Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Never Have I Ever (Book Edition)

Jenn McKinlay: It's time, once again, to play Never Have I Ever! Only this time it's the book edition.

For every item listed, you get one point if you have NOT done it. For example: If it says Never Have I Ever...dog eared a book page and you have NOT done that, you get a point. If you have done it, no point for you and, quite frankly, a hand slap. Get a bookmark. You're not a savage. 

Because you are all presumably bookish people, I'm expecting very low scores. 




Okay, Reds and Readers, what's your total? Leave it in the comments. I'll go ahead and admit here that my number is 4 and, yes, there was a hand slap as I have dog eared some pages in my time. Mea Culpa.

86 comments:

  1. No dog-eared pages, or lying about what I’m reading but unless I’m immortal I’ll never read all the books I’ve bought!
    My score: 4

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    1. I have not really "lied" but I have failed to tell anyone what I was reading because it was embarrassing and I think that counts as a lie 😂

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    2. Oh! I forgot about that one - I did lie about what I was reading to my parents when I had a novel tucked into my textbook. That makes me a fiver.

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    3. This is embarrassing - the only one I don't have is "Took a selfie with an author" so a 1. And, I have even a better one. Our son's name is Alec after the character in The Black Stallion series - still one of my favorite characters. My husband wouldn't let me chose Ramsey for his middle name though. Some of us are just readers from the start. P.S. A close friend of my daughter's is a vampire series writer - does it count if a writer comes to holidays?

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  2. Okay I confess... I think as a teen I dog eared a book. Of course I have grown so much since then.

    By "failed to return" ... Does that mean ever? I mean my library fines have probably helped put a new wing on at least one library. But the books DO get back there eventually.

    Anyway, I think I get 1 point but not sure. I have been a crazy bookworm since I was a kid and we walked home from the library down the street with piles of books in our arms.

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    1. I’m sure your library appreciates you! Also, you’re hilarious :)

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  3. 7 for me.

    Named a pet after a character (allergic, so never had a pet)
    Joined a book club (I don't have time for someone else to pic a book for me. Too much else I want to read)
    Lied about what I'm reading (I own it!)
    Waited up for the book to download (I don't read digital books)
    Took a selfie with an author (never think about taking selfies. Have pics with authors)
    Binge read an entire series (I always spread out a series)
    Failed to return a book (although I did have some for an embarrassingly long time before they were returned)

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    1. I am in awe of your ability to not binge read! I do not have that strength of character.

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    2. It's easy. My TBR pile is huge, and I've taken on ARCs, so I don't have the choice to binge read.

      I've also noticed if I read too many books by an author back to back, I start to get tired of them. Writing quirks or character quirks become annoying. I begin to notice the way they plot. But if I mix it up, I come back to the author new.

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  4. My score is either 2 or 3. (I'll explain.)
    Lied about what I'm reading. (No, I am usually quite eager to share what I'm reading.)
    Hid in my car to read. (Naw, I haven't had to resort to that.)
    Joined a book club. (This is the iffy one. I started a book club for teens at the school where
    I did my library practicum and so I kind of belonged to it, but I haven't joined one other than
    that.)

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    1. Excellent! You’re in the upper tier of booklover!

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  5. My score is 2
    Hid in your car to read (I don't own a car)
    Binge read an entire series (I scattered it)

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  6. One. (Hanging head in shame over the dog-earred page incident.)

    My town has a very small library and the librarian and I were (and are) on a first name basis, so I always return my books. Sometimes LATE (because hey, they can use the money brought in from the late fees, right?) but never have I ever completely failed to return a library book. HOWEVER, there was one book I borrowed from a friend and, well, oops.

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    1. LOL, Annette. The shame. I, too, was a dog-earer once!

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  7. Three. I don't do selfies, the movie is never better than the book (even with Cate Blanchett as Bernadette), I give up and throw books across the room all the time. Life is short, my time is valuable.

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    1. Your decisiveness is awesome! I’m trying to be a better quitter :)

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  8. Fun! I got a 4...or 5: I haven't named a pet after a character - but I have named four pet-characters after my real cats! I have dog-eared, I haven't stayed up for a book to download, I haven't claimed a book boyfriend/girlfriend. I've never failed to return a book.

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  9. I got a 4. Sadly in my youth I was known to dog ear a book. I don't have pets, and I'm pretty sure I have never taken a selfie with an author. (Though if I get to meet any of the Reds that will change!) And I have binge read a series, though honestly now I have grown to view them as too precious to wolf down and I am more inclined to savor them and space them out some.

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    1. I’m a binger! I’m beginning to think I need a 12 step program or something to stop.

