We Are Bookworms

"I never thought I would meet anyone that reads as much as you - but Andrew reads even more!" 

- Elizabeth's mom to Elizabeth

Andrew reading with our cat Ayah lounging on his lap.

Andrew read the Hobbit in 3rd Grade and the entire Lord of the Rings collection in 4th Grade. In 5th Grade, he was tested and discovered that he was already at a college reading level. In Junior High his English teacher told him to stop reading because he was reading too much (he didn't). In Junior High School his mom would frequently resort to grounding him from the library to try to get him to stop reading and work on his homework. In response, he would just find books from other places. By High School she had given up, and Andrew got a job helping open the library in the mornings.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was frequently "sneakily" reading a book when she was supposed to be reading or paying attention in class as well. The librarians at both her junior high school, and later her high school, had her Student ID number memorized because she frequented the library so often. At home, she would steal away to her room to read when she ought to be helping out the the chores. This led to her also getting grounded from books several times. She read books anyway.

Elizabeth in Jr. High - she fell asleep reading a book

Since we've been married, we have visited the library often together, and Elizabeth has had to make sure to not go to bed early without encouraging Andrew to put his book down, otherwise he might not make it to sleep that night (it's so hard to put down books in middle of the good parts - unfortunately, Andrew often feels like the entire book is the good part). We have accumulated more books than we have bookshelves and are not totally sure if that will ever not be a problem. There are frequently stacks of books lying around the living room. Our dream house would have a gigantic library filled with, basically, everything: children's picture books, early readers books, Young Adult and Adult (but nothing smutty) fiction/fantasy/non-fiction/sci-fi/clean chick flicks, religious books, craft/cookbooks, and so on.

Ayah sneaking in more book reading snuggles

Andrew's favorite authors are David Weber, Brandon Sanderson, Tamora Pierce, and C.S. Lewis. His favorite book series are Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce, and the Safehold series by David Weber. He particularly enjoys sci-fi and fantasy books, but is known to read from almost every genre (Liz has not yet seen him reading horror or strictly romance books, though). Some of Andrew's favorite books are White Fang, The War God's Own, Ready Player One, Ender's Game, and Alloy of Law.

Elizabeth's favorite authors are Gail Carson Levine, Robin McKinley, Brandon Sanderson, Marissa Meyer, E.D Baker, and J.K. Rowling. Her favorite book series are the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, The Reckoners trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, and Once Upon a Time by multiple authors. Some of Liz's favorite books are Tuesdays with Morrie, To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and Ella Enchanted.