice. 

1. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

I am currently reading Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, which is really fun so far.  2012 has been a kind of hectic reading year (or just year in general) for me so far, but I have been reading some good stuff.  I loved The Marriage Plot and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. 

1. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?

Hemingway and Fitzgerald, together.  I'm not even really sure why.  I just finished reading A Moveable Feast, write before going to Paris, and I just think it would be quite fun.  I'm really fascinated by the Paris ex-pat community of that time, but also just by big writing communities in general.  What fun. 

1. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

I just went to London, but I always want to go to London.  It is the best (literary) city in the world.  I'm also pretty interested in visiting Savannah, Georgia, but not in the summer.

1. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

I don't know that my tastes have necessarily changed, but I definitely read a lot more new fiction.  I enjoy the opportunity to do so, but sometimes I want to get back to my classic roots.