As an 8-10 year old, I animated a few rough-looking clay characters, playmobil figures. I've always had a love for hand puppets and marionettes. I'm a business owner now in an unrelated profession. I'm pursuing stop-motion-animation again as a creative outlet. Or something like that.
Hobbies
Besides puppetry, I enjoy messing with my crazy dogs and working with colored pencil. You can see a few older pieces here:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/redpoodle. I can play the viola and ride a unicycle, tennis, chess, but those are all neglected hobbies.
Books
Sorry, I've only read three or four animation books so far.:P
Movie Interests
Disney, Dreamworks, Aardman, Studio Ghibli? That kind of stuff. We loved watching Wallace and Gromit, Frog and Toad, Shakespeare Animated Tales, Miracle Marker, etc. when I was growing up.
My mom and my brother-in-law have amazing artistic eyes. I'm very fortunate to have them in my life. Gary Larson (The Farside) is a favorite comic book artist I guess. Various other peoples like Norman Rockwell and Mo Willems.