BBAW 2 Interview Swaps

Tuesday September 15 We will post our blogger interview swaps! My interview buddy is Nicole of Linus's Blanket...

I love that so many book blogs start out as something else and then just get taken over. Great interview!

How did you get started with book blogging?

My blog started out as a personal blog. I have friends scattered all over the place, and at the time it seemed like the perfect way to share some news of what was going on in my life and post pictures. That quickly changed when I went on vacation in Italy. While I was there, I spent a lot of time traveling by train so I had plenty of time to read and I started posting my thoughts on what I had read until eventually that was all that I was posting.

Has your taste in books changed at all since you started your blog? Do you read more genres than you did previously or do you specialize more?

I think that naturally I have always been an eclectic reader. Literary fiction was for years all that I read because I loved the thoughtfulness to the stories and characters and the quality of the writing. Blogging had been a a giant help because now I am able to get quality recommendations in other genres, which is great. So yes...I definitely have been reading more in other genres, but I also noticed that after literary fiction I probably read historical fiction the most. I seem to love going back in time.

Who are some of your favorite authors? Books?

I re-read Kindred by Octavia Butler this year. I love that book. This is probably my third time reading it, and I am not a re-reader, but it just has so much to offer and I take away new insights each time I read it. The House of Moreys, by Phyliss Bentley is another book that I re-read this year. I loved it as a teenager and I found that it held up well. I like Jane Austen, There are so many, that I really need to sit down and think and start keeping a list. It always goes right out of my head every time that I am asked!

I love the title of your blog, Linus's Blanket. How did you come up with that?

I’m a big fan of comfort and security blankets. No matter how hot or cold it is I sleep with a comforter or heavy blanket on my bed at night. It’s likely that I will throw it off when it gets too hot, but I have to start out with it. Books have always been a comfort to me...a way to learn, think and escape. They are my form of Linus’s blanket.

What's your favorite thing about blogging? Do you have a least favorite thing about it?

I love the people that I have met behind the blogs and I love having so many book recommendations from blogs whose opinion I have come to trust. I don’t like that I don’t have as much time as I would like to spend on my blog. I always feels rushed and like I’m trying to fit it in. It’s a lot of fun, but can be really time consuming, so I’ve been trying to find the balance. And upgrading, I really dislike having to upgrade my blog software. The last upgrade I did was a complete nightmare, and sometimes troubleshooting can be a pain, but I am learning a lot.

Do you having any advice for folks who are just starting out? Is there something you wish you'd known when you started blogging?

You should know what your reasons are for blogging and come up with things that work for you in supporting that. I see a lot of debate over the questions of how to blog, and what a blog should like like or a review should look like and I think that there really can’t be one answer that works for everyone since all of our circumstances are so different. Build the blog that you want to read and to the standards that work for you and seek out those things in the blogs that you choose to read. Enjoy blogging and enjoy your blog.

What are your favorite books of 2009 so far?

The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James. Perfection, by Julie Metz. The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, by Syrie James. This One is Mine, by Maria Semple.

When you read a book that's the start of the series, do you usually continue with the series? Are you more or less likely to pick up a book that is part of a series?

I don’t really know. I don’t really read a lot of series. This year I read The Hunger Games, and then as it happened the sequel, Catching Fire was already coming out, so it was easy enough to go on and read the second book. I just read Wife of the Gods, by Kwei Quartey and I would like to read the next book if there is one, but I’m not particularly great at keeping up with new releases. There is always so much that I have to read already.

Where do you get most of your book recommendations? How important are reviews to you when you choose your reading material?

I’m lucky in having quite a fee book stores and a library right near me, so I browse a lot. I’m usually the one telling people what to read. After that, blog recommendations and the odd recommendations from friends who read or from members of my book club. I think blogs are important because I am constantly being exposed to things that I might have missed in areas I keep up on, and books from other genres that might be of interest. Every now and then I read a review and just know that I have to run out and get the book.

Do your family and friends know about your blog? What do they think of it?

Some of them now about it, but I hadn’t been mentioning it a lot. I have been slow about spreading the word, but i find that I am mentioning it more often. They think it’s cool; at least that’s what they tell me.

Do you prefer to read one book at a time or are you a multiple book reader?

Last year I did an experiment were I read one book at a time for the entire year, but now I am back to reading more than one book at a time. My mood changes, and sometimes it’s hard for me to stay reading the same thing. I think that audiobooks have also changed that as well. I usually have something that I am listening to.

Are you the type of reader who has to finish what you start or do you sometimes give up on books that don't appeal to you?

I mostly finish what I start. There have only been a handful of books that I have not finished reading over the last year that I have been blogging. I think maybe three.

What are your book turn offs?

I like for the stories that I read to be plausible, so whenever things don’t make a lot of sense or there are holes in the story or obvious things that are overlooked until it’s conveniently wrapped up in the end, then you have lost me.

Tell me about you. How do you spend your time when you’re not reading or blogging?

I love to eat. I’m practically a professional eater. Lately I have been cooking more. I play bocce in a league on Sundays. I volunteer at a farmer’s market on Wednesdays. I like to travel. A little bit of everything really

Thanks for the great interview! I always find out things I didn't know when I have to sit and think about it.

Nicole

Linus's Blanket
http://www.linussblanket.com

“It's better to sing off-key than to never sing at all.”