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  10. I got so confused with the numbers and the adding! We'll call it a 7. I almost named my dog after a character; I wrote to the author and asked if he would mind and he said he wouldn't so maybe I will have a dog named Brady eventually. (Of course you know what people would think then.)

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    1. LOL, Judy. Brady is a fine name - I love that you asked the author :)

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  11. I think I got a four, although these always confuse me somehow, because I keep forgetting what I am supposed to count. but so funny how these things bring us all together… Love this!

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    1. I love all the outed dog-earers —myself included!

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  12. I got a 4.
    I have never ever
    1. Named a pet after a character although I have a cat named after an author, Eliot, as in George
    2. Joined a bookclub. I can't imagine reading a book with a deadline and an obligation to discuss.
    3. Claimed a book boyfriend/girlfriend. Seriously?
    4. Wanted to live in a library. Actually I DO live in a library, just not a public one, which is what I think this refers to. But if I did have to choose, it would be the Huntington Library in San Marino.

    Heavy snow squall coming through here. Welcome to January on the tundra

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    1. Brr! Stay warm. I, too, love the Huntington Library. Beautiful!

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  13. If I've counted correctly, I got a four. And that's because I'm counting "staying in the car to hear the more of the audiobook after you've reached your destination" the same as "hiding in your car to read". Close enough!

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  14. My score is 4.

    Yes, I have dog-eared a page. But, but, but...it was a text book. Is that mitigating circumstances?

    I've never named a pet after a character.

    And while I always return my books, some of them have been returned quite late. :)

    I have also quit on a book. I made the decision some years ago that life is too short to read bad books. Or at least books that aren't my style.

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    1. Oops. Guess I have to add one to my score. Of course I've quit on a book. Life is too short and I have too many good books to read to slog through one that's not up to the task.

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    2. Does skipping most of the middle and reading the end count as quitting?

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    3. But, Liz, if you've quit a book, then that's not a point, right? I thought that "no" answers got a point and "yes" answers aren't a point. It's a tricky point system.

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    4. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure either! I have dog-eared a page, I have quit on a book - but I also frequently think the movie was better and I have cried and laughed, too.

      Clearly I am confused as well. :)

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    5. Hahaha, Liz! I had to go back through the list several times, thinking whether my answer meant a point or not, and I finally settled on if it was a no answer, it was a point. The movie better than the book one made me think of The Jane Austen Book Club, which for me was made into a movie I considered better than the book, not that the book was bad though.

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  15. Am I the only one in the world who doesn't understand this concept ?
    Jenn writes :" dog eared a book page and you have not done that, you get a point ." Should not it be the contrary ? Some of the comments seems to think so. Maybe I can blame my French upbringing for not understanding.
    Sorry, I'm really confused . Anyway, the answers are very interesting.

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    1. Danielle, you only get points for things you have not done. So if you haven't do earred a book, no points. Most readers have done these things. I think the point is to get the lowest score possible. I doubt there is one of us here, other than you, who would understand this if it were written in French! xox

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    2. LOL. It is confusing but to me that’s what makes it fun — you have to really think “Why am I getting a point?” Oh, because I’ve never done that. Sort of like Twister - how am I going to get my hand over there if my foot is here! :)

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  16. I also get confused about exactly what I'm counting, but I'm pretty sure I scored four. That's assuming that if I don't know what something is, I haven't done it (claimed a book boyfriend/girlfriend? What?).

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    1. Ha! I have a running joke with C.S. Harris that her Victorian sleuth Sebastian St.Cyr is my fictional boyfriend to which she always says, “No, he’s mine.”

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    2. I always figured St. Cyr got around some. Maybe he's both yours and hers, Jenn.

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  17. My score is 4. I just named my Standard Poodle puppy Ellery Queen. I'm training him to be my Hearing Service Dog. :)

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    1. Ooooh, I had a standard poodle named Lucy (see my pen name Lucy Lawrence) who was the smartest dog I’ve ever owned! She used to patrol the house at night, checking on the Hooligans in their beds, then Hub and I before she’d go to bed herself. Do keep us posted on the training! And I love the name Ellery Queen - fabulous!

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    2. Congratulations, Cathy! I have a standard poodle puppy, Louie. Lou the wonder dog is not yet 4 months old and climbs the stairs, jumps on furniture, slipped his harness during a walk, and this morning, grabbed my glasses off the kitchen table. Cathy, will you periodically post pix and describe his training?

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  18. Love this list! Oh gosh, I'm an 8. How did that happen? Wait, can I count naming a pet/character after a person? I named a character/dog Phoebe. My mother's name. And my mother did not like dogs.

    For the record. I've never wanted to live in a library (no bathtub for reading in) or failed to return a book.

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    1. I think you can flip the script on the character name!

