Bookin' It with Dead Register's Avril

Avil Che

There's never enough Dead Register if you're asking me. Truth time. Their first record, Fiber, was on my must press this on vinyl list for years.

And look! They pressed it on vinyl and I bought it. It's been a happy memory ever since then. You can get that on BANDCAMP.

Avril is reading some books. Let's find out together!

1. I try to read at least two books per month.

What's your goal and your reality?

[In my crackly old lady voice]…back in the day… 

I’d being bouncing from two to three books at a time consistently. About two books per month average. Fast forward to now. I am now in the FAIL CLUB. 

My reality is one book a year, if I’m lucky. The majority of my reading these days are forums and manuals on why some app or piece of crap hardware isn’t working correctly. 

I can’t even get through a paragraph of a National Geographic article without an interruption. Knock knock, who’s there?

Interrupting Freakin’ Sheep. Baaahhh.

2. Encyclopedia Brown and Choose Your Own Adventure books were a big part of my childhood. What did you read back in Elementary School?

I’ll just focus on the 4th grade for this question. For some weird reason, my friend and I became obsessed with this genre that was supposed to make severely messed-up kids feel better about themselves.

Paperbacks about kids going blind, in body braces, getting paralysis, lupus, cancer, etc. If there was a disease, we would find it. It was kind of like a competition to see who could find the most depressing book.

3. It's no secret that I think Harry Potter is an amazing saga, but it wasn't until after the movie for Chamber of Secrets was released that I began reading the books. What was the big thing you were late on?

To keep it nerdy, I’ll have to say it was the Lord of the Rings books. Didn’t get around to those until college. “What do you mean you haven’t seen The Hobbit?” (the 1977 cartoon) - um, yeah. 

I was made to watch that and learn to love singing “.. the greatest adventure…” before I picked up the books. I did read them all in time to finish well before the Peter Jackson films came out. 

Patting myself on the back.

4. My local library is amazing and I'm there pretty frequently. What do you like about your library?

The Puppet Pass. At my local library, you can check out a pass once a year that gets you free admission into the Center for Puppetry Arts museum, which is awesome. 

I love Jim Henson. When I grow up, I want to be a Muppet.

5. Comic Books. Which ones are you reading?

Garfield on the Town is on the bathroom reading shelf. Garfield without Garfield is fantastic. I dressed up as Jon Arbuckle to serve birthday lasagna to Mr. Chvasta last year.

6. What author can you just read again and again?

It’s a toss-up between Frank Herbert and William Gibson. I’m really into their lush and vividly descriptive styles. 

Their structures are a little non-linear at times so it makes me have to dig in and rearrange my mental wires. I find it poetic and meditative. And sci-fi rules always.

Thank you so much for this brief chat about life interests!