my books. my life.

Today is what I have heard many people tell me is their favorite part of BBAW – interview swap day. I have the pleasure of bringing you Katy from A Few More Pages (@afewmorepages on Twitter). I already knew Katy a bit from Twitter but I had fun getting to know her better. I hope you all enjoy the interview and you can see Katy interview me over on her blog today. I will turn things over to Katy now.

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1. How did you become a book blogger?

After I started talking a lot about books on my family/kids blog, I decided to start a blog that focused solely on books. Then when I found the Book Blogs Ning, I realized that there was this big community of book bloggers that I could connect with. I started networking, and I never looked back. What started as a hobby to just post my thoughts about books I’ve read became something even better when I started talking to other book bloggers.

I love to read just about anywhere, but my favorite place is in my bed. I’ve always loved reading before going to sleep (though that often means I stay up too late reading those books that I just can’t put down).

Hmmm, I don’t really have a lot of choices, so I guess my favorite place to blog is at my desk. Timing is more important than location, though–I like to blog in the morning when hubby is at work and the kids are at school (and preschool) so I can concentrate with no interruptions. 🙂

Historical fiction. I love it. There are so many time periods, locations, and subgenres that I could immerse myself in. Most of my reading lands in that genre already.

Reading is something I’ve always done to relax. Most of the time I would rather read than watch TV. Blogging and work both happen mostly when the kids are sleeping or at school, so when my workload gets heavier the blogging has to slow down. I’ve had to step back from blogging a bit in the last few months because of my job, and although I’m not posting daily right now I’ve tried to focus more on reviews. Once I gave myself permission to not post everyday, it was a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.

I think it’s coming along nicely! They love books and we read books together throughout the day. We always read before bed. They adore going to the bookstore and the library, and they won’t let us leave without bringing some books home with us.

Well, I’ve got about 250 blogs in my Google Reader, which I try to go through at least once a week. I haven’t been commenting as much lately as I used to because I’ve been a bit busy (shame on me for lurking!), but I have been reading new posts. I also visit blogs I’m not subscribed to through twitter when I see a tweet that grabs my interest.

I love to dialog with other people about books–I don’t have a lot of people in real life to talk books with besides my mom. I love visiting other peoples’ blogs and reading reviews and discussions about books I’ve read or am planning to read. I think one of my favorite blog-related activities is Twitter–I got on Twitter because of my book blog and I love being able to tweet with authors and other book bloggers about books.

I was a serious book nerd when I was a child! When I wasn’t outside playing in the summertime, I had my nose in a book. I loved going to the library and discovering new authors and series. And silent reading time was one of my favorite times of the day in grade school.

Ah, it’s so hard to pick just one! Just based on how long I kept thinking about it after I had closed the book, I’d have to say The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. But I also couldn’t put down Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, which I just finished reading last week. I have been so lucky to read a lot of really great books this year.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog Michelle! This was really fun!