Guest Post: Author Book Picks With Eileen Cook

I'd like to welcome Eileen Cook to the blog today to share some of her favorite books and to tell us about what we can find in her library:

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer.  Her latest release, The Education of Hailey Kendrick came out in Jan 2011. Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.

You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com.

My house is stuffed with books. There are bookshelves in the living room, dining room, office, and on the landing outside our bedroom. I have the kind of house where you will never run out of something to read. When you look through my shelves you would decide that there was no rhyme or reason to what I like. Books I’ve read in the past few months include nonfiction (In the Garden of the Beasts by Larson), YA (Invincible Summer by Moskowitz and The FitzOsbornes in Exile by Cooper), eerie/creepy (Don’t Breathe a Word by McMahon), chick lit funny (If You Were Here by Lancaster), MG (The Penderwicks), historical fiction (Elizabeth I by Margaret George). This is the stack of books that I can see from where I am sitting and typing. I am sure there are more around here somewhere.

For me, what book I want to read depends in part on my mood. I also enjoy that I get to read books for research. This is one great thing about being a writer (the other great thing is that you get to hang out all day in an old pair of yoga pants making things up and getting to call it work.) In the past year I did research on fairies, con-artists, and the Salem witch trials. Not all for one book.

I have a hard time trying to figure out what is my favorite book. There have been so many. Growing up I loved The Phantom Tollbooth, pretty much everything Judy Blume ever wrote, and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. A Prayer for Owen Meany, or The House at Riverton, might be my favorites as an adult,  but I reserve the right to change my mind depending on what I’m reading next.

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your book picks with us, Eileen!

Check out my review of THE EDUCATION OF HAILEY KENDRICK, Eileen's latest book! I also voted it my delicious rainy day comfort read in my Favorite Reads of 2011 (So Far) post.

Thanks to The {Teen} Book Scene for hosting Eileen's blog tour. Be sure to visit all of the other tour stops for more fun with Eileen Cook:

Tuesday, June 28: Melissa at Mel's Books and Info
Wednesday, June 29: Julia at Rex Robot Reviews
Thursday, June 30: Kelsey at The Book Scout
Friday, July 1: Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Monday, July 4: Corrine at Lost for Words
Tuesday, July 5: Elizabeth at Swords for Fighting
Wednesday, July 6: Kari at A Good Addiction
Thursday, July 7: Crystal at My Reading Room
Friday, July 8: Kim at The Book Butterfly