Cool and hip are the best ways to describe Liza Palmer. And funny. Good gracious, this woman is funny. Depends sort of funny. But most of all, I just love her honesty. It is such a breath of fresh air. Minus the blue cheese.

Without further ado, my friend, Liza Palmer:

1) Most played song on my iPod: At 498 times, The Healing off the Lady in the Water soundtrack. I listened to this back to back to back to back to back when writing A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents. Never has a book called for the listening of one song before or since.

2) Favorite indulgence: As you know, Elizabeth, I have an unhealthy affection for cheese and cheese plates. I love Midnight Moon and Humboldt Fog cheeses – and would clutch them to my breast in times of war…as should you.

3) The last book I read: I am in the middle of reading Jane Eyre for the first time. I KNOW. My book club, which the ever fashionable Megan Crane is also a member, is reading Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea in tandem. Reading this book…it’s like I’ve been found – you know, that beautiful feeling you get when a book understands you so? Amazing.

4) Secret passion Cheese. See above. Oh, I have to… I can’t answer the same answer twice? I love to drive – it clears my head. I’ve never felt so free and myself as I have behind the wheel and hurtling up some beautiful coastline. I’m lucky that I live in California, as I have ample coastline and ample natural beauty. But, if I have any extra time, I will make a playlist, open the window, brew a cup of tea – OH, TEA! That’s my secret passion!! I recently had a Tea Bracketology Tournament where I, once and for all, set out to find the best Earl Grey Tea. It was intense and took weeks – a lot of tea was drank (Drank?? drink, drank, drunk)… a lot of tea was drunk. And the winner was Village Tea. So good. So, Secret Passion? Tea. Driving. Cheese.

5) Coolest celeb you’ve ever met: Living in LA, I had to go to Salinas to meet the coolest celeb – I went to the Steinbeck Museum and saw the Rocinante. Amazing. The Rocinante is the vehicle that John Steinbeck drove around the US in Travels with Charley. I decided that I was going to the museum on one of my Head Clearing Drives – got to Salinas rather late and only had about an hour to see the entire museum. I spun around a corner and… there it was.

Liza’s next book, More Like Her comes out January 3, 2012 and is available for pre-order. Want to find out more about Liza and her other titles, check out her website: www.lizapalmer.com.