Behold the final cover for the French edition of Graceling!

Whaddya think? Quite a departure from the others, huh? I get a real kick out of it myself and would love to hear what you think :o)
Also, want to listen to me talk about my name? (I can just hear the screams of excitement out there.) You can do so here, and then, after that, you can go listen to other people talk about their names. Really! It’s fun!
So, I’m in the midst of a Project: I’m trying to put together an official FAQ page. I’m organizing and consolidating the questions I’ve answered so far; looking over ones I want to answer soon; trying to decide how to present everything so it’s user-friendly; etc. And, while bumbling through my list of questions-not-yet-answered, I found myself wanting to answer this one. (For the spoiler-cautious: no spoilers!)
I’m a bit of a packrat when it comes to books. You couldn’t pry them from my cold, dead hands. Do you get rid of your books once you’ve read them, or do you hoard them like a little squirrel hoards nuts for the winter?
Well, my squirrel friend, I don’t read books. Ha! Just kidding. Truth is, I read an absurd number of books, BUT, I also seem to have anti-packrat genes. I don’t mean that I hate packrats, just that I definitely am not one myself. ^_^ I tend to only keep books that I love madly and/or books that have sentimental value. Of course, that still leaves me with a ton of books. But let’s just say I’ve got hundreds of books, rather than the tens of thousands of books I would have if I kept everything. Actually, I tend to do most of my reading from the library. Then, when I stumble across a book that I ♥♥♥, I put it on my purchase list so that I can own it and have it forever.
Some books I recently purchased after reading them from the library: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (which I loved so much that I bought several copies, to spread around); Dead Man’s Ransom by Ellis Peters (my favorite so far in the Brother Cadfael mystery series); Alchemy by Margaret Mahy (I am steadily building my collection of Mahy books; one day I will OWN THEM ALL!). Some books I’ve recently read, loved, put on my list, and will purchase soon: Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller by Sarah Miller (DO READ IT! With tissues in hand!) and Dairy Queen and The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (have you met D.J. Schwenk yet? You should).
I’ve started getting a lot of free books, too, now that I’m going to trade shows and so on. I keep the ones I love passionately and pass the others on.
Do you have a book policy? I love mine, because it allows me to spend lots of time in libraries (♥) and it allows me to minimize my belongings, which is good for a person who moves a lot, and also makes each possession that much more precious…