Blogging Around the States - Tennessee

This week we are visiting Amanda from lovely Tennessee.   Her blog is A Bookshelf Monstrosity and she is nearing 100 followers.  When she gets just 3 more followers she's going to host a huge giveaway!  I'm spreading the word because I love giveaways!  In addition to that giveaway, every Thursday she posts a list of all the giveaways she knows about that are happening in the blogosphere.  Check out this last Thursday's List .  There is some good stuff listed, trust me!

1.  Start by telling us a little bit about yourself.  (family, job, likes, dislikes, favorites, idiosyncrasies, pet peeves, or anything else you'd like to share that will help us know you better)

Hmmm...I've lived here my whole life. I'm not single but not married...somewhere in the middle, haha. I'm in graduate school to be a school librarian. I love to read (duh), listen to music, and blog! Oh, yeah, and I love sushi. Can't make a plant grow to save my life.

2.  What do you love about your state?  (please include the name of your state)

I love Tennessee because...
1. It's beautiful!
2. I live within 40 minutes of The Ryman Auditorium (where the Grand Ole Opry once performed).
3. The state parks are great!
4. It's the home of the Tennessee Aquarium! My favorite exhibit there is the seahorses.
5. People are really nice and caring. Example: I rear-ended a lady in my car the other day and she got out and asked if I was okay! Now, where else does that happen?

3.  Is there anything you don't like about where you live?

The weather here in Middle Tennessee is so erratic! We have huge temperature swings throughout the course of one day. I don't ever really pack away any season of clothes, cause you never know when it'll get hot again. I'm still wearing flip flops right now! Not to mention the mosquitoes...

4.  If job, money, family did not enter the equation, would you prefer to live in another state?  Which one?  And why?

I would love to live in North Carolina. My family took a trip to the Asheville area almost every summer when I was growing up; it is so beautiful there!

5.  If I visited your state what cities, sights, and/or activities would you recommend I check out, see and/or do?

Well, I live right next door to the Music City, otherwise known as Nashville, so there are plenty of sights and sounds there. Another quirky little area of interest is the elephant sanctuary a couple of towns over. Yep. That's right. Elephant sanctuary. As for my town (Murfreesboro), we're a run of the mill college town, so we have plenty of pubs and restaurants to keep you occupied :)

6.  Who are some authors that currently live in your state?  Any famous authors from the past?

For a full list of Tennessee authors past and present, check out http://www.lib.utk.edu/refs/tnauthors/authorsAZ.html. Some highlights? Ann Patchett, Shelby Foote, James Agee, Robert Hicks, Nikki Giovanni, William Gay, Roy Blount, Jr., Cormac McCarthy.

7.  Do you have a favorite book set in your state?

Robert Hicks' book Widow of the South is set about 25 minutes east of my house in Franklin, TN.

Thank-you so much, Amanda, for answering my questions.  I love traveling for real, but since I can't right now it's awesome getting to travel like this.  I remember visiting Tennessee 10 years ago.  We drove from Memphis to Nashville in the dark, but we did see the outside of the Grand Ole Opry.  Unfortunately, we just saw the outside and the parking lot.  We tried to imagine how exciting it would be to attend a performance.  I'm sure our imagination fell short.