Reader's Fave

I recently interviewed Puget Island resident Tonia Brown for our 56th installment of Reader's Fave, a casual interview with someone who shares their favorite book. Tonia began our discussion with author Nora Roberts. "She's my go to," Tonia said. "My mom would clean houses and I'd go along to help. There was this one lady who had all these Nora Roberts books and let me take them to read as I wanted. Her books are a quick read. They stick out to me the most, but it's not always obvious where the story is going. I've always enjoyed reading and don't really remember where I picked it up from. I've always had a book in my hand. I intentionally read to my daughter when she was in my womb, and now my mom says my daughter is just like me, always reading. In fact, she's a few grade levels higher in her reading scores. I don't really remember my mom reading much. The only time was seeing her reading 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' series. My younger sister didn't read as much as me, but she is more into reading now and I give her suggestions. My younger brother was into the 'Harry Potter' series. I did get into historical fiction about six years ago, and first read author Kate Quinn. I've done some auto-biography, but I usually read fiction."

When asked about her preferred reading formats, Tonia said, "I do more audio now because I have so much to do with house cleaning and I do a lot of driving. I use the Libby app. I like using it because I can tune into it and tune out of it if I want. I still read physical books, but it's just so hard to find the time to sit and read."

Tonia also discussed belonging to a book club she came upon while working one day a week at the Elks Club in the Longview/Kelso area. "Three months ago, several women started a book club," Tonia said. "There's about 10 in the group. We are on our third book now, called 'Our Souls at Night' by Kent Haruf. Our second book was 'The Woman in the Window' by A. J. Finn. When we meet, there is a food theme around the book, and then we watch the movie on it. I haven't been able to meet and watch the movies, because I'm so busy. The women are much older than me, and it's an opportunity for some of them to get back into reading. We also have a group text and are commenting on it. I also have yearly reading goals on the app Good Reads. I'm not a big TV person, there's just so many books I want to read. I don't have the patience to wait to watch some TV program. I just want to read. I average about 30 to 50 books a year. I've read 13 books so far this year. I think the goal this year on Good Reads is 56 books."

May you wonderful Wahkiakum readers enjoy the simple pleasure of reading and sharing with others your thoughts and discoveries.