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    2. Bathtub reading sounds...dangerous. *house librarian clutches her pearls* LOL!

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  19. At first I thought my score would be really high since I got a point for the first four— never dog eared a page, never named a pet after a character, never joined a book club, and never had a book boyfriend/girlfriend. But after that, only 1 more point for a total of 5– never took a selfie with an author.

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    1. My updated score is a five - solidarity, sister!

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  20. I'm a 4. I don't dog-ear. Warren used to write notes in the margins of books he was reading and I thought that was blasphemy, too. I don't do book clubs, or claim fake boyfriends, or wait for books to download. The rest? Oh, yes, I am guilty, but feel no remorse whatsoever.

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    1. Notes in the margins? *Jenn faints* Actually, I don’t have a problem with that. I love my ebook reader precisely because you can see the passages other readers highlight. As a writer/reader I find that fascinating.

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    2. That's what Warren claimed in his defense: it was a dialogue between himself, the author, and any subsequent readers.

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  21. Well, I've done it all. No apologies for dog-earing pages, although now I'm a reformed dog-earer. Or something.

    So, 0.

    (I agree with Danielle-Momo!)

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  22. I'm a little confused here too, but luckily the community is offering guidance. My count is 5 but let's check.
    Dog eared - guilty, particularly in class.
    Book boy/girl friend - well I claim Nancy Blackett, from Sallows and Amazons series, by Arthur Rackham, has been a mental mentor to me. So I think this is a point?
    Don't think I've ever been in a book club, though I would love to join one
    No author selfies, now I am confused. I guess I need to come to an event.
    Yes, I have quit on a book, more than once, bad writing is not worth wasting time on.

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  23. I think I am dyslexic. I can't get past the double negative.

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  24. LOL - I think the mixed bag of good — laughed out loud while reading — and bad — dog eared a book page — is what gets it all confused. Mostly, it’s a rando list of good and bad book behaviors that bookish people do/don’t do. No judgment here! Except the not returning books because...librarian :) My four were 1. Named a pet after a character 2. Joined a book club 3. Waited for a download 4. Failed to return a book (I’m pretty sure).

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  25. Does sitting in your car for half an hour after you arrive at your destination because you have to finish the audio book count? I've done that several times.
    Never joined a book club but I've been the facilitator for one at Book Passage
    Always been a good girl and returned books on time but have definitely quit on books. Life is too short for bad writing

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  26. Ok, this was fun but my Not Ever list is too long to share in full. Suffice it to say I am definitely in the NEVER have dog eared camp, as well as the NEVER have bought too many books to read camp. I mean, come on — I’m still alive and breathing and reading, so how can the number of books on my shelves be too many?? #illogical

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  27. 5- I never named my pets after a character, but I wanted to name my son after 1, in my defense, the name was Rein, and my son's fathers last name was Meadows. How cool would be the name Rein Meadows be?

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  28. 5 for me. I was given a book to read by a co-worker who hated it. I never got around to reading it, she retired, and I still have it! I live alone-so no need to hide in a car to read and when younger I always read wherever I was without a care.

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  29. 6 if naming your cat Cleopatra. She was real right.

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  30. I have dog eared a page in a book. I don’t remember doing it but I am pretty sure that I have. I love the new electronic bookmarks. I love the old fashioned bookmarks too.

    I have named a pet after a character. As a child, our parakeet was named Max, after Maxwell Smart. As an adult, my first cat was Dizzy for short. Full name Desdemona. I think that is from Othello.

    I have bought too many books to read in a lifetime. I have bought too many books even to remember what I own. Hardcover. Paperback. Electronic. Audio.

    I have lied about what I am reading. Sometimes if I am asked “What are you reading?”, I will answer with the last book I completed.

    I have smelled a new book. I prefer the slightly moldy smell of used bookstores and libraries.

    I have laughed out loud while reading. I love to laugh at the books I am reading. But I feel obligated to explain to my roommate or whomever I am with, exactly what was funny.

    I have written a book review. I try. Particularly ARCs. But I always struggle with “What is a spoiler?”

    I have binge read an entire series. When I first returned to mysteries about six or so years ago, I read all of the “Someday, the rabbi …” I read them in the order that I was able to borrow them from the library or buy them on eBay. Not so long after that, I read all of Gemma/Duncan books again starting with the ones I could get electronically from the library and only then buying them cheap on Amazon. I had to buy full price on “Garden of Lamentations.” And recently I bought the signed hardcover and the eBook of “A Bitter Feast.”

    I have sometimes thought the movie was better. I thought the movie “Ordinary People” (Robert Redford, director) was great. The book which I read afterward, not so much.

