You won a 5 minute shopping spree from your favorite book store? What will you grab?
Truthfully, I would head to the cozy mystery section and grab one of each. It sounds odd, since some of my absolute favorite books are of the paranormal or urban fantasy genre, but those I get on a regular basis. They get budgeted in. It's the cozy mysteries that I don't tend to actually purchase. I usually am doing the library or second hand thing and it is very hard to read a series when you are missing a book or two.
Do you accept books for review only from publishers or do you accept book review requests from authors as well?
Publishers, that is a good one!!! As a small, new blog, I have only really gotten books to review from book tours, Netgalley and a few authors who have contacted me. I could probably have reviewed more, but I am particular about what I read and have some serious time constraints
When I add in the fact that I have a new job with less time to actually read books, my ability to review anything has been cut. I am hoping to start adding some audiobooks in the future. But that is still just an idea I am working on.
Do you post your book reviews as soon as you have completed the book or do you wait a few days?
Whenever possible I try to wait a few days to write the review. Personally, I need a couple of days for the story to really sink in. Some stories I have finished and really enjoyed, but then think nothing about. While other stories seem like fluff, but I am still thinking over days later. These things affect my score. The more time I spend thinking on a story, the better the score that I give it when I do the actual review.Have your review scores changed from that first finished reaction to days or weeks later when you have had to really think on what you read?
When you are out of town, do you still participate in weekly memes or do you have your post scheduled to appear on your blog and perhaps check back? Or do you not participate at all?
Well so far, I haven't gone out of town, so it hasn't been an issue.
I have however recently changed jobs and this has affected the way I can link to my weekly memes.
Once my computer crashed and I spent a couple of days hitting the local library computers to get the barest of my commitments done. Since then, I try to have my posts complete and scheduled to go. But we all know life happens and some weeks are better than others.
Halloween Edition: What is your favorite horror novel and why?
I am not a huge fan of horror... Okay let me be totally honest and say that I don't read it at all. The closest I come to horror is in the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. And those are mainly because the early books in the series were labeled Horror since when they came out, vampire and shifter books were dumped into the Horror genre.
My standard excuse is that my imagination works way to well to read Horror, but since I won't watch it in film either, that reason is only a partial truth. Basically, I am just too much of a wuss to watch/read anything that is going to scare me.
Halloween Edition: Norman Bates VS Hannibal Lecter: Which one of these famous book murderers is scarier?
Hannibal Lecter hands down. After all, Norman Bates might kill you, but Hannibal Lecter would kill you, eat you and then drive around with your head in his lap. *shudder*
Halloween Edition: What scary book would you like turned into a feature film?
Well, since I don't read scary books, this is a very difficult question for me.
If I can stretch the scary into dark urban fantasy/horror realm, I would love to see one of the early Anita Blake books turned into a movie. Not the later books, just one of the first, say 8 books. Back before they would have to be labeled as porn. *sigh*
Halloween Edition: What book gave you goosebumps?
The first and only book to give me goosebumps, was one that I picked up when I was way to young to read it. The story was a about a high school girl who, after messing around with a ouija board, managed to summon some kind of demon spirit. It would take over her body like a split personality and do very bad things. Things like kill a teacher, turn them into hamburger patties and serve them to the student body at a school function. I was in middle school when I read this book. I have no idea what the name of it was. All I can tell you is that I have been scared for life on horror stories. I don't read them, I don't watch them, they are not in my repertoire.
What weekly memes do you follow on a regular basis?
Obviously I participate in this one, I just do mine a day later. :)
I have been participating in Waiting On Wednesday because it is quick and fun. It also really helps me to keep track of what new books are coming on and when.
The final meme I follow is Quote-Tastic Mondays, hosted by Anna of Herding Cats and Burning Soup. Each Monday we post a favorite quote from a book we have read. It is small, but a lot of fun. :)
What is your favorite genre? List two of your favorite books in that genre.
This is a tough question for me. Primarily since I like a lot of different genres, yet my favorites seem to be those hard to shelf combo genre books. Besides, how exactly do you single out one particular book? It's like choosing your favorite child!
At one time, I had several hundred books. I had to seriously weed them out when I had more boxes of books then I had everything else combined. Try moving a couple times and having absolutely no one wanting to help move all the boxes and totes full of heavy books. There comes a day when you have to ask yourself, do I really need to keep this book? In most cases the answer was no.
Luckily all that changed with the e-reader. It took several years, but I have mostly replaced my all time favorites with e versions. Now I only have a couple of authors that I allow actual real world shelf space. These include Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin, Shelly Laurenston's Pride series, Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series, anything by Ilona Andrews and J.D. Robb.
Are you in a book club? How does your book club choose books? How far in advance do you choose?
I am not in a book club.
Unless my sister and I count as a very small book club. A lot of the time we share books and discuss them with each other.
I once thought about joining an official book club, but I really hate the idea of being told what to read when.
What got you started as a blogger? Everyone has a story/reason, what's yours?
I originally got started blogging several years ago. I started a diary blog of my adventures while playing an online multiplayer game. While blogging, I found several other bloggers who also played the game. When I took a break from the game, I also took a break from blogging.
One of the players that I met online kept telling me that I needed to get back into blogging. And I did miss it, just not enough to go back to chronicling my adventures in the game. So I tried chronicling my life and using a program that gave you blogging ideas each day. It was during this time that I became unemployed and my life really wasn't worth blogging about.
Then last fall, I discovered book blogs and followed several hops and had a blast doing so. While following these blogs, I decided to give blogging another try, this time focusing on my first passion - reading. Since I still had my old blog just sitting there, I re-purposed it and started doing book reviews. The first couple of months was spotty and haphazard, but then one day I got my first follower. I was walking on air!!
Then I found a book tour and realized that I could get books to review for Free. Soon I was reworking my blog, trying new things and blogging most everyday. I can't believe how far I have come in just 8 months and I can't imagine where I will be in another 8.
I have to say that I have found the book blogging community to be one of the nicest around. They have been incredibly helpful and supportive. You couldn't find a nicer group of people and believe me I have looked!
Have you ever ended up reading a book with its last or last few pages missing? What book was it? And how did you managed to get to the end?
Once. Many, many, many years ago. I had gotten a book at a second hand store and didn't realize that there were some pages missing until I got to that point. It was a paperback romance and not request-able from the local library or even through the Inter-Library Lending system. (Thankfully that has since changed.) It took me weeks to track down another copy of that book to find out how it ended.
Since then, if I am buying second hand, I ALWAYS fan through the book and make sure that there are no loose or missing pages.
Book blogging is more than just reading. Who helped you set up or run your blog? Or did you do it all yourself?
I have been book blogging for about 8 months now. When I first started out, my site was more basic. But as I have become more experienced as a blogger and grown, I have added and changed things. I am sure that I will make more changes as I continue to learn.
As I have become more familiar with other's blogs I see things that I like about them and then try to do similar things to my own. Most of the time I end up spending a lot of time researching How To sites and blogs to create the effects I want. But in the long run, it makes me much prouder of my blog because it is my hard work and effort that has made it what it is so far.
Were you a born bookworm or somebody got you into the habit of reading?
In a lot of ways I think I am a born bookworm because I just can't imagine not reading. I will in fact go into withdrawal if I can't get my hands on a book. However, I was very lucky in the fact that my mom encouraged me to read.
So, in the end, I guess I am a born bookworm with added encouragements. :)
How do you turn down a review request?
With lots of tact and good wishes for the author.
Most of the time I turn down because its just not my genre. But sometimes it's because it is something that doesn't interest me. I admit to only reading and accepting books that I think I will like to read. But that was a topic from another day. :)
How do you organize your books to be read?
For ebooks, I love the Calibre Library system. I simply added a column I call Status and mark the book TBR. Once I have read it, I clear it out. I tend to use that for the long term books that I want to read. For the ones that I am reading to review, I just put them on my ereader. Calibre is fantastic for keeping my ereader clean and tidy. About once a week, I go in and remove the books I have read and add any new ones that are coming up due. It really helps to keep me on track.
As far as print books, I have a couple piles that I rearrange as the mood strikes me. I really don't have as many print books as e-books any longer. Unless a book is by one of my "keeper" authors, I place it on Paperbackswap.com to find it a new home.
What is your favorite classic novel?
I know that as a girl, I am supposed to gush and coo about the Brontë sisters or even Louisa May Alcott. Ah, no. I'm not that kind of girl.
The books more my speed are the Call of the Wild, The Black Stallion or even Moby Dick. When I was younger (and still today) I liked action/adventure books over "girly" books.
When I was in middle school my favorite was Island of the Blue Dolphins, and in high school I fell in love with To Kill a Mockingbird.
