Get to know… Jen Hines

Posted on June 11, 2014 by nobles

Ms. Hines might be well known for her role here in the admission office, but did you know she is also an avid reader? She is one of the most frequent visitors to the Putnam Library and her reading interests span multiple genres and styles. Read on to find out more about Ms.  Hines.

What is your job here at Nobles? Dean of enrollment management.

How long have you been at Nobles? This is my 13th year.

Where did you grow up?
While my youngest years were spent on military bases, I primarily grew up in Amherst, Mass. I have wonderful memories from growing up there and to this day, my closest friends are the ones I have from my years in Amherst.

What are a few of your favorite books?
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (the first book where I saw a kid that looked like me in the pictures), And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, The Stand by Stephen King, Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling—I could go on and on.

What was your favorite book you read as a teenager? I read Animal Farm by George Orwell for school in the fifth grade.  I wasn’t quite a teenager then but it was the first experience I had reading a book that made me question what I thought I knew to be true.  Reading it probably marked the end of my childlike “innocence” about the world and how it worked.

What is your favorite movie? So hard to choose…  It’s a tie between 12 Monkeys and 12 Years a Slave, I guess. Interesting that they both have 12 in the title. Anyway, I will never again watch 12 Years a Slave, but I think it is one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

What is your favorite magazine or newspaper? Mental Floss.  The writers seem to think of everything that I always wanted to know but didn’t realize it.

If you were on a deserted island, what three things would you like to have with you? An MP3 player that could hold my entire music collection (currently at 35,000 songs and counting), my Kindle with all of the books I’ve been “meaning to read” and my wife.  I should mention that I’d want unlimited battery life on the devices. 🙂

Do you read ebooks and/or audiobooks? If yes, what do you like about them? I do. I love them. When I had a longer commute to Nobles, audiobooks made the drive more tolerable. I love the “portability” of ebooks. It’s great being able to travel with multiple books on one device. I have the Kindle Paperwhite which is great for reading at night and not disturbing my spouse.

What genres do you like the most and why?
As my friends in the Nobles library will tell you, I am into anything dystopian. While I am both terrified of the many ways that authors have imagined the end of the world as we know it, I’m fascinated by the ways that they imagine people survive and overcome obstacles.

If you could write a novel, what would it be about? Time travel!

What topics would you like to see more books about? My problem is that there are so many books that I want to read that I don’t make the time to read.

Be sure to stop by the library to check out some of Ms.