    I have cried over a character. I cry when I understand something tragic, which I don’t think “anybody else will understand.” (Must see – A New Leaf with Elaine May (lead and director) and Walter Matthau.

    I have stayed home to read. Doesn’t take much for me to stay home. But I’ll read out loud together with you anytime.


    I have failed to return a book. In my youth, (until I was fifty), I carefully purloined books. Particularly Bibles and Hymnals. Pew Bibles and Hymnals are becoming less and less common. I checked. On my shelf are two Bibles from my church. So I guess until I was 60. Even electronically, it was possible up to the age of the IPhone and Android to purloin a copy of a favorite book. Now they just delete the book from your device. I did go to the library and borrow the CD of a James McBride book of short stories and rip them into my computer and listen leisurely on my phone more than the 42 days they allow you. Just because I could, I guess. I know authors don’t want to hear this. Please don’t turn me in.

    I have gone to a book signing. When Robert and Arvella Schuller were alive they had a book signing at a Fifth Avenue (NYC) book store. It was either Rizzoli’s or Barnes and Noble. They both signed my book. I think I lost or gave the book away. It was called “Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do.”

    I have quit on a book. I often stop reading a book if it doesn’t capture my attention in the first few chapters. Sometimes I also run out of renewals at the library.

    That’s eleven. Does that mean my score is 9? Counting today baffles me.

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  31. 6 for me... never read in the car, never had a photo with an author...

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  32. What fun. 6, I think. (I am not a number person!) Does lingering at a subway station to finish a book count as "hiding in a car to finish a book"? Yes on that.Of course I have. And I have not finished a book - life is too short for reading a book that does not interest me. Not a bit of guilt involved. And I know you all will be shocked but I have dogeared books when no book mark was handy.( I only have a million in my house!) And I don't care. Only books I bought, of course. :-)

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  33. 4 or maybe 5 for me, depending on the definition of "failed to return a book." I don't think I've ever kept a library boo of my own volition (there were a few incidents with children's books having to be replaced...) but I know right NOW I have several books on loan from friends that I've had sitting on my shelf for months. Actually, this is a good reminder to scoop them all up and put them in the car, where I can at least have a chance of handing them back to friends!

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  34. I'm so confused! I think I'm a 3. Maybe. I've never joined a book club. I don't think I've ever failed to return a book. I was madly in love with Lord Peter Wimsey, but I never claimed him. Does taking selfies with author friends count? If not, that makes me a 4.

    I plead guilty to everything else. I have dog-eared pages. It's a bad habit, and my wrists are duly slapped. I have named a pet after a character. Our first German shepherd was called Hallie, short for Harriet, Harriet being Harriet Vane. I have lied about what I was reading, usually when I was supposed to be studying. Bingeing on a series is one of my absolute favorite things. I wanted to live in the Bodleian! Just give me a camp bed!

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  35. I'm with Danielle. I can't get how this works, between my ADD and the double negative. Every time I think I understand, a cog slips and I am back in the abyss. I will say I thought The Godfather movie was better than the book.

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  36. there were 7 things I have never done.

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  37. Yes, I'm part of the dyslexic crew, but I think it's only 3--might be 4. And No Time for Sergeants with Andy Griffith was much funnier than the book. Although the book wasn't bad.

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  38. I'm not into the "download" thing and I 'might' have replaced what I'm reading now with thebetter book I just finished. As a librarian, I sometimes worked 11 hour days, which is kind of like living in the library. I never spent the night.

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  39. 4 (but it's been DECADES since I've dogeared a page!)
    I haven't named my pet after a character
    Claimed a book boyfriend (that I can remember, LOL)
    Taken a selfie with an author
    Thought the movie was better

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  40. 6 for me. My grandmother would come back to haunt me if I dogeared a page, I haven't joined a book club, don't do selfies and have never claimed a book boyfriend. I could go with those 4 since the movie is never better than the book and I quit reading The Autobiography of William Penn when it was assigned to me for an English project. I am pretty sure the teacher hated me.

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  41. I must be stupid. If you get a point for things you've never done, than my point total is 11. But I'm confused if I'm doing this right.

    But I must say to those of you who have dog-eared the page of a book, you are all MONSTERS!!!

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  42. Never dogeared a page of a book. Unless you count dog ear pages of catalogs? Maybe 6 of the things that I never have done?

    Diana

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  43. Well, I'll join the club of shame over dogearing a book. Yes, I have done this, but not for a very long time. And can I claim two zero points for not only crying over a book, but doing it at work while proofing the audiobook version of it? The death of Magwitch still can bring a tear. And there are others. So very many others... I am a softie. And the points thing in this game confuses me as well! Cheers all!
    -Melanie

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  44. Three -- I haven't name a pet after a character but I did name my daughter after a character